And I've come to the conclusion that that's what politics are for. Or, should I say "should be for"?
I think there are two ways to get a critical mass of people to move a certain way: through a massive ad campaign, or through laws.
Unfortunately, both ways are not guaranteed to work. For instance, women's rights were greatly improved in the 20th century through a massive campaign, the feminist movement. It lead to women's right becoming a focal topic, in the media and then in society, and by raising awareness and being persistent, slowly things started improving. Today, however, my impression is that by and large women's rights are on the decline again. Intuitively, it seems to me that if there's someone with an agenda pushing against certain topics, such as for instance some global corporations against environmental actions, it becomes and arms race between those who benefit from the status quo and campaign members. If the latter fail to create a new status quo in a certain window of time, the campaign will eventually lose steam. Not that the topic will disappear completely, but it will be harder and harder to motivate others for the cause because the novelty has worn off.
Therefore if people cannot be convinced - and of course it's always more comfortable for people not to have to change - an alternative could be to force changes by law. Again, if we look at environmental issues, a lot of improvements have been made that way, but how many more have been missed?
The goal of a politician is not to change, it is to be re-elected. So s/he has to be convinced that doing a certain thing will get her/him closer to that goal. Again, we're looking at an arms race, this time it's the lobbying race. The campaigning discussed above plays into that as well because if the public opinion can be influenced that will definitely be heard by politicians as well. It doesn't automatically mean that the public's will is going to be put into law, but the more pressure from outside the better.
I've given up trying to get people to even read up on environmental issues let alone change their behavior. And believe me, I've tried. I've given up because it's too frustrating. I think people have to be forced (through laws), they won't change by themselves.
Yup, and there's been success with legislation. Take the clean air and clean water acts. My parents say these have had a profound effect in a relatively short time.
And I've come to the conclusion that that's what politics are for. Or, should I say "should be for"?
I think there are two ways to get a critical mass of people to move a certain way: through a massive ad campaign, or through laws.
Unfortunately, both ways are not guaranteed to work. For instance, women's rights were greatly improved in the 20th century through a massive campaign, the feminist movement. It lead to women's right becoming a focal topic, in the media and then in society, and by raising awareness and being persistent, slowly things started improving. Today, however, my impression is that by and large women's rights are on the decline again. Intuitively, it seems to me that if there's someone with an agenda pushing against certain topics, such as for instance some global corporations against environmental actions, it becomes and arms race between those who benefit from the status quo and campaign members. If the latter fail to create a new status quo in a certain window of time, the campaign will eventually lose steam. Not that the topic will disappear completely, but it will be harder and harder to motivate others for the cause because the novelty has worn off.
Therefore if people cannot be convinced - and of course it's always more comfortable for people not to have to change - an alternative could be to force changes by law. Again, if we look at environmental issues, a lot of improvements have been made that way, but how many more have been missed?
The goal of a politician is not to change, it is to be re-elected. So s/he has to be convinced that doing a certain thing will get her/him closer to that goal. Again, we're looking at an arms race, this time it's the lobbying race. The campaigning discussed above plays into that as well because if the public opinion can be influenced that will definitely be heard by politicians as well. It doesn't automatically mean that the public's will is going to be put into law, but the more pressure from outside the better.
I've given up trying to get people to even read up on environmental issues let alone change their behavior. And believe me, I've tried. I've given up because it's too frustrating. I think people have to be forced (through laws), they won't change by themselves.