The importance of following politics, especially outside election time.
- Joëlle Przytula-Bertherin
- Jan 9, 2021
- 6 min read
In my last blog I talked about the importance of doing your own research and not blindly following the narrative. This time I would like to apply this to a specific subject: doing your own research when it comes to politics. First, let me explain why I think it's important to follow politics. I used to be one of those people who was very indifferent towards politics. This indifference sprung from several reasons: one of them was distrust towards politicians.
Still, when the elections came I did vote, purely out of principle and because I didn't want my vote to go "to waste". The consequence was that I voted for political parties I didn't know much about. Only the things that the so called "voting guide" showed me: the online questionnaire that helps you decide what to vote. The problem with this is: these points only consist of what the political party says they stand for, but doesn't show you what the party actually DOES. As we all know, it's not the words but the actions that count.
This is the main reason why I started exploring politics. Not only during election time, but also in between. I started by doing this through the mainstream media. I began to see a pattern though: all media outlets gave out the same information when it came to our politicians. This bothered me. Where were the critical notes? Why did everyone have the same opinion? It made me curious to what else was out there and opened up a whole new world to me. Now that I do my own research, I know where to find different sources, so I can make up my own mind about what I think of certain politicians. Of course, it's impossible to know and intercept everything, so staying critical is key, even if you find something that confirms your beliefs.
What I started to notice is that not all political parties are bad. But also, not all of them tell the truth! "Well, all politicians lie", is something you hear often. But this is not something that we should be o.k. with. The only way we can change this is, first of all, by noticing it and second of all by having them answer for their mistakes. This may sound extreme but have you noticed that politicians are the only ones that can get re-elected or instated in other functions even when they make unforgivable mistakes? This is something that would never happen in a regular job. So by actively following politics, and noticing what is really going on, more people will be able to hold them responsible for lying or fraud and very important: not elect them a second time.
Once you start to see all of the above, you can experience a lot of emotions, but boredom will probably not be one of them. Whatever your opinion about the politicians and their parties may be, they keep it interesting to say the least.
Like I said before, I used to not follow politics because I believed they were all the same and all liars. This was a very narrow-minded way of thinking. How can I have an opinion if I never really looked into it? If people would have asked me what my thoughts were, I probably would have had nothing smart to say, because my opinions only consisted of negativity, not facts. Besides, when you don't really know what's going on in your country, are you really allowed to complain? I mean, it's o.k. to not want to know about who runs your country, that's a choice you are allowed to make. However, can you have a well-rounded opinion if you don't take the time to investigate a little bit?
So why do politicians sometimes say one thing, but do the opposite? What most people don't realize, and even are indifferent to, is that a lot of lobbying goes on between political parties, organizations and companies worldwide. This is a way for them to extend their influence throughout the world. In itself this doesn't really have to be a problem. It's normal for big companies to want to know where they stand within a government in order to survive. And even though times are changing, we used to depend a lot on these companies to have a running society. It does become a problem however when our politicians are not transparent about the companies or organizations they cooperate with. Or when these organizations have leverage on them and use this to force their agenda. A lot of people may think that this is unthinkable. Well, think again.
Right now my country, the Netherlands, is run by Prime Minister Mark Rutte. His party originally is right-winged. Since the election in 2017 however, they have shown more and more left winged-behavior. A small example is first raising the speed limit to 130 as promised before the election, and then later lowering it to a 100. Let me first say that this is not about right or left, this is about saying you stand for something and following through. Not saying one thing, and showing something else.
I will give you an example. In 2018 the public found out that PM Rutte suddenly was planning to exonerate all big companies from dividend taxes. Meaning they would not have to pay taxes over their profits. This would not include the medium or smaller sized businesses. The thing is, this was something mister Rutte didn't communicate before, but after the elections. You can imagine that this is something a lot of business owners would want to know before voting for his party, as it basically meant that only big multinationals would profit from this: their potential competitors. One of them was Unilever. After this became a scandal and mister Rutte was questioned severely about this, Unilever decided to keep their main quarters in the UK so it wasn't an issue anymore. By the way, did you know that our Prime Minister worked at Unilever from 1992 until 2002? This is something worth knowing when you value this whole situation and why I can't stress enough to look beyond what the narrative tells you.
Another example: in April 2020 it became clear that a couple pharmaceutical companies blackmailed our minister of health, minister Bruins, by saying they would withhold necessary medicine if he went through with a pre-planned law amendment. Our minister of health collapsed after this in our parliament when he was debating about covid-19. He was replaced by minister Hugo de Jonge, who is a very big advocate of the Covid-19 vaccination. This could be a coincidence of course, but it's notable to say the least.
Then we have left winged party GroenLinks. As the name tells you (GreenLeft), they're a green party that are pro nature, pro animals and want the earth to be clean and healthy. Great! Most of us are. So why are they also pro biomass? It sounds very green but it means chopping thousands and thousands of trees (even ancient forests in eastern Europe that will never come back), just to insure a back-up for the thousands of windmills that are installed and only work when there's wind. Does this make sense to you? When you google this you will find many mainstream articles about them being against biomass. So why is it they voted against stopping it? The narrative will not show you this so I've added a link at the bottom where you can see proof. But again, make up your own mind and investigate it yourself.
These are only a few examples of organizations putting pressure on our government and thus controlling it. I can assure you there are many more. But again: don't believe what I say, research what I say. Only then can you develop the knowledge that can bring you the confidence to form a solid opinion.
Finally, I am not pointing out these examples to tell you who to vote for in the next election. I'm simply pointing these out because they happened. They are facts. These people talked about the interest of the people, but were actually working in the interest of big organizations. By knowing the organizations behind the politicians, you know who you're truly voting for. Again, this takes some time and energy to investigate. With a great payoff in the end. Now that we live in very interesting times, it's especially important to know which organizations interact with our leaders. When you have so many pharmaceutical companies and health organizations who are invested in a specific outcome, it's crucial to know who our politicians are working with. It tells you a lot about the direction your government wants to go and thus the potential future of your country. It also gives you a head start at the elections. As a last advice I urge you to try and take pleasure in this process. It can be fun to be a digital detective.
Good luck!
Sources:
https://www.ad.nl/politiek/topman-unilever-afschaffen-dividendbelasting-was-onze-harde-eis~a51472e5/
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