4 ms·

Your comment is rather US centric. I doubt the attack on the WTC is a main factor in the decline of democracies across the world.

raxxorrax 6y ago
The reaction to it certainly was. You can see the paranoia on every airport or public place. Having security in every corner of the public sphere nurtures distrust and distrust is one of the worst poisons for democracy.
- indigochill 6y ago
  >distrust is one of the worst poisons for democracy I'm gonna challenge this assertion. I would actually assert the opposite: that trust is one of the worst poisons. Why? Because trust breeds weak restrictions (checks/balances), and weak restrictions are easy for dictators to exploit, thus undermining democracy. Rather, I say you want those in a democracy to assume everyone (including everyone within their own party) is a potential tyrant and to structure (and enforce) the restrictions accordingly. Where the US in particular has really fallen down, in my opinion, has been the enforcement of those rules upon those in office because of partisan favoritism. Perhaps those showing favoritism haven't realized that in the bigger picture, although favoritism is convenient, it undermines the whole system in the long run.
  - raxxorrax 6y ago
    You are correct. I meant trust in a sense that there is an understanding between political opponents that there is a common goal to work for the benefit of society. Not that you can skip checks and balances. It is indeed a problem that control mechanisms don't seem to work for executive organs. I am not located in the US and there is no law that declares it mandatory in my country, but there is a political culture that a successor administration doesn't reverse the policies the predecessor has enacted in the previous term. That is to give it a chance to have an effect. There can be exceptions of course but there is a general understanding and it is regarded as good conduct to adhere to it. Honor amongst thieves perhaps, but it doesn't have to always end in nepotism.
nend 6y ago
As an American, I doubt it's a main factor in the US as well. Xenophobia, racism, and war are deeply routed in the culture, and date far before 9/11. We're simply witnessing the culmination of the slow erosion of checks and balances over centuries, which has exposed the raw flaws that have existed since the beginning.
- airstrike 6y ago
  The aftermath of 9/11 (including the mindless crusade against Saddam Hussein) validated a lot of those feelings, though
- raxxorrax 6y ago
  I think accusation of racism are used quite inflationary and have become mainly about power.
odessacubbage 6y ago
the aftermath of 9/11 sparked an aggressive new era of us foreign policy that has been broadly destabilizing both in terms of direct anti-terror and troop actions, 'engineering' color revolutions and indirectly creating the drivers for mass migration from into both the us and europe.

raxxorrax 6y ago

The reaction to it certainly was. You can see the paranoia on every airport or public place. Having security in every corner of the public sphere nurtures distrust and distrust is one of the worst poisons for democracy.

indigochill 6y ago
>distrust is one of the worst poisons for democracy I'm gonna challenge this assertion. I would actually assert the opposite: that trust is one of the worst poisons. Why? Because trust breeds weak restrictions (checks/balances), and weak restrictions are easy for dictators to exploit, thus undermining democracy. Rather, I say you want those in a democracy to assume everyone (including everyone within their own party) is a potential tyrant and to structure (and enforce) the restrictions accordingly. Where the US in particular has really fallen down, in my opinion, has been the enforcement of those rules upon those in office because of partisan favoritism. Perhaps those showing favoritism haven't realized that in the bigger picture, although favoritism is convenient, it undermines the whole system in the long run.
- raxxorrax 6y ago
  You are correct. I meant trust in a sense that there is an understanding between political opponents that there is a common goal to work for the benefit of society. Not that you can skip checks and balances. It is indeed a problem that control mechanisms don't seem to work for executive organs. I am not located in the US and there is no law that declares it mandatory in my country, but there is a political culture that a successor administration doesn't reverse the policies the predecessor has enacted in the previous term. That is to give it a chance to have an effect. There can be exceptions of course but there is a general understanding and it is regarded as good conduct to adhere to it. Honor amongst thieves perhaps, but it doesn't have to always end in nepotism.

nend 6y ago

As an American, I doubt it's a main factor in the US as well. Xenophobia, racism, and war are deeply routed in the culture, and date far before 9/11. We're simply witnessing the culmination of the slow erosion of checks and balances over centuries, which has exposed the raw flaws that have existed since the beginning.

airstrike 6y ago
The aftermath of 9/11 (including the mindless crusade against Saddam Hussein) validated a lot of those feelings, though
raxxorrax 6y ago
I think accusation of racism are used quite inflationary and have become mainly about power.

odessacubbage 6y ago

the aftermath of 9/11 sparked an aggressive new era of us foreign policy that has been broadly destabilizing both in terms of direct anti-terror and troop actions, 'engineering' color revolutions and indirectly creating the drivers for mass migration from into both the us and europe.