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Democracy is distributed power. Dissent has its voice in a democracy but should also respect that it is a not a majority opinion. It should work to peacefully p
by nemo44x 9y ago
Democracy is distributed power. Dissent has its voice in a democracy but should also respect that it is a not a majority opinion. It should work to peacefully persuade enough of its virtue to become the oppressive majority. Otherwise it's totalitarianism.
- ThrustVectoring 9y agoThere's more than one kind of power. Democracy has one power available to it - the ability to make people submit to the laws they pass and enforce. There's another type: the ability to do things and reshape the environment in the ways you want. Call it "agency" instead. Democracy isn't necessarily conducive to fostering agency.
- mindslight 9y agoDemocracy is distributed voice, but its power is centralized. It invites every one of us to fashion ourselves as mini-autocrats, and then bicker over which specific top-down vision should be implemented. > It [dissent] should work to peacefully persuade enough of its virtue to become the oppressive majority The existence of my rights does not depend on my ability to convince a majority that I have those rights. Your assertion sounds like someone who comfortably enjoys the power of the majority, lording it over the oppressed. > Otherwise it's totalitarianism Democracy and totalitarianism are orthogonal, but most adherents of democracy seem to fall back on totalitarianism, because they mistakenly believe that having a voice is sufficient freedom. In actuality, tyranny of the majority is still tyranny. Which is why we have the concept of rights that can be appealed to beyond whatever the local mob decides.