'I voted for "fuck you" that's who'

Depending on whether or not you are Swedish, you may or may not know about how Swedish people in general (obvious generalization, I know) are very reluctant to discuss politics. This is probably something you will also find in other cultures, but in my personal experience, it's slightly more prevalent in Swedes. People will avoid the topic as much as possible, and flat out asking what someone voted for is considered really ill-mannered.

This bothers me, and it should bother you too. One of the better pathways to truth is often discussing things with someone who disagrees with you, as long as you can maintain a respectful level of dialogue. If you never discuss important issues such as politics with anyone else, your beliefs will never become truly tested, and you can't be sure you hold those beliefs for a good reason. And therein lies the problem within Swedish society and this issue - people aren't willing to have their convictions tested, they just want to cling to them like a comfort blanket. Most people have absolutely no good reason for voting the way they do, they've just chosen a path and decided to stick with it and vote whatever way others within that denomination seem to be doing.

The reason this should bother anyone sharing a community with people who won't have their beliefs challenged is obvious; everyone who is part of a society contributes to it in one way or the other. In the very least they can use their vote to influence who will lead the country. So if we have a hypothetical 50% of voting adults out there (indeed hypothetical but I'll say it's a plausible number) who mostly base their voting on dogma and tradition, then that's not leading us forward, now is it?

The reason I feel that this belongs on this blog is that this way of thinking is the very antithesis to a skeptical mindset. A skeptical person will not be too afraid to have his beliefs challenged, or too proud to admit he was wrong, if it comes to that. That kind of pride is messing with a lot of minds, convincing them that they shouldn't ever admit to being wrong, no matter how insurmountable the pile of evidence against your position.

This is actually one of the more practical ways of demonstrating that magical thinking (belief in deities, homeopathy, astrology, aliens etc) actually has real consequences. If you have a climate where no belief ever gets challenged, this is the political climate you will get, stale and dogmatic.