dimanche 5 juillet 2009
Post-democracy?
Democracy is adulterated and killed by the same forces that once gave birth to it. People's power becomes power by those who learn how to manipulate people. Dictators are either "democratically elected" or rise to power with support of some mass movement. Neither a dictator or the ideology he uses to legitimize his power, neither the will of the people expressed via elections can tell us what is the truth. Society, human beings, ecosystems, technosystems -- to rule them, to transform them, we must know the truth about them. This needs different methods, not voting, not rulings, fatwas. In the past, the right strategy for living, surviving, ruling a state was to act in the traditional way. If you did what your ancestors did, you had some guarantee of success. Innovation, change was not welcome, it was dangerous. Nowadays we have changed ourselves and our environment to such a degree that the traditionalist way is no longer safe. We cannot any more live as our parents and grandparents lived. We must make an effort to understand the situation and act accordingly, to act in most rational way. Unfortunately our democratic system makes it nearly impossible to be rational. Our democracies are corrupt: in order to gain votes, to rule, politicians must give people tips, promise them a better, more comfortable life. They can do it conspiring with capitalists, those who make things, who are able to invent and produce more and more gadgets and entertainment. If this isn't corruption, what is? In fact, our politicians turn people away from politics, from analyzing real problems and finding answers to them. Politics is becoming a branch of entertainment, losing the touch with reality, alienating people from it, enticing them to live in an artificial world of fantasies, slogans, ideologemes.
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2 commentaires:
But is humanity even developed enough to be rational and humane at the same time?
Because people need entertainment they are always attracted to extremes. And slogans are easy to understand, convenient. Fairytales make them comfortable with themselves. Leading few -polticians - take responsibility from them.
Therefore, I think, that the state has a face of the people (majority)who have created and still live in it (- weak? passive? stupid? selfish?).
And that's for me the most scary and unpleasant part of it all.
If democracy's practice doesn't look like its's theory, then not only the leaders are faulty but also the people and maybe the concept in general.
Yes, of course, the democracy has our face. But it also selects a class of skillful manipulators and entertainers who can say to us what we want to hear, and in return get our support. Democracy seems to be an environment that leads to an self-destructive evolution of people and societies. Perhaps there is an alternative to it, perhaps not. But in any case we should think about this, not to reject the idea of post-democracy as a positive development. In my opinion, we could perhaps learn something from the Chinese Confucian tradition. After all, it has helped to create and sustain a civilization that has lasted longer than any other one.
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