What is Politics?

Interesting question, what is politics – don’t you think?

Apparently there are many possible definitions but the one with which I particularly resonate is all about POWER!

 I’m thinking back to Orwell’s Animal Farm and the abuse of power through totalitarian propaganda because propaganda is how anyone stays in power (i.e. nation-state, head of household, corporate).  

In this case, I’m defining propaganda as opinion management which surprisingly is ethically a neutral term.

So why does it get such a bad reputation? I suspect it has something to do with the use of opinion management (spin doctors – sound bites) across a broad base having made everyone increasingly suspicious. Yet the most amazing thing is that however suspicious and fed up we get with the spin-doctors and the sound bites they produce, we keep asking for more and what a surprise – we keep getting it!

But what we fail to understand is that politics – just like propaganda – is a two-way street – THEY produce the sound bites – but do we have to BITE?