Yah-boo sucks politics

 I apologise for sinking into the serious, but I thought it might be worth discussing the rise of Yah-Boo Sucks politics. As a frustrated political cartoonist my somewhat pathetic attempt at illustrating what I mean is below. 

Along with the vast majority of those of us lucky enough to live in democracies with the right to free speech, I am a firm believer that to have a functioning democracy, and also the need for adversarial politics.

It helps keep the elected administration in line and, with luck and a following wind, holds them to account for any outlandish or dangerous decisions they may attempt to implement. 

On paper, it all looks fine and has the appearance that it might work pretty well. Sadly, when you come up against human nature, things start to look very different.

I hesitate to quote Winston Churchill as he was certainly not a perfect parliamentarian and had ideas I would never support, and character flaws I can well recognise, but I do strongly agree with what he said about democracy.  

“Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” (He said this in a speech to parliament on November 11, 1947. A highly significant day in the UK being the anniversary of the end of WW1 and this just two years after the end of WW2)

My fear at the moment is that the adversarial nature of democratic government is giving way to what has become known as Yah-boo sucks politics, and therefore the politics of the schoolyard.

More importantly, it precludes debate.

Yah-boo sucks politics is perhaps best described in English terms as “I’m right, your are wrong - f**k off.”

When it manifests itself, it is unconstructive in nature and generally demonstrates that one side is doing a good job and that their critics have no fresh ideas and can only sink to the schoolyard level of... I’m right, you are wrong. It also demonstrates a lack of mutual respect, which really should not be the case with people in such elevated positions.

Look at the US, a sad case in this respect. We have Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican) firmly proclaiming “the era of bipartisanship is over.”

As the old saying goes. If you don’t know what pornography is, you will know it when you see it. 

A statement that no matter what policy the government comes up with, it will be opposed. It’s a race to the bottom for any country which relies on the democratic government process, and really has to be avoided at all costs. 

It’s easy to see the issues the US is having with its democracy, and similar things are beginning to happen elsewhere in the world. Good democracy is under threat in many areas.

Everyone living in any democracy needs to be on the lookout for Yah-boo sucks politicians and immediately ask if their criticism is justified, backed up by evidence and whether the critic has any ideas of their own to offer.

Being a news junkie, I see examples of it every day somewhere in the world.

Political dogma on the part of some individuals means those questions never get asked, lack of attention to politics is another. 

But for those who watch these things and value the freedoms democracy brings, it’s vital to continually challenge the school yard rhetoric, and not let political power seekers further their cause when they are apparently bereft of ideas of their own and rarely seem to put forward an alternative case. 

It’s like the neighbour's little yappy dog biting your ankles. If you ask him why he’s doing it, he'll likely reply “I don’t know, I’m a small yappy dog for Christ’s sake... and that’s what small yappy dogs do, right?….gggrrrrrr snap, chew.”

What you really want to do is launch the little blighter over the horizon with a well aimed kick, but neighbourliness prevents you from doing so. 

Sometimes, opposition parties are the small yappy dog and there is no need to be so kind to small yappy politicians who might be threatening your democracy. Challenge them as loudly as you can.

Stay on the alert for creeping menace of Yah-boo sucks politics, wherever it manifests itself. Otherwise those with no fresh ideas and just a lust for power will be running your life. 

Tinkerty Tonk

《 Yah-Boo Sucks Politics 中二政治 》 首先我要為我今天早晨陷入嚴肅的思考感到抱歉，但我認為中二政治 (Yah-Boo Sucks Politics) 的興起可能值得討論。我一直很想成為一個政治漫畫家，但心有餘而力不足，不過我還是試著做了一張來表達我的意思，雖然可能看起來有點可悲。 和絕大多數人一樣，我們非常幸運生活在享有言論自由的民主之中。而我堅信要有一個有效的民主，就需要有對抗性的政治 (adversarial politics)。這有助於監督當選方的政府，而且幸運的話，可以讓他們對任何古怪或危險的決定負責。 理論上這一切都很好，而且看起也很有可能實現。但可悲的是當你遇到人性時，事情開始變得非常不同。 其實我有點猶豫要不要引用前英國首相邱吉爾的話，因為他不是一個完美的國會議員，我當然很清楚人類性格都有缺陷，他有些想法我永遠不會支持，但是我非常同意他關於民主的說法。 「許多形式的政府已經被試過，而這種嘗試將繼續在這個充滿罪惡和苦難的世界中進行。沒有人假裝民主是完美的或充滿智慧。確實有人這麼說過，民主是最糟糕的政府形式，不過不算那些一再被試過的其他形式。」 這是邱吉爾在 1947 年 11 月 11 日議會演說中的一部分。這一天對英國有非常重大意義，是第一次世界大戰結束紀念日，演說之際是第二次世界大戰結束後兩年。 我現在擔心的是民主政府的對抗性，正在被眾所周知的中二政治所取代，淪為校園政治。更令人擔憂的是，這種現象排除了必要的論證。 關於中二政治，也許最好的描述：「我是對的，你是錯的，滾一邊去。」 中二政治基本上沒有建設性，通常只說明一個現象，就是有一方做得很好，但他們的批評者沒有新鮮的想法，只能沉淪到校園互嗆的地步：我是對的，你錯了。完全沒有互相尊重的精神，實在不該是權重位高的人應該有的表現。 從這個角度看來，美國可以說是一個可悲的案例。參議院少數黨共和黨領袖 Mitch McConnell（共和黨）最近堅定地宣布：兩黨合作的時代已經結束。 正如那句老話，如果你不知道色情是什麼，你看到就會知道，一如中二政治。無論政府提出什麼政策都反對到底，這是一種逐底競爭，任何依賴民主程序的國家來都必須不惜一切代價避免。 美國在民主方面的問題很容易看出來，而世界其他地方也開始發生類似的事情，良好的民主在許多領域都受到威脅。 生活在任何民主國家的人都需要留意中二政客，並且要立即進行思考：他們的批評是否合理，是否有證據支持，批評者是否有自己的想法。 關於政治，某些人永遠不會有以上的疑問，有些人則是對政治毫不在意。作為一個新聞迷，我每天都會在世界的某個地方看到這樣的例子。 但是對於那些關心這些事情，並重視民主帶來的自由的人來說，重要的是要不斷挑戰中二校園言論，不要讓追求政治權力的人，在他們顯然沒有自己的想法，並且很少提出建議的情況下，進一步推動他們的野心。 這就像鄰居那隻叫個不停的狗咬了你的腳踝一口一樣，如果你問他為什麼咬你，他可能會回答：「我不知道啊，拜託，我只是一隻叫個不停的小狗......這就是頑皮小狗做的事，對吧......汪汪，咬咬，嚼嚼 。」 其實你真正想要做的事，是瞄準這個煩死人的東西，然後精準地踢它一腳，不過你的鄰居會阻止你這樣做。 有時後反對黨就像是叫個不停的小狗，沒有必要對可能威脅民主發小脾氣的政客過於友善，應該盡可能大聲地挑戰他們。 無論中二政治在何處表現出來，都應該對其潛移默化的威脅提高警覺，否則那些沒有新鮮想法而只是渴望權力的人，將主宰你的生活。 Tinkerty Tonk。。。掰掰。