189
submitted 10 months ago by BrikoX@lemmy.zip to c/globalnews@lemmy.zip
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Alteon@lemmy.world 33 points 10 months ago

Moscow just bans any candidate that could threaten Putin's reign.

[-] gloriousspearfish@feddit.dk 18 points 10 months ago

I cannot understand why they even bother to do the elections at all. It is just for show, and everybody know it. Why not just skip it completely?

[-] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 3 points 10 months ago

They feel themselves stronger if an election was held. The populace feels itself somehow weaker and obligated to obey if an election was held.

See my other comment under this post.

[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

The law / constitution requires that elections be held. You can't break the law without a lot of people noticing. But you can bend it sufficiently to ensure you win.

[-] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 6 points 10 months ago

It's not about noticing, it's about magical thinking.

Voters feel as if the government has some strength if they voted for somebody or "chose not to vote".

That government feels that even if there's no intrigue at all, having a vote makes them somehow popular.

Source - live in Russia, know this shit.

[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

Ah, I see. In my country the party in power will do whatever they can get away with to improve their chances of winning. So we have elections, but they aren't really 'fair'.

[-] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

There are gradations. Most likely in your country the elections are more real than in Russia.

I'm talking about the reason that ritual even exists, and the effect it has.

Instead of imprisoning people it's more efficient to allow them to imprison themselves.

Some random Russian middle-age school teacher just goes on with their not particularly happy life because 1) they think they should limit themselves and everybody is doing that and 2) they think they've taken an obligation, as imperfect as the process may be.

Medieval monarchs had their subjects swear oaths for a reason, even though the supporting layer would be jails and gallows.

Humans are not rational beings. We do not act on universal principles. We act on instincts.

All this is intended to persuade "subjects" to control themselves and "sheriffs" (which are a crowd too, state apparatus is too big a thing to be attributed conscious goals at ruling a country) to think that their position is safe.

I was very unhappy until I realized this, in many areas of life.

[-] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works -1 points 10 months ago

To show it to Ukraine probably.

[-] littlebluespark@lemmy.world -1 points 10 months ago

The same reason the US still likes to refer to itself as a democracy. Theater.

this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
189 points (99.5% liked)

Interesting Global News

2564 readers
216 users here now

What is global news?

Something that happened or was uncovered recently anywhere in the world. It doesn't have to have global implications. Just has to be informative in some way.


Post guidelines

Title formatPost title should mirror the news source title.
URL formatPost URL should be the original link to the article (even if paywalled) and archived copies left in the body. It allows avoiding duplicate posts when cross-posting.
[Opinion] prefixOpinion (op-ed) articles must use [Opinion] prefix before the title.


Rules

1. English onlyTitle and associated content has to be in English.
2. No social media postsAvoid all social media posts. Try searching for a source that has a written article or transcription on the subject.
3. Respectful communicationAll communication has to be respectful of differing opinions, viewpoints, and experiences.
4. InclusivityEveryone is welcome here regardless of age, body size, visible or invisible disability, ethnicity, sex characteristics, gender identity and expression, education, socio-economic status, nationality, personal appearance, race, caste, color, religion, or sexual identity and orientation.
5. Ad hominem attacksAny kind of personal attacks are expressly forbidden. If you can't argue your position without attacking a person's character, you already lost the argument.
6. Off-topic tangentsStay on topic. Keep it relevant.
7. Instance rules may applyIf something is not covered by community rules, but are against lemmy.zip instance rules, they will be enforced.


Companion communities

Icon attribution | Banner attribution

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS