In my view, the average politician is shallow, petty, selfish, thoughtless, trigger-happy and has delusions of grandeur.
They aren't, however, actually malicious.
Nobody's sitting in a high-backed chair, stroking a hairless cat, and cackling in the palace of Westminster. But there are a lot of 'representatives' who assume that laws are something that only apply to the bad guys. The bad guys are terrists, because the newspapers say so. Clearly, the answer is to write some laws that make life difficult for terrists.
These same politicians see themselves, their fellow electees, the police force, and so-on, as the good guys. Since they are the good guys, and would never do bad things (because that's what bad guys do), they don't see a problem with awarding themselves ever increasing power and authority.
The problem is not malice, but a lack of empathy, social awareness, and an inability to assess the consequences of action.
On top of that, we - the computing community - see web censorship as a major problem, because we spend so much time using the internet, and often feel like cultural outsiders. Most politicians see the 'net as relatively new and alien, and are more socially inclined. They see the death of individuals as worse than the decay of a system, where engineers (and others) might well regard the systems of freedom, justice and democracy as transcending any individual citizen.
This is all rounded off with a lack of technical knowledge, a lack of curiosity, and that overblown sense of self-importance that leads our leaders to make sweeping statements about things they don't understand.
Even people you disagree with have reasons for their opinions - and Hanlon's Razor applies.
P.S. This post could equally well go in any of the off-topic/politics threads around here. It might even be better placed in one of the others - but I'll leave it here for the moment, as it was an indirect reply to Stan, above.
They aren't, however, actually malicious.
Nobody's sitting in a high-backed chair, stroking a hairless cat, and cackling in the palace of Westminster. But there are a lot of 'representatives' who assume that laws are something that only apply to the bad guys. The bad guys are terrists, because the newspapers say so. Clearly, the answer is to write some laws that make life difficult for terrists.
These same politicians see themselves, their fellow electees, the police force, and so-on, as the good guys. Since they are the good guys, and would never do bad things (because that's what bad guys do), they don't see a problem with awarding themselves ever increasing power and authority.
The problem is not malice, but a lack of empathy, social awareness, and an inability to assess the consequences of action.
On top of that, we - the computing community - see web censorship as a major problem, because we spend so much time using the internet, and often feel like cultural outsiders. Most politicians see the 'net as relatively new and alien, and are more socially inclined. They see the death of individuals as worse than the decay of a system, where engineers (and others) might well regard the systems of freedom, justice and democracy as transcending any individual citizen.
This is all rounded off with a lack of technical knowledge, a lack of curiosity, and that overblown sense of self-importance that leads our leaders to make sweeping statements about things they don't understand.
Even people you disagree with have reasons for their opinions - and Hanlon's Razor applies.
P.S. This post could equally well go in any of the off-topic/politics threads around here. It might even be better placed in one of the others - but I'll leave it here for the moment, as it was an indirect reply to Stan, above.
