Mr Bean wins spanish elections
Out of context: Reply #16
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- rafalski0
Thanks OBBTKN, I understand this is still a rough sketch, getting deeper would take us hours of talking and probably a lot of wine (hey, why not try this someday?)
It is to say this government was relatively easy on ETA . Obviously ETA would rather keep that government and not have Partido Popular back. As you said, ETA violent methods cause Basque people turn their backs on them, cause what people eventually want is to live in peace.
That's (in my opinion) why they killed just before the election: so people, shocked by ETA's attack would vote for current government.. which is what ETA actually wants(!)
I might be wrong, of course. These calculations are not that simple indeed. The killing might get people (especially in mainland Spain) to vote for the party that offers to crush ETA better (PP) and actually could've been bad for PSOE.
Still, I don't believe such demonstration of power placement just before the election was accidental.It is true, as Kelpie noticed that I would prefer Spain (or any country) to have a government that offers social liberalism, but moreso economic one. I'm just generally pro-freedom and think that socialism is a flawed idea that ends in high taxes, unemployment, state and (to some people surprisingly) corporate monopolies. So yes, I might be biased.
But in this case, I'm also fascinated by the pure socio-mechanics of the situation, by ways of influencing the masses in a democracy. Triggering people's actions without them knowing they're doing what you want.
That's why when I read the news, I'm putting on the cynical glasses that help me see between the lines. I try to look at what they do, and the results of what they do, skipping what they say.Funny not everyone here realises it's a similar kind of business most of us are in - influencing people's decisions by design. We photoshop people and things to look better and sell advertised products better.
I loved this quote from "The Devil Wears Prada":
"Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blindly unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff."