MEMO on DEMO
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by Amli Nujhan
Did anyone miss Plato the bald guy that advised us on our daily lives during V1?
It was from him the word REPUBLIC got popularized.
Thus now it is derived as eRepublic, the platform that we all share.
And in this eRepublic we believe we uphold the principle of DEMOCRACY.
Ironically though, it was Plato that first showed strong critics on democracy.
“Do not be angry with me for speaking the truth; no man will survive who genuinely opposes you or any other crowd and prevents the occurrence of many unjust and illegal happenings in the city. A man who really fights for justice must lead a private, not a public, life if he is to survive for even a short time.” (Apology 31e-32a)
That was his saying, but don’t bother if in case your bird brain just can’t digest those big words.
I don’t need a brain to see the fallacy of democracy.
Democracy was a ‘bad word’ in the old days. If you spell d-e-m-o-c-r-a-c-y in the presence of Sun Tzu, you would get beheaded in just merely matter of seconds after. But your doubt saying, “What about the congress and the forum and the Caesar of the Greek history?"… suggesting that it was the Plato’s way of politicking. It has some resemblance with our eRepublik.
Nope, Plato didn’t assume that as democracy.
Democracy hit the world again during the French Revolution. Some kind of propaganda meant to topple the domination of autocrats and Monarchs. That time in the King’s Court of French, they had a right wing and a left wing sides debated issues before the King. (Actually the original terms of right and left wing didn’t suggest any pro or contra inclination). Can’t you see, it is just more or less the same like in Caesar’s forum.
Nowadays, democracy is a holy word.
Any country that goes against democracy will be condemned by the whole world.
Yet, what is correct definition of democracy?
Is it the way of British Liberal Democracy; or the congress of the USA; or Malaysian Constitutional Kingdom?... Even the previous Soviets claimed they were democratic, so do China Republic and North Korean Communism.
And how about us in eMalaysian?
Let you be with your version of democracy, and be me with mine.
'Kubur masing-masing'...
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i'm first
hmmmmm....
thoughtful ....
gali lobang tutup lobang, sing together amer!!
excellent.. Finally someone spotted this issue!
I thought it was quite ironic too how they got Plato to be the game advisor, considering this game model encourages twentieth century liberal capitalist oligarchy ... if the real Plato could see this, he would be turning in his 'kubur'. He would have hated the idea of businessmen (merchants) running the show. Like the stomach being in control of the body, instead of the brain.
I too am sceptical about the possibility of living up to the ideal of democracy, especially since like in RL, most people are more concerned with more basic issues like food, work, entertainment, business.
But Plato's philosophy had a very autocratic streak to it. How do we resolve going from one extreme to the other?
Problem the classic unsolved mystery of politics in the last few centuries since the French Enlightenment
Well, gov existed to serve to the people. If they are concerned with they mundane little thing, let them be. But we will help them as much as possible, at the same time, slowly, not forcefully bring them to eCare others. And there, we will strike them to join. We should use the things that they most concerned of (be it little or big) to "lure" their interest, into the forum or media.
What is the true definition of democracy?? There is none!! There is no black and white, but grey. For those who only see the absolute black and white will be labeled as radicals. Definition of democracy is each define uniquely, depends on situations, where, who, norms, and culturally. It is depends on how we / entire citizen of eMalaysia want to set it to be. But one thing is clear, it is designed to serve.
However, history has changed that (it begins in USA < forgot which president started it>😉. In his systems, he said 'The president are not only are to serve his people, but it is his responsibility to leads the citizen to prosperity'. From that moment on, president of USA are seen as a leader where everyone follows, not the servant of the citizen. it also symbolized the paradigm change in political system in USA.
So my point is (though the long wordssss) no point, we should define the word democracy by ourselves, defined by our actions as a whole. There is no true black and white in this world/eWorld, those who believed this are in his own fantasy at his own convenient
Amli, thanks for the thoughtful article. 🙂 I hope you bring your spirit and knowledge of democracy to RL too, where we need it more!
those political party concerned themselves with the political principles and principles debates will never shine. However, those political party who truly act for the citizen and able to represent citizen will always be in the hearts of the citizen. So to say, if you want to win, you have to win citizens hearts first by actions, not by theoretical principles.
Wow... a little too expressive here. (+_+).. . . . . .
this article is fantastic. as are the responses. from all the recent strife comes a existential reflection on eMsian politics. here's hoping it leads to something!
@CDV : Just be content ok dude...
Frankly, I did few things on that matter way back some 20 years ago.
And your generation is living through it for the rest of you lives! ; )