Petitions – can they change the world?
We all know that a local issue can be resolved or brought to a head with a petition, but is that the case with issues played out on the national and/or international stage? Do such petitions carry any weight or are they more about giving people the impression that they are actually making a difference? Can a petition change the world?
Basically, last night I friend and I were asked to sign a ‘Make Poverty History’ petition as we were waiting in the line to get into the stadium to see U2. Whereas others just signed the thing, we both said no and were fortunate enough to be subjected to a bit of a guilt trip after making our positions known (my friend just wouldn’t sign it and I refused on the grounds that I had other social justice priorities and that the petition, though a practical option, would just be ignored given that it doesn’t involve much effort on the part of those providing a signature). As always, I couldn’t help but come up with better arguments after the fact, but such is life.
In a way I guess that it’s an unfortunate fact of life that the humble petition is one of the more practical ‘protest’ tools given that few feel the need to attend rallies and that the idea of writing a letter is no longer in vogue (actually, it is, but in my mind you can hardly call ‘add your name here’ forms letters, can you?). Though many people sign petitions and a number of people take the time to collect signatures or names, I'm of the opinion that the petition itself doesn’t exactly express just how important a particular issue is – did a person sign it because they actually care, or did they sign it because they didn’t want to appear heartless or because they didn’t want to listen to a mini lecture? Also, why didn’t other people sign it? Is it because they truly don’t care, or is it because they do not agree with the idea of a petition in principle, be it on privacy (i.e., email) or utility grounds? There are other reasons, but those are the few that spring to mind at this particular point in time. Though I'm not a fan of the petition, I do think that it’s unfortunate that such scepticism surrounds the petition, especially when it’s a practical way of, at the very least, giving the impression that a large number of people care.
Anyway, that’s enough from me. Anyone else?
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Edit: There's also the online petition, something that I consider to be innovative yet for the most part meaningless.
We all know that a local issue can be resolved or brought to a head with a petition, but is that the case with issues played out on the national and/or international stage? Do such petitions carry any weight or are they more about giving people the impression that they are actually making a difference? Can a petition change the world?
Basically, last night I friend and I were asked to sign a ‘Make Poverty History’ petition as we were waiting in the line to get into the stadium to see U2. Whereas others just signed the thing, we both said no and were fortunate enough to be subjected to a bit of a guilt trip after making our positions known (my friend just wouldn’t sign it and I refused on the grounds that I had other social justice priorities and that the petition, though a practical option, would just be ignored given that it doesn’t involve much effort on the part of those providing a signature). As always, I couldn’t help but come up with better arguments after the fact, but such is life.
In a way I guess that it’s an unfortunate fact of life that the humble petition is one of the more practical ‘protest’ tools given that few feel the need to attend rallies and that the idea of writing a letter is no longer in vogue (actually, it is, but in my mind you can hardly call ‘add your name here’ forms letters, can you?). Though many people sign petitions and a number of people take the time to collect signatures or names, I'm of the opinion that the petition itself doesn’t exactly express just how important a particular issue is – did a person sign it because they actually care, or did they sign it because they didn’t want to appear heartless or because they didn’t want to listen to a mini lecture? Also, why didn’t other people sign it? Is it because they truly don’t care, or is it because they do not agree with the idea of a petition in principle, be it on privacy (i.e., email) or utility grounds? There are other reasons, but those are the few that spring to mind at this particular point in time. Though I'm not a fan of the petition, I do think that it’s unfortunate that such scepticism surrounds the petition, especially when it’s a practical way of, at the very least, giving the impression that a large number of people care.
Anyway, that’s enough from me. Anyone else?
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Edit: There's also the online petition, something that I consider to be innovative yet for the most part meaningless.
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