wrong not to vote
I do think it is wrong. If everyone paid no attention to politics, we wouldn't get anywhere as a nation. I think people should at least be aware of what's going on and have some kind of opinion. At the same time, people shouldn't throw opinions out if they don't really know what they are talking about.
The treatment of news as entertainment, and bringing this horse race aspect in, can make people better informed.
This reminds me of the most recent election we have had. It was a very entertaining election, but I don't feel that I learned more about the political process. All I learned about was why either candidate was unfit to be president, instead of what they were actually planing to do.
I would love to know whether having a character like Herman Cain run in the Republican primaries makes the voters better informed as to what the final candidates’ policies are. I don’t think there’s any data, I’ve never heard of any study, that actually tries to pin down the way in which this drama and entertainment element of primaries is a contributor to a more informed public.
Entertainment should have nothing to do with politics. It's not about entertaining people, it should be about information and what is going on.
We tell ourselves we consume news to make ourselves more informed citizens, and so we can keep up with things, for reasons I don’t know. I don’t know why it’s important that I keep up with Yemen, for instance.
I disagree with Dubner. It's important for our government to be aware of what's going on in other countries, and it's good for everyday people to be aware as well. It makes me question what change we can make.
have no idea why that’s actually important, unless we think about it in terms of what you just said, which is that it might entertain me.
We want to be aware of things as much as we don't want to know about them. It's a weird contradiction.
What if we really follow the news just to … entertain ourselves. That story and more, coming up, after this short break.
Isn't that what people watch the news for? For entertainment? I think sometimes people watch the news just to see how stupid other people are. I know someone who likes to watch the news just to be able to rant about it. I can tell that this person gets so worked up about it emotionally.