Ask Lemmy
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected]
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
view the rest of the comments
I get what you're saying, I think there's something to hearing it from the horse's mouth. However, yeah most people don't go to have their opinions changed, now they go to cheer and chant and show support.
However, I'll also say, in these smaller states, there really isn't a lot of going on. A politician is essentially a celebrity to a lot of people, and so having a big event like that in your town of 15,000 is a pretty big deal.
I think at least for me, you really nailed it when you said that politicians are like celebrities to a lot of people. I personally have just never had any interest in celebrities. Music is a big thing for me, but if I had the opportunity to go meet one of my favorite artists, I wouldn't. What am I going to do, say "hey, I really like your music," and that's the end of it? There's no point. I enjoy the art that they make, but meeting them briefly in-person isn't going to change anything for them or for me. It'd be a better use of my time to stay home and do just about anything else, maybe even stay home and listen to one of their albums.
Politicians are the same. I'm not buying their album, I'm voting for them. They don't produce an entertainment product, but they produce a change in my country (be it good or bad) that directly affects me. It still doesn't make the slightest bit of difference to me or to them if I meet them in-person or not. I can respect what they they do professionally without having a desire to shake hands.
Ah we're different there. There are 2 celebrities I would love to sit down and have a chat with, I would love to know more about them. It will never happen, but it's there.
I think people are that way with politicians in this country, they are giddy and obsess, and it's a fun euphoric state where you forget about reality. During Covid I fell down the parasocial relationship ladder a few rungs because it was more fun than staring at my wall for hours on end, but when Covid ended I pulled myself back out. Not everyone does though.