803
submitted 5 months ago by jeffw@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 6 points 5 months ago

I don't think the barrier should be "do you know history trivia?' but rather "can you read and understand a wikipedia article?"

Except that would immediately turn into Jim Crow era literacy tests and be used for evil. You'd want an electorate that cares and a press that asks revealing questions, though.

[-] xerazal@lemmy.zip 7 points 5 months ago

I mean the Jim crow literacy test thing was used against voters. These are people that are supposed to govern. I kinda draw a distinction there.

Yes I do believe that voters and the press should be caring more and asking more revealing questions, but media literacy in this country is low, voter involvement is low, and our press is nothing more than arms of the ruling class so they rarely ever ask the necessary questions to allow voters to truly understand who's on the ballot.

[-] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 3 points 5 months ago

I mean the Jim crow literacy test thing was used against voters. These are people that are supposed to govern. I kinda draw a distinction there.

If we had any sort of "you must pass this test to be an elected official", it would without a doubt be used against minorities.

I would love to have that kind of test, but I don't know how to have one that wouldn't be corrupted.

[-] TimeSquirrel@kbin.melroy.org 6 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

I can excuse someone for not knowing details because not everybody is a history major (hell I don't even know who all signed that document), but these people build their whole identity and politics around jingoism, so they better back it up.

[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 months ago

We're not talking trivia here. You should know basic history of the country that you govern. If you don't know that, make room for somebody that did pay basic attention in class. These are things that if you don't know them, you can learn them by investing a few days to weeks at most.

this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2024
803 points (98.8% liked)

politics

19246 readers
2775 users here now

Welcome to the discussion of US Politics!

Rules:

  1. Post only links to articles, Title must fairly describe link contents. If your title differs from the site’s, it should only be to add context or be more descriptive. Do not post entire articles in the body or in the comments.

Links must be to the original source, not an aggregator like Google Amp, MSN, or Yahoo.

Example:

  1. Articles must be relevant to politics. Links must be to quality and original content. Articles should be worth reading. Clickbait, stub articles, and rehosted or stolen content are not allowed. Check your source for Reliability and Bias here.
  2. Be civil, No violations of TOS. It’s OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It’s NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
  3. No memes, trolling, or low-effort comments. Reposts, misinformation, off-topic, trolling, or offensive. Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.
  4. Vote based on comment quality, not agreement. This community aims to foster discussion; please reward people for putting effort into articulating their viewpoint, even if you disagree with it.
  5. No hate speech, slurs, celebrating death, advocating violence, or abusive language. This will result in a ban. Usernames containing racist, or inappropriate slurs will be banned without warning

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

That's all the rules!

Civic Links

Register To Vote

Citizenship Resource Center

Congressional Awards Program

Federal Government Agencies

Library of Congress Legislative Resources

The White House

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

Partnered Communities:

News

World News

Business News

Political Discussion

Ask Politics

Military News

Global Politics

Moderate Politics

Progressive Politics

UK Politics

Canadian Politics

Australian Politics

New Zealand Politics

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS