While it is most likely true that most citizens of democratic countries don’t think about democracy (the way we don’t think about running water until the pipes break), there has always been a large minority (perhaps) that does. In Canada we maintain that we have long been shortchanged by our mainstream media including our CBC who steadfastly refuse to cover democracy except when norms are threatened in other countries. Who clearly believe we are too dim to care about it.
We would reply that if it is not the job of a free press to inform citizens of the value of democracy, what do we even have the press for?
If feels like the worst form of elitism for those with the platform granted journalism in a free and democratic society to continually pat us on the head and tell us democracy is too tough for us to understand.
At the same time they force feed us arcane points of professional sports, never worrying whether we care about it or not.
We are too busy for a decentralized participatory democracy. We are too busy trying to get by, trying to get ahead, trying to get more even when we have more than enough. We have become better at keeping busy with less and time for careful inclusive thinking-reflection. The space between stimulus and response gets filled with never ending stimulus rather than used as the space - the freedom to exercise our greatest freedom-time to stop being busy to deliberate. Stopping to think deeply escapes us in our pace of consumerism of things and stimulus. We are geared to be reactionary and that indeed makes us too dumb for democracy.
And with PM Carney's support of the US and Israel starting a war with Iran are we following the democracy path outcome of Walter Donovan or did he choose wisely.
While it is most likely true that most citizens of democratic countries don’t think about democracy (the way we don’t think about running water until the pipes break), there has always been a large minority (perhaps) that does. In Canada we maintain that we have long been shortchanged by our mainstream media including our CBC who steadfastly refuse to cover democracy except when norms are threatened in other countries. Who clearly believe we are too dim to care about it.
We would reply that if it is not the job of a free press to inform citizens of the value of democracy, what do we even have the press for?
If feels like the worst form of elitism for those with the platform granted journalism in a free and democratic society to continually pat us on the head and tell us democracy is too tough for us to understand.
At the same time they force feed us arcane points of professional sports, never worrying whether we care about it or not.
Socialism or barbarian, 'twas ever thus
C.B Macpherson's Possessive Individualism was beyond the general understanding of the general public.
We are too busy for a decentralized participatory democracy. We are too busy trying to get by, trying to get ahead, trying to get more even when we have more than enough. We have become better at keeping busy with less and time for careful inclusive thinking-reflection. The space between stimulus and response gets filled with never ending stimulus rather than used as the space - the freedom to exercise our greatest freedom-time to stop being busy to deliberate. Stopping to think deeply escapes us in our pace of consumerism of things and stimulus. We are geared to be reactionary and that indeed makes us too dumb for democracy.
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And with PM Carney's support of the US and Israel starting a war with Iran are we following the democracy path outcome of Walter Donovan or did he choose wisely.