We will soon be voting on AV. For any non UK citizens (and any UK citizens who have been hiding in a cave since the last election) this is a change to our voting system.
I am going to do you all a big favour and NOT explain it. This is because unlike just about everybody else pontificating on the subject I am willing to assume that you are at least as intelligent as I am and if I understand it without problems then so can you.
That's actually the point of this post. Just about everybody seems to want to explain something very simple in very convoluted terms. I've heard metaphors involving sharing a bag of apples, choosing a chocolate bar, running a foot race, going to the pub and having a haircut. They have ranged from moronic and inappropriate analogies to almost inexplicable parables. I for one am sick of being patronised by people on both sides of the argument who seem to assume that I am incapable of counting to three. I understand why the "No" proponents have a vested interest in making it sound complicated but even the "Yes" lobby manage to make it hard work. Tonight's "Yes" broadcast had a bunch of people deciding which pub to go to as the analogy du jour. Once again it made it look a lot more complicated than it actually is, and this from the people telling me it's simple.
And that's the only real difference between the tactics being used to persuade me one way or the other. The "No" group start with "this is really difficult but..." and the "Yes" group start with "this is really easy and..." with what follows being more or less indistinguishable.
I for one am tired of being talked down to by both sides. It's enough to turn me off voting all together.
4 comments:
Thanks for this. It has prompted me to check up on what it's all about, bearing in mind I shall be voting for or against it tomorrow. I thought it best not to assume I knew enough already as it might prove too complex for my butterfly brain if not for yours. The promised explanatory leaflet never found its way onto our doormat.
As it turns out I can breathe a sigh of relief and, on the basis that I can count into double digits, I think I will manage to struggle through if the nation decides it is good for me.
Or perhaps I'm missing something.
David
Wow! One of my posts has a a genuine, if trivially small, impact on the world (or at least on one of its citizens).
While I'm here, are you coming along to my next reading to buy my books?
Bilston 26th May in case you had forgotten, though I will also be at Wolverhampton on next Tuesday as my writers' group launch their anthology.
The 26th of May might be a problem as it's a Thursday (nothing intrinsically problematic about Thursdays of course but I won't bore you with the details).
However, unless someone has already made arrangements for me, next Tuesday sounds like a possibility. I'll get back to you.
David
David
Looks like Tuesday will be OK for me, according to my social secretary. I think you've got my e'mail address. Can you let me know place and time?
David
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