Democracy 101 (are we brainwashed automats?)

[BadAim]

Originally Posted by arthursmedley

BadAim, I'm confused m8! Are you in basic agreement with Prof Chomsky then?

LOL, Arthur. That depends what you mean by agreement. Sociology is a difficult animal. On the political scale I come in about two degrees to the left of Genghis Khan, but in reality it makes little difference these days.

I know you a bit, and I believe that you and I are more of a like mind than either of us would rather admit. Our friendship notwithstanding.

The problem with self government is apathy. I think that most people don't give a crap about anything so long as they can do what they want. It's just reality. The friction comes in when people start giving a crap. The sad thing is that those who give a crap are often led astray by people who don't give a crap, but who pretend to give a crap in order to profit off those who actually give a crap (let's, for the sake of argument call these people, er.....say maybe, "politicians")

In the end the real lines should be drawn between the ones who don't give a crap and those who do. In the end it doesn't work out this way. The "politicians" get the people who give a crap arguing amongst themselves to the point where they forget what they were arguing about while the "politicians" reap the benefits and the whole rest of society pays the price.

In the end, I think that Chomsky was correct in that the majority is not fit to govern themselves. I disagree with the method of separating the wheat from the chaff. The difference comes in the philosophies of "education", and of "parenting", two institutions that have changed massively in the past decades.

I doubt that this answers any one's questions, let alone yours, Arthur, but it does give some indication about how I feel about the subject.

Edit: I can't believe I wrote "in the end" three times! In the end I'm just an idiot.