Date: Tue, 06 Apr 2004 10:48:00 +1000
Subject: Re: AUT: Re: voting ... A Reply to Noam Chomsky
From: Thiago Oppermann <thiago_oppermann-AT-bigpond.com>


On 5/4/2004 10:17 PM, "Tahir Wood" <twood-AT-uwc.ac.za> wrote:

> I only want to respond to one point in this extremely pretentious post, not as
> a way of addressing the individual concerned, but as a follow-up to my
> previous reply to Chris (whose opinions I still value):

>Every one of these points can also be made against the refusal of work.



Pfshh... If you don't vote, you might get a fine or be nagged about not
being a good citizen. If you don't work, your life is turned upside down,
the state will come snooping on you, you might die 20 years early and live
like a rat. One reveals far more determination than the other.

But how many people refuse work - rather than, say, get shipped into
universities or forced into unemployment?  That is an empirical question.
However, since there is such a thing as involuntary unemployment in our
economy, a portion, possibly the greatest portion, of the unemployed have no
say in their own situation.

Reading their joblessness as a refusal of work would be like reading felons'
non-votes as evidence of a rejection of the electoral spectacle.

Thiago



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