Are Americans losing faith in democracy?
Seven charts that might make you fear for democracy’s future — in America, and around the world.
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Scary-looking article, until… you look at the graph axes. They don't really represent change over time, they seem to more represent change over age (which is not time, if you snapshot the population and then distribute over age). The one or two that represent change over time have their axes scaled to make a small difference look huge. And, finally, that last graph seems to have a bunch of countries who've HAD experience w/military rule in section of those who don't think military rule is such a good idea.
Re-scaled axes don't always distort the picture, sometimes they just highlight the change you're talking about. Â I don't have any problem with the way the axes are scaled in that article.
Doesn't that presume that Americans had democracy in the first place? Hint: The USA has never been a democracy.Â
+Dustin Wyatt I have to agree with +John Lusk. Young people of every generation of have vaguely formed and radical ideas. They don't have enough real experience to draw on. They can only draw on the amount of life they have experienced and most of that was in childhood and adolescents – great times to be alive, but thinking is often immature.
+David D No, I agree with you and +John Lusk that this isn't alarming.  I disagree with him that that the graphs make it appear alarming.