Story-driven politics

 

I am extremely tired of sensationalist politics that brainwash people into thinking they are making a difference.

Climate change is the most clear case:

Climate change is an important issue - a technological one, I believe, because I am techno-optimistic* - and one full of laws that are nothing but sensationalist takes and laws that fool people into thinking they are making a difference.

Banning plastic straws, plastic shopping bags, and now all chargers that are not USB C, all while we burn more coal than usual and shut down nuclear power plants.

This is what I like to call "story-driven politics": Devising laws and political discourse based on measures that seem to move the needle rather than ones that actually move the needle. This technique is especially popular because when we are talking about complex systems like the ones politicians have to deal with, telling a good story is often far easier than actually solving the problem. Sitting in the EU parliament in Brussels and show a picture of a turtle with a plastic straw up its nose is way easier than convincing the German chancellor to stop being reliant on Nord Stream.

Climate change is far from the one area where story-driven politics is prevalent.

The Portuguese government does it a lot in the economical sector with endless grants, vouchers, and other gimmicks where they frame the story as "giving money" where the far more economically beneficial strategy for the common citizen would simply be "taking less money". Notice the framing difference? While they are could "take less", that would still be "taking" and thus a weaker and less positive story than "giving", even if more effective.

Understand this and you'll understand most modern politics - story-driven politics.

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(from my about me page) *Techno-optimistic: I believe technology makes the world a better place and will continue to do so. Global warming, waste management, clean water, energy production, among others, are usually framed as environmental/political problems when in reality they are technological ones and will be solved fast by technological leaps, not gradually;

Relevant tweets:

https://twitter.com/jose_goncalves_/status/1577356006761316353

https://twitter.com/jose_goncalves_/status/1577369482565132288