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Not a silver bullet. With this we'd still have the death penalty; or voted for populists measures like banning minarets.
by Aissen 12y ago
Not a silver bullet. With this we'd still have the death penalty; or voted for populists measures like banning minarets.
- cm2187 12y agoThen you don't really believe in democracy, and I have to disagree.
- mercurial 12y agoNo, you have to understand how human nature works. Unfortunately, it is much easier to get people worked up about populist issues than about something that matters. I think the record speaks for itself.
- koszik 12y agoPlease take a look at what happened in Athens a few thousand years ago. You'll see that even then people were susceptible to fear mongering and manipulation, so in effect the real power was in the hands of a few. People has always been stupid, there's no way around that, sorry.
- mauricemir 12y agoThe Melian dialogue is what the poster is referring to here for those that did not any classics at school
- yellowapple 12y agoToday I learned that the Athenians were assholes, at least for awhile. Who knew?
- acron0 12y agoNope, and neither should you.
- CamperBob2 12y agoI did for a while, but I have to admit the charm is wearing off.
- donkeyd 12y agoCompletely agree, pseudoscience and fear mongering will rule the world if this happens...
- fennecfoxen 12y agoOoh, what a delightfully aristocratic objection. We can't give the lesser peoples self-rule, they'd rule themselves wrong!! Have you considered any noblesse oblige-style colonization and rule of third-world nations? Sounds like a good match.
- Aissen 12y agoI'm aware of the ethical implications, and I haven't made my mind on the matter (probably never will). I just said that it's not a silver bullet, and presented cases where it could go wrong.
- jodrellblank 12y agoThat looks like the author is not saying "they'd rule themselves wrong", they're saying "they'd rule me against my wishes by voting conservative reactionary and ineffective laws into my life"
- fennecfoxen 12y agoThe feeling is probably mutual, for what that's worth -- as evidenced by the first amendment and a wave of religious-freedom restoration acts. Postscript. You'd think a little geographic diversity and a federal system would let people let each other live in peace but instead we have national culture wars.
- CamperBob2 12y agoYou can be as snarky as you want, but the fact is, I don't want the average dumbass on the street to have that much power over my life, and neither, I suspect, do you. There has to be something resembling meritocracy in any functioning organization, and that includes a government.
- rjaco31 12y agoThe hard part is finding incentives not to get corrupted once you're in place.
- 12y ago