Yadda wrote on May 13
th, 2011 at 11:32am:
Postmodern Trendoid III wrote on May 13
th, 2011 at 9:06am:
Promising title, but the dribble from the bible does little help.
If we disperse with the religious mumbo-jumbo this has potential to be a very interesting topic indeed. There are simply too many armchair warriors and critics around. Which is really a problem created by the democratic ethos that any fool, no matter how idiotic, can have equal say to the intellectually and physically superior.
In this world, the physically superior can impose his will upon the intellectually superior.
In this world, the majority can impose their will upon the minority.
'Democracy' works in the same fashion.
i.e.
The will of the majority holds sway, over, and often suppressing, differing points of view.
Does this mean that the majority, or, the strongest, are
always the 'right-est' [i.e. the most 'correct'] ???
e.g.
If 1,000,000 people insisted that the earth is flat, but some 'dissenter' says....
"I believe that the world is shaped like an orange."
...are the, must the, 1,000,000 people be correct ???
Why so ???
Is it because it is obvious to any fool, that the 'collective' views and opinions of the 1,000,000 people are
clearly, intellectually superior, to the views and opinions of one or two, or, half a dozen, dissenters ???
Ah, yes, but it isn't the majority who assert their will over the rest of us, it's a very small handful of influencers who hardly anyone knows about.
Population growth and immigration, for example, are pushed by property developers, retailers and people like Heather Riddout from the Business Council.
News Limited, through the
Telegraph and
Australian actively mobilizes protest against the carbon tax - and most Labor policies, really.
And need we mention the influence of Haliburton on US foreign policy?
Popular opinion does not just happen. A majority needs to be actively massaged, brought together and shaped. It constantly forms, fractures and regroups. Different groups emerge, rise and fall, and it has been this way - before mass communication even came into being.
It's just easier now - but tough too, as people constantly change their values and beliefs about the massagers. If we talked about majority opinion in the Arab world 3 years ago, for example, we'd be talking about something completely different to today.
Same in the US - majority opinion changed radically from 2003 to 2008, despite Fox News and the Pravda-style US majority massage machine.
There is a constant Doris Day/Rock Hudson seduction going on between us and the influencers, and, out of this, a majority emerges.