Piffka:
So what you are saying is that you are using a poll as a way to promote your thread. Okay.
It's just that I feel that, in an attempt to seem democratic, we go way overboard trying to see how people "feel" about something when they really aren't in position to form an opinion one way or the other.
In a democratic country, all votes are equal. We also tend to measure the success of a democratic leader by how much he has improved the lives of all of his citizens-that's very important. And we in democratic countries have developed an ethic that all people's opinions are to be listened to.
However, this has led to a sense that all things are to be settled by vote or public opinion. I don't know how it is in Australia, but in America, people have almost given up arguing whether something is right or not. They argue about whether it is popular, or can be made to be popular. Our news stories increasingly deal with poll jumps, poll declines, what effects polls have on policy. Polls have their use-but we have gone way too far.
So when you came up with a poll asking people to decide if the Colossal Squid was a separate animal or merely a Giant Squid with an active Public Relations push behind it, my reaction was "Arrrrgggghhhhh!"
Nothing personal, you understand. You just happened to hit on a subject that has become a sore point with me. :wink: :wink:
