Petitions, referendums and other agendas

Am I the only one who thinks its a bit of a drag when people ask you to sign petitions of a formulated thought or,position that you need to make up your mind on the spot?

Often there isnt any ONE answer to something.

petitons often ciruclate in groups, youd be chatting away on some topic and then randomly somone will hit you with a peititon to sign something without even explaining what it is you are signing or what your signature would mean.

Are they trying to push a bill or change legislation? are you signing on your behalf or someome elses?

do petitions really change things? or are they a waste of time like referendums are.

I dont quite understand but then I dont want to sign something I dont understand or havent thought through just because someone asks me to.

Trouble is, with the extreme polarization of people these days, they do glom onto one thing, ignoring and downplaying anything that says different.

And with todays non-existent attention spans, people don't have it in them to spend the time considering all the evidence. That's why they only seek out that which confirms their pre-existing beliefs.

Thus my signature - sheep to the left of me, lemmings on the right, here I am stuck in the middle with few.

Maybe we could start a petition poll. We could name it death spiral.

Well, there was a petition to recall Governor Newsome. The petition went through and the vote was allowed but in the end, it didn't matter. Cheaters gonna cheat.

Here in Oregon a bunch of us petitioned against a bill that would take away vaccine exemptions, in 2019. Petition and protests and the bill got dropped. So, yes. Petitions can change things.

I think the funniest petition I ever watched (via youtube) was a guy who was asking people at a college to sign a petition to end women's suffrage. Sooo many people (especially women!) had NO clue what he was talking about but signed anyway. I don't understand why anyone would sign something they don't understand.

Ever hear about the petition to ban dihydrogen monoxide? Many people get killed by this chemical every year, but it is available in stores nationwide!

They got a lot of signatures, but it never got banned... it's just water.

Ive never started a petition but I remember the school library association had one although what they were asking the govt for was that every student have access to a school library funded by the ministry of education with specialist library staff.

I did sign it. I dont know if that petition meant they had a mandate though, it got nearly 6000 signatures, But I reckon they would have got more if STUDENTS or every child in school signed it!

Thats the thing with some campaigns, or petitions they are kind of narrow in their outreach because not every librarian is a member (or can afford to) be part of the association.

If they'd worded it differently it might have had even more traction. Why would you start a petiton but have it sort of self-interest that meant only library staff sign. instead of peoole it directly affects...like the students?!

huh says on the website that it needs to be an official parliament petition not just an online one by action station which I recall was the one I signed.

The other one that I didnt sign was started by change.org or something, to do with vaccines or something but I didnt understand it so didnt sign it.

https://www.parliament.nz/en/get-involved/have-your-say/petitions-faq/

Petitions, it would seem, generally get ignored. So do mass protests, as we are seeing all over the world right now. Referendums may have been effective at one time, but since the corruption of election machinery they may now be subject to manipulation. Basically democracy is now dead, and totalitarianism has been established in the so-called free world.

That's cheerful!