Tuesday, June 9, 2009

21 May 2009: "HRO READER SURVEY"

This post is about manufacturing consent. Here Carles poses a number of insignificant questions for his readers to answer in order to expose the mechanics of crypto-democracy. The illusion of participation is easily constructed, regardless of whether the data collected serves those who have volunteered it or the undisclosed purposes of the questioner.

The questions themselves make a mockery of the entire premise of political polling as a means to conduct late-capitalist, postmodern democracy. The first question is typical -- "1. What makes u happy about HRO?" The emphasis on personal happiness indicates the way poll questions often deflect respondents' attention away from shared reality and onto themselves, permitting solipsism to masquerade as political participation. Happiness, being impossible to define objectively for all possible respondents, becomes a meaningless counter in a game where worthless opinions are collected to placate a self-regarding populace trained to care for nothing but their own whimsy.

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