kami888
11th September 2004, 13:50
Its some crazy thought I had recently. (I have many crazy thoughts :D )
Do we have individualism under democracy? And for instance, do we need democracy?
The general idea of democracy is that 10,000 people have less chances to be wrong than 100 people. Well, I disagree. Imagine that 10,000 people lived under some totalitarian state where they were continuously told that green is better than blue, while the other 100 lived in a state which told them the opposite. Now, why should those 10,000 people be correct and those 100 incorrect? In fact, we all must agree that we are listening to propaganda and we are being brainwashed all the time. Any kind of social communication can be considered brainwashing. One of those 100 people of the second state, went to see whats happening in the first state. There he was told by everyone that green is better than blue. Since so many people said that, he began to believe them and changed his opinion. Neither one of us can say that we have a totally firm opinion on everything in the world. Moreover, since we dont know the purpose of human existence is, and we cant really say what is good and what is bad, having the firm opinion on everything would be dumb. In other words, we must have different opinions on life- we must have individualism.
Though, lets look at how individualism is being implied on the world by the democratic countries. I dont see much difference between Democratic and Republican party of USA. Bush and Kerry seem to me as brothers in their ideas. The fact that they are opposing each other does not mean they have opposite ideologies. Imagine if one person says lets invade Iraq, while the other says no, he is wrong, there is nothing in Iraq, lets invade Iran. It isnt much of difference between them if the both want to invade. But democratic and republican parties are the only two large parties of USA. Why are the others not getting any votes? Lets look more general. During the world war II, we have eliminated fascism. Question: what for? If we are seriously trying to protect individualism and we cannot prove that fascists are wrong because we dont know what is right and what is wrong, then why couldnt we just let them live? We find their ideas bad? So what?... During the world war III the cold war, communism was almost completely eliminated. The remaining communist communities will become smaller and smaller with the time.
Now if you think about how propaganda is run in democracies, you will see that under democracy, the ideological majority tends to become bigger and bigger, while the minorities become smaller and smaller. Its quite easy to see: One of the ideologies already got the majority (Due to a war or natural flow of circumstances), now majority means that they have more donations and more money; more TV channels, radio channels, newspapers and magazines to run their propaganda; they have more children to tell what is right and what is wrong to; they have more teachers among them to teach others what is the right ideology. And with the minorities its quite the opposite. So recall what I said above the minorities will become smaller and smaller, while the majorities will become bigger and bigger. IMO, this flow of history is unavoidable under democracy. So what will we have in the end? We will have the state which will always want what the people want, and we will have the people, who, in turn will always want what the state wants. Doesnt it remind you of anything? To me, it reminds me of totalitarianism.
So how are we to achieve individualism? One way make a separate island for each person on the planet and do not ever let people communicate. That way individualism will be preserved, but the civilization will be dead.
Another idea that I had recently: Divide the world into three totalitarian states (at least three), so that each state has absolutely equal population and equal amount of resources. Then appoint the representatives of the three well known ideologies as the heads of the three countries. Build iron curtains around each of the countries so that people will never get a chance to communicate. Then let everyone live peacefully. The idea might seem good, but its doomed to failure because they wont live peacefully.
Any other ideas?
Do we have individualism under democracy? And for instance, do we need democracy?
The general idea of democracy is that 10,000 people have less chances to be wrong than 100 people. Well, I disagree. Imagine that 10,000 people lived under some totalitarian state where they were continuously told that green is better than blue, while the other 100 lived in a state which told them the opposite. Now, why should those 10,000 people be correct and those 100 incorrect? In fact, we all must agree that we are listening to propaganda and we are being brainwashed all the time. Any kind of social communication can be considered brainwashing. One of those 100 people of the second state, went to see whats happening in the first state. There he was told by everyone that green is better than blue. Since so many people said that, he began to believe them and changed his opinion. Neither one of us can say that we have a totally firm opinion on everything in the world. Moreover, since we dont know the purpose of human existence is, and we cant really say what is good and what is bad, having the firm opinion on everything would be dumb. In other words, we must have different opinions on life- we must have individualism.
Though, lets look at how individualism is being implied on the world by the democratic countries. I dont see much difference between Democratic and Republican party of USA. Bush and Kerry seem to me as brothers in their ideas. The fact that they are opposing each other does not mean they have opposite ideologies. Imagine if one person says lets invade Iraq, while the other says no, he is wrong, there is nothing in Iraq, lets invade Iran. It isnt much of difference between them if the both want to invade. But democratic and republican parties are the only two large parties of USA. Why are the others not getting any votes? Lets look more general. During the world war II, we have eliminated fascism. Question: what for? If we are seriously trying to protect individualism and we cannot prove that fascists are wrong because we dont know what is right and what is wrong, then why couldnt we just let them live? We find their ideas bad? So what?... During the world war III the cold war, communism was almost completely eliminated. The remaining communist communities will become smaller and smaller with the time.
Now if you think about how propaganda is run in democracies, you will see that under democracy, the ideological majority tends to become bigger and bigger, while the minorities become smaller and smaller. Its quite easy to see: One of the ideologies already got the majority (Due to a war or natural flow of circumstances), now majority means that they have more donations and more money; more TV channels, radio channels, newspapers and magazines to run their propaganda; they have more children to tell what is right and what is wrong to; they have more teachers among them to teach others what is the right ideology. And with the minorities its quite the opposite. So recall what I said above the minorities will become smaller and smaller, while the majorities will become bigger and bigger. IMO, this flow of history is unavoidable under democracy. So what will we have in the end? We will have the state which will always want what the people want, and we will have the people, who, in turn will always want what the state wants. Doesnt it remind you of anything? To me, it reminds me of totalitarianism.
So how are we to achieve individualism? One way make a separate island for each person on the planet and do not ever let people communicate. That way individualism will be preserved, but the civilization will be dead.
Another idea that I had recently: Divide the world into three totalitarian states (at least three), so that each state has absolutely equal population and equal amount of resources. Then appoint the representatives of the three well known ideologies as the heads of the three countries. Build iron curtains around each of the countries so that people will never get a chance to communicate. Then let everyone live peacefully. The idea might seem good, but its doomed to failure because they wont live peacefully.
Any other ideas?