Democracy in Redemption - A commentary on the voting system in Redemption March Madness
On the Susannah vs Daniel thread there has been a lot of discussion on how hype negatively affects the vote. The purpose to this essay is to show that hype is actually what drives MM and how it's actually beneficial not just in MM, but in real life. I am making an assumption that everyone likes democracy, and we all agree in the rights to free expression, if you don't agree with these things this will be empty to you, but I think I'm safe in assuming, that we like the right to freedom of opinion.
1. There is an element of hype in everything. There is hype for Susie and for Dan, as shown by the fact that both heroes have adamant supporters on either side of the voting block. Therefore whoever the winner turns out to be can be blamed on hype, since both sides are hyped up.
2. This is a popularity contest. After taking into consideration the above point which says that hype determines the outcome, we can conclude that this is a popularity contest. More than that though, is the fact that the outcome is determined by 'popular' vote. Ergo whoever is the most popular gets the most votes.
3. Popularity means the people control the outcome. Essentially we are exercising 'popular sovereignty' in this contest. Popular sovereignty is a term from political theory that means 'power from the people that lends a government legitimacy' Thus we see here that because we are voting we are in control.
4 Since we control it there is no arbitrary partiality. Just because you are partial to one side doesn't mean that the vote will turn out that way, since there is no set standard that says you must vote this way, or vote for this, it means that everyone will have different opinions on what's popular. This is a good thing, it makes sure the system is fair to the voters since they each get an equal say (one vote). It is possible that a better character good get hosed (like SWS last year
) but the important thing is fairness to the voters. This happens in real life too, people sometimes vote misguidedly, but should we deny them their right as a citizen (or in our case forum member) to vote just because they are going to vote on absurd premises? No it doesn't, because once you put limits on how you can vote arbitrary power now controls the final outcome, and removes popular sovereignty, the people's power over the government (or in our case MM).
In conclusion, the voting system is not flawed, maybe the people are, but there isn't anything you can do about the people except face-palm, and force a smile.
Blessings,
Wings
