It began with some inchoate sense that what we now call 'politics' strongly resembles a prison in which the front gates are not only unlocked, but they are currently never closed. Similarly, the doors to the individual cells of this prison are unlocked, but most of the prisoners pull their cell doors closed themselves. There are no keys and the cells are unlockable. The guards of the prison have long since forgotten where the keys had been kept. And it is not entirely clear whether the guards are not also inmates who are taking turns at role-playing games.
"Reading this I asked myself, “When did we begin to fetishise democracy? What was the role of the WWII in using democracy as a cover for militarism ?”
An excellent question, tjarlz!
My initial response is this: There is 'democracy' -- in scare quotes -- and there is the possibility, I dearly hope, of societies in which the scare quotes can be honestly and safely removed. These are two different things altogether in my opinion.
Democracy, with scare quotes, is a sham, a scam, an illusion, a fraud, a hoax. But actual democracy is governance of, by and for the people. It has to be all of these to be deserving of being called "real democracy".
Sadly, I don't believe there is very much actual -- real -- democracy in our world. And if we're to have any chance in hell at real democracy, we've got to subject the claim to democracy to a thoroughgoing critical assessment.
I live in the USA. You live in Australia. Both nations are, it seems to me, only pseudo-democracies, in that we've been too quick to accept the label. And both nations are subject to a massive amount of propaganda from a certain segment of 'the political class' (see the Wikipedia article on that term) which would rather we had only a pseudo version of 'democracy'.
If we're not asking the profound questions about what 'real democracy' might be, we're likely falling for the pseudo- version. I'm not falling for it.
Agreed with James.
"Reading this I asked myself, “When did we begin to fetishise democracy? What was the role of the WWII in using democracy as a cover for militarism ?”
An excellent question, tjarlz!
My initial response is this: There is 'democracy' -- in scare quotes -- and there is the possibility, I dearly hope, of societies in which the scare quotes can be honestly and safely removed. These are two different things altogether in my opinion.
Democracy, with scare quotes, is a sham, a scam, an illusion, a fraud, a hoax. But actual democracy is governance of, by and for the people. It has to be all of these to be deserving of being called "real democracy".
Sadly, I don't believe there is very much actual -- real -- democracy in our world. And if we're to have any chance in hell at real democracy, we've got to subject the claim to democracy to a thoroughgoing critical assessment.
I live in the USA. You live in Australia. Both nations are, it seems to me, only pseudo-democracies, in that we've been too quick to accept the label. And both nations are subject to a massive amount of propaganda from a certain segment of 'the political class' (see the Wikipedia article on that term) which would rather we had only a pseudo version of 'democracy'.
If we're not asking the profound questions about what 'real democracy' might be, we're likely falling for the pseudo- version. I'm not falling for it.