Power to the masses?

Re: Power to the masses?

I don't think this happens in some cases, I think it happens in most cases.


Let's just say that I have been disappointed in the results.

Re: Power to the masses?
Joe

I agree with you. In most cases majority is wrong. But that is because people doesn't get the proper information, instead they are subject to massive manipulation. People choose a president instead of other for two or three slogans, the way they speak, the way they look.
And perhaps the majority of people prefer things that way. It's easier.

The problem is that the alternatives to democracy are always worst. Like Popper said, at least in a democracy we can change a bad president or prime minister without the need of violence.
Imagine what it might be to be forced to think, believe and act according the views of some Castro or arabian sheik...

In most cases when the majority is wrong it is so because decicions are made on false info. In truth I don't think ideologies are good for much. It has always been willfull men and women that have been the true glue of any system, and the only power that can drive anything forward. We follow leaders, not their ideologies.

Power for all humanity.

No doubt. The problem for democracy is that its success depends on the level of education of "the masses." In the U.S. most people read enough to read propaganda, but they're not educated enough to see through it. It is such a shame that when political pressure is brought to bear on the inadequacies of our educational system additional classes in mathematics is considered the solution. What about history, social studies, philosophy (even for the young), literature and the arts? A nation of people prepared to be engineers is not quite what we need. We need a nation of worldly, sophisticated and sensitive people (whether or not they are also engineers).

This leads back to Plato-Socrates argument concerning democracy, but then again, it is the best system we got. What I don't like is how the government can keep the public so misinformed oftentimes. Can the public choose rightly if the government is keeping so many things to itself?
A complicated issue I think.

Actually, I feel that even with all the accurate and unbiased information at hand, the majority can still make wrong judgement.

For example, a teacher may ask her students whether they want to have homework or not. Of course, most students will say no, however, the teacher knows that homework can help reinforce the students learning and aid them to apply concepts learned. This is just one example of the majority making wrong judgements.

The masses have power.It's what to do with it.

I agree with spendius here. The masses have incredible power, and all it takes for a relatively small group of men and women to usurp it all is to call attention away from it, to lead everyone to think that they're helpless.
A leader who is true to the democratic ideal should lead by example. He should appeal to the free will of each individual, rather than try to form these individuals wills to match his own, as is more common it today's world.

Sire:-

Me and you ain't helpless is we.

Who knows. I never underestimate the cleverness of white-collar business criminals.

Sire:-

I do.It isn't cleverness.More animal cunning.

I don't believe in democracy at all... I think it's a stupid way to govern a society, rendered slightly more intelligent by making it representative democracy yet still stupid and prone to errors.

Quote, "I don't believe in democracy at all... I think it's a stupid way to govern a society, rendered slightly more intelligent by making it representative democracy yet still stupid and prone to errors." The above sentence is an example of poor grammar. "...by making it representative democracy yet still stupid..."

The above post is an example of immaturity. When someone says one of your posts is completely incomprehensible it isn't really appropriate to find another thread in which they make a minor grammatical error and point it out. Did you search through every post I wrote to find a grammatical error? Was that the worst one you found? What does that say to you?

However I'll happily open my grammar to the commentary and complaints of the web. I think my grammar and use of the english language represents me well online, it certainly does comparatively speaking with the vast bulk of the net.

The ancient Greek Philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle are with you on that one Antibuddha. I think that democracy is not perfect, but it's the least flawed system we have. Plato suggested his Republic but I think that it is flawed, and dictatorships include democracy's problems multiplied by 10 + narcissistic tyrants ruling the country (usually).

Ray, I agree, but want to stress my earlier point that democracy, while superior to all other systems, is inadequate without a very high level of universal education. In our present condition, most Americans are very vulnerable to the mind-bending symbolic manipulations of the power elite. We have a de facto plutocracy in America. Most people are unable to (1) see though those manipulations and (2) unable to know their own enlightened interests. I would even argue that our plutocrats are for the most part insufficiently educated to know their own long-term enlightened interests. Money, power, and social rank are, in the final analysis, vacuous values. Not to understand that is to lack true education (as opposed to mere job training).

val, What you say is true; people are 'manipulated' from knowing the truth, and they don't do their homework to find the truth. Here's one example: Bush in all his speeches praise our military for the work they are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, the majority of those vets coming home with injury and trauma are not being taken care of once they come home. Some have waited for their benefits until they just died. If the majority knew how this administration speaks with forked tongue, do you think the "majority" will support Bush? Maybe. Politics has no logic.

One the the failures of our current society (egads no wonder the liberals hate me) is/was the GI Bill for education following WW II. This "educate the masses" program resulted in an abundance of degreed technicians with the converse decline in "education"