Creating Political Dialogue Institutions

Walking home, after reading some Guy Debourd junk about this "Spectacle" thing, I started thinking about media and the interaction people tend to have with each other. I don't see many people having conversations about the issues of the world. Mostly, people watch some news and maybe talk about a story that sticks out to them, like the earthquake in Haiti. But most people aren't getting together in groups on a regular basis to discuss issues of importance and how to take positive action toward them. Thus, our society seems very apolitical as a whole.

But what causes this apolitical behavior and how can we change it? Obviously people tend to be busy, though not busy enough to neglect going to bars regularly. Busyness cannot be the explanation. I see the answer within the world of institutions. We simply need the appropriate institutions to make the activities available. Economic institutions are easy because people need to work to earn a living. Thus, there is a great deal of pressure to organize income producing activities. So, many times, when it comes to life and death issues, it is reasonable to expect "spontaneous order" to take place. But how about the non life and death issues? Surely humans are motivated to more than just staying alive. So if their are people motivated to discuss the issues of the world with a group on a regular basis, why are there so few of these types of groups? Or are the existing groups proportional to the amount of people desiring to take part? I don't think the latter is true because I would like to be part of one of these groups, but am not. There are plenty of more narrow groups out there, but not the type of broad political discussion group we are considering here. Honestly, I'm stuck. I see the challenges. Who would want to join a broad political discussion group with random people?--though I suppose it doesn't have to be groups of random people, it can be friends. Also, what would these groups aim to accomplish? I don't think people generally gain adequate fulfillment from objective-lacking groups (friends get together for the objective of having fun). So then what if non-random people organized in groups to discuss issues regularly and also have an impact on the world's issues? Is the problem that when friends get together they'd rather focus on having fun? I think we need a special time, place, and group of people in order for this to work; just like my football buddies I meet at the sports bar on Sundays or the church congregations others meet up with each Saturday or Sunday.

The more I think about this, the more difficult it seems to create. I can imagine a wall categorizing all of the significant issues of the world. I can imagine people discussing issues, coming back, building on previous knowledge. But can I imagine this leading to anything? Sure, the participants will expand their understanding of the world, but will they be able to leverage sufficient power to make a worthwhile impact? Oh yeah, and finding hosts for these gatherings will not be an easy task either. I'm done for now.