tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9560953.post1483896460058906392..comments2023-12-31T19:34:14.853-05:00Comments on Dymaxion World: Murray Campbell is Googlestupidjohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09690430991814528863noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9560953.post-36099306042220331842007-09-23T01:51:00.000-04:002007-09-23T01:51:00.000-04:00You have a typo in your post title. You seem to h...You have a typo in your post title. You seem to have accidentally inserted the letters "google" in front of the final word.<BR/><BR/>I recall (OK, google recalls) that when Campbell wrote (back in 2004) about the STV system proposed in B.C., he argued that the system might too closely reflect the will of the people which was bad because, "the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter." <BR/><BR/>With regards to his recent article you link to, which is pretty absurd, even by Campbell's high standards (for absurdity), my favourite part was the 6th paragraph:<BR/><BR/>"The complaint is that FPTP over-rewards the parties that form governments. The classic example is from 1990, when the New Democratic Party won 57 per cent of the legislative seats with just 37 per cent of the vote. In 2003, the Liberals won 70 per cent of the seats with 46 per cent of the ballots cast. It's lamentable only in a world where every student is the class scholar and every player on a sports team is an MVP. The reality is that in both those cases, voters got the change they were looking for."<BR/><BR/>I mean, it doesn't even begin to make any sense whatsoever.<BR/><BR/>The first sentence incorrectly asserts that there is only complaint about FPTP. <BR/><BR/>The second and third sentences relate the factual evidence that supports the one complaint Campbell has chosen to acknowledge the existence of. <BR/><BR/>The fourth sentence asserts that having a legislature whose composition does not reflect what people voted for is only an issue in a world in which so many awards are handed out that the awards become meaningless, and that, since we are not living in a world where awards have proliferated in this manner, therefore this is not an issue (QED). <BR/><BR/>Finally, the fifth sentence asserts that "the reality is" that voters got the change they were looking for, even though all the facts previously introduced in the paragraph (sentences 2 and 3) demonstrate irrefutably that voters did not actually get what they were voting for. Really, the whole thing is pure lunacy.<BR/><BR/>Lord Kitchener's Own - you understate the inanity of Campbell's Doris Day comparison. As you indicate, what Campbell is saying is that Mercer would have had the same chance of getting that many signatures even if signing his petition had meant foregoing your vote in the next election.<BR/><BR/>What Campbell fails to grasp (see my first paragraph) is the distinction between everyday life where people can do many things (sign a petition for Rick Mercer, link to a youtube video, join 5 facebook groups, be a Muslim, etc.) and an election in which you only get *one* choice among competing options.<BR/><BR/>There are a lot of people out there with a poor grasp of the issues, an inability to form logical arguments, a strong streak of irrationality in the positions they take, and a desire to persuade rather than inform the people they talk/write to. What discourages me is how many of these people seem to have jobs as political pundits for major media outlets.Declanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07930743440194279349noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9560953.post-84337454138473834902007-09-21T19:53:00.000-04:002007-09-21T19:53:00.000-04:00I swear, one of the best reasons to vote for MMP i...I swear, one of the best reasons to vote for MMP is the shear stupidity of many (though not all) of those arguing against it.<BR/><BR/>And you don't even tear down his comparison to the Mercer petition. Does Campbell REALLY think that it's as easy to get 3% of the population to go out to the polls on election day to vote en masse for a party in a vote that actually matters as it is to collect the signatures of 3% of the voters on a joke petition that doesn't matter at all??? Sure Murray. Tell us another one.Lord Kitchener's Ownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08348376638620272991noreply@blogger.com