Some old arguments alluding to the flawed logic behind representative democracy. In this video footage, Steve McQueen makes the arguments in 'Enemy of the People'.
There is of course very good reasons why the majority is wrong. People are comforted by consensus. The majority of people do not draw comfort from values which correspond to the facts of reality, but rather from adherence to the values shared by their community. People want to be loved and valued. The valuer in this context is their fellow men rather than the facts of reality. we earn our pay from other humans, we are loved or befriended by other humans, thus in this context most people consider human perceptions more important than facts. The problem of course in society is that most people do not have a primary relationship with reality, but rather with other people. Quite clearly humanity was not ready for the specialisation of labour, since he had not yet developed an explicit and coherent value system which would allow him to respect the facts of reality so much that he might have the courage to listen to fact rather than tread in fear of his fellow man. Such is a testimony to the spinelessness of ancient man, which has persisted into the modern world by a process of corruption and vested interest. Embedded or entrenched structural values is what stands between a rational world view and the world of the false prophet and 'second hander'.
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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com
There is of course very good reasons why the majority is wrong. People are comforted by consensus. The majority of people do not draw comfort from values which correspond to the facts of reality, but rather from adherence to the values shared by their community. People want to be loved and valued. The valuer in this context is their fellow men rather than the facts of reality. we earn our pay from other humans, we are loved or befriended by other humans, thus in this context most people consider human perceptions more important than facts. The problem of course in society is that most people do not have a primary relationship with reality, but rather with other people. Quite clearly humanity was not ready for the specialisation of labour, since he had not yet developed an explicit and coherent value system which would allow him to respect the facts of reality so much that he might have the courage to listen to fact rather than tread in fear of his fellow man. Such is a testimony to the spinelessness of ancient man, which has persisted into the modern world by a process of corruption and vested interest. Embedded or entrenched structural values is what stands between a rational world view and the world of the false prophet and 'second hander'.
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Andrew Sheldon www.sheldonthinks.com
