DIVISIVE DEMOCRACY

Well getting over my late-night rambling from the last post, I 
think I'll pick a lighter topic. The failure of Democracy.

Well first I'll make clear that I'm not actually advocating major 
social change, I don't know of anything better that the society I 
know could change into, just pointing out a failing that _might_ 
become more exposed in the near future. This will also be one of my 
quick posts (19min deadline and counting), so forgive the vague 
examples and poor writing.

The the problems of capitalism and democracy in recent decades have 
been quite visible where it has been applied in countries 
previously under dictatorships. In particular when you  look at 
countries such as Iraq where there were ancient divides in social 
structure. Such dicatorships were able to, probably for ease of 
maintaining their own position, manage the social inbalances in 
their communities. Sure this could be through ruthless brutality, 
but it maintained a functioning society nevertheless. Since 
"liberation" and a democratic leadership, the divides within the 
society have been less restrained, fueling anger amongst 
minorities, leading to radicalisation.

Also minorities such as native people in Russia were in some cases 
better off under the Communist leadership where they received a 
regular income in return for raising livestock, rather than having 
to fit their traditional lifestyle to a sufficiently competative 
and profitable business model. Of course older and bolder examples 
can be found in the rise of european fascism prior to WWII.

Democracy works in favour of the majority, but therefore only 
achieves stability if the corresponding unrepresented minorities 
are not so far divided from those in power. Otherwise the power of 
one group dominates over the other. The attrocities commited 
recently in Burma by a popularist governement are another example.

Oh boy this post is a mess, I didn't have time to take on this 
topic, and I'm 5min overtime. Anyway, the point that I'm getting to 
is that with traditional media becoming under-funded and less 
diverse - replaced by social media that breeds and normalises a 
cult-like following of people, groups, and beleifs - the divides in 
western democracies seem to be growing wider. The influences that 
have kept their populations like-minded enough to maintain a 
government that isn't unrestrained in support or hostility towards 
one social group, are being restructured. Time will tell whether 
our democracies can survive this new social structure that might be 
breeding within them.

 - The Free Thinker