>John wrote:
>
> > I vote and although I know it has no measurable effect on the outcome
>I do it anyway and yet feel it is not mostly symbolic. Makes no sense but
>there you have it.
>
>But that does make sense. What doesn't make sense is treating a
>concrete act like a symbol. Life is not a text that needs to be analyzed and
>critiqued like some poem in a graduate seminar, ferreting out secret meanings.
>
>Brian Dauth
>Queer Buddhist Resister
Most actions that have no measurable effect in selecting a specific outcome are largely symbolic. Like choosing to boycott Nike. This action has no perceptible effect on Nike so it is largely symbolic. You don't have to analyze it for a secret meaning if you don't wish but that doesn't change the fact that it is largely symbolic. I do vote and as I stated I don't FEEL as if it is a symbolic act but it is primarily. Collectively voting has an effect but individually it does not. That's why it makes my head hurt. Rational choice theory fails to explain collective actions in a convincing manner but that failure is hardly exclusive to that decision making theory.
John Thornton