Why is politics taboo in many countries?

Post Reply New Topic

In Denmark, Sweden and UK there are many discussions on political issues.

But when I go search discussions with people from the US, Singapore or China, it is taboo. People get angry at me.

Example:

If I go to a danish discussion board and write about death penalty, we get a huge discussion for or against death penalty.

If I go to an american discussion board, the message is from everyone: The condemned deserve to die.

I cannot discuss politics with people from the US, Singapore or China. I was once kicked out of an english speaking chinese discussion board at http://bbs.chinadaily.com.cn/index.php because I was too critical to the regime. Before I was kicked out, I was flamed and shouted at by the community.

And when I try to discuss political issues with singaporeans, they just tell me it is none of my business.

Why are politics taboo or absolutism in the US, Singapore and China?

Popular opinions are different from country to country. On the death penalty, in Europe it is more split, while currently in America it tends more for then against (although this varies from group to group, or location to location).

In mainland China you can be jailed for criticizing the Communist government, so to a large degree honest online discussion is not possisble. Although, some bloggers have spoken out, with some being arrested and some released after protests.

ADDENDUM: Also, the Chinese link is a Chinese state owned newspaper. They would not allow dissent.

Never heard of a counrty where politics aren't discussed. Openly? Depends on what you say. My views would most surely land me in someones prison someplace. Might even here, if I got vocal enough. China and some other places are monitored by the governments. You can find charts showing which are actually free to express their views. You go trying to still up s**t on those baords and you might land somebody in prison.

The condemned are to die? show me one innocent man on death row and it's one to many. Think they've found more then one. Until they can come up with a fool proof method to keep the innocent from getting wasted, then screw it all. Care to take it further? Start a thread here. Pick anything, if I don't have a view on it, gimmie a minute and I'll make one up.

Politics in the US is a joke, as are the views of the majority of the citizens there. Why, don't know why exactly, maybe : religious foundation of the country, being at the top for too long, successful corporate overthrow of political system ? Something like that. Anyway Americans are far too busy killing each other to do any politics.

In the UK we are not too far behind, sure we have some action at the despatch box but that's for the TV, in reality it's the powerful f*****g the weak (as has been going on for many thousands of years).

In France during their election it was amazing to hear the opinions of people in the street. They actually had opinions worth a damn.

basically it's the fear of losing their power. I am from Singapore so I know. Even the TV stations massacre each other until one wins. So that's why our Tv series are so boring due to lack of competition. And basically the govts dun like competition.

A lot of Americans and I suppose probably Chinese and Singaporean probably don't care too much for outsiders being overly critical of them. Politics can get very emotional and divisive here and it's a pretty heavy thing to discuss with people in day to day life so I can understand why some people shy away from it. It's not taboo or anything, people discuss it all the time, I think your issue is that people disagree with you.

I remember a "Wizard of Id cartoon"

A stranger came into the country and asked a local what the kingdom was like.

The local said "I can't complain"

The stranger asked "Why not?"

The local said "It is forbidden"

Here we get a lot of complaints about health care reform, but none if it at all rational.