Are Brits just really childish about politics?

[MayaAngelCool]

Now first of all, I loathe most things about Conservatism. So I am not trying to fly the blue flag by starting this thread.

Every time an MP makes a public error, the press cry "off with their heads" and some folks in the public bay for their blood. Take Francis Maude's dumbassed petrol hoarding suggestion. Following that horrible, but easily preventable accident of the woman who set fire to herself today, I've just read that there are calls from somewhere in the political ether for Maude to resign.

Seriously? I mean what happened to that woman was truly awful, but frankly she is the one who decided to handle a highly volatile substance in a frankly highly stupid way. I do feel sorry for her but you can hardly blame Maude, can you?

This is quite typical behaviour in the realms of politics and the accompanying press, and I then often hear 'normal' people parroting this crap as well. I can't help thinking sometimes (because obviously sometimes people abuse their positions and should be booted out) that it is idiotic and unfair to expect people to resign their jobs just because they've made a mistake. Is that what happens in your areas of work? Of course not, and rightly so.

So IMO the journos and politicos who perpetuate this rabid pack of wolves nonsense are, frankly, too idiotic to deserve to stay in their jobs. Off with their heads!

well i agree but your title is misleading

politicans and news journalists it should say

I think you're both right.

If you go back a generation, politicians resigned if they felt compromised or shamed, even if it was a mistake. Now they try to brazen things out, blame others and show no principles at all.

I think politicians, journalists and the public cry louder for resignations over smaller things as they know the creeps we have elected will never do the honourable thing when they should.

Francis Maude acted in a completely stupid and reckless way. Francis Maude advised people to fill jerry cans with petrol before a non confirmed strike by fuel tanker drivers

in fact if Francis < Maude was an employee of mine i would sack him based on the capability policy alone.

The argument that he is in no way to blame becuase the women herself acted stupidly is in itself myopic.

he fuelled the panic and considering his position should have known better. he is an imbecile and is not blameless

Politicians are in a very responsible job and people follow their advice, since they are leading the country and are assumed to be "in the know" about events etc.

The advice they give has consequences, so it must be reponsible.

So people should no longer think for themselves? Really?

The problem With politicians is that generally the people attracted to holding office are so incredibly inept and unsuitable to actually hold any office.

The ones who actually have jobs, morals and integrity are usually the ones too busy getting on with life.

People do think for themselves. They listened to the advice and some filled up jerry cans etc.

I don't think it helps that most people pick up their 'news' from dubious sources and never really look much beyond the titles or treat any information with a questioning mind ...

Didn't Brown advise people to vote Labour???? I think sometimes advice taken is ofen selectively followed ...

If people had slept through the last week, then they would not have rushed to fill up. But they listened to the news and what politicians were saying and some filled jerry cans up.

'Didn't Brown advise people to vote Labour?'
Yes, he also said we have "only 50 days left to save the planet", but the people are not stupid.

However, when ministers are saying a strike affecting fuel may be imminent, then people get worried.

well hopfully most people will learn the hard way- that the tories are a bit thick generally

Claig, I've made duff decisions in the past where I've listened to others' advice and ignored my better judgement. I hold myself fully responsible for those decisions.

Anyway, the point of this thread is that I think we rush to remove public figures far too quickly. Opposition politicians (in this case Lord Harris) obviously do it because they're playing silly, schoolboy games. But I think we, the voting public, should exercise more sense than that.

Nope, if someone who has a hand in running the country shows themselves to be incredibly stupid for whatever reason of course they should go. Are they not supposed to be worth the money they help themselves to earn?

You've got a point. I don't think 'childish' is the right word. However, I think a lot of issues are presented to us as being far more simplistic than they actually are. You could call it the 'Twitter effect'... the impression that the general public is unable to grasp concepts more than 140 characters means everything revolves around sound-bites and headlines. Politics aside, that's how we get very complex scientific studies being distilled into a scary paragraph or two.

If everything is presented as 'don't bother reading the details, just skip to the one-line approximate summary of the paraphrase of our interpretation of what someone might have done/said/thought' it's very easy to polarise opinion into 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' with very little justification.

Yep, Cogito, and I'd go further back in time than Twitter: it's the MTV concept of presenting short snatches of information so as to sustain (and generate) interest. Nowadays TV moves so much faster than ever before - just compare an old 1970s programme to one of the present day. In a multi-channel universe you can see why channels are under pressure to grab viewers, and it's an indication of the power of TV that this soundbite style has taken firm hold of many other aspects of our culture as well.

Evidence on messageboards such as these demonstrate that many (?most) members of the public are not taken in by these over the top headlines.

They have to fill air time with something so it's the lastest scandal / error / foot in mouth comment stretched to its furthest.