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271 points nradov | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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andai ◴[] No.42172596[source]
King thinks democracy is a great idea. Everyone rejects it. King institutes it anyway.

Wait a second...

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jollofricepeas ◴[] No.42172684[source]
The people could vote the same person or party in representing the interests of the king and his family. Dictators can be democratically elected.

The real question is how do you protect people from themselves?

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mdp2021 ◴[] No.42172842[source]
> how do you protect people from themselves

Education.

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flanked-evergl ◴[] No.42172890{3}[source]
> Every one of the popular modern phrases and ideals is a dodge in order to shirk the problem of what is good. We are fond of talking about “liberty”; that, as we talk of it, is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good. We are fond of talking about “progress”; that is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good. We are fond of talking about “education”; that is a dodge to avoid discussing what is good. The modern man says, “Let us leave all these arbitrary standards and embrace liberty.” This is, logically rendered, “Let us not decide what is good, but let it be considered good not to decide it.” He says, “Away with your old moral formulae; I am for progress.” This, logically stated, means, “Let us not settle what is good; but let us settle whether we are getting more of it.” He says, “Neither in religion nor morality, my friend, lie the hopes of the race, but in education.” This, clearly expressed, means, “We cannot decide what is good, but let us give it to our children.”
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lucianbr ◴[] No.42173087{4}[source]
I think people who say education is the solution to democracy, or in particular to the people voting someone the spearker does not like, mean "educate more people to believe what I believe".

It's clearly a good solution from the perspective of that speaker - more people would vote the same way they do, so the "right" people would get elected, "right" policies would happen and so on.

Meh, if this avoiding the "definition of good" is really the problem, then the likes of Putin and Xi and Trump will fix us. They clearly think they know exactly what's good for everyone, and are willing to do most anything to achieve it. Doubtful they will make the world a better place, but who knows. I guess we'll find out.

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mdp2021 ◴[] No.42173143{5}[source]
No, it is the very hard obvious fact that empowering the ignorant (with power over the rest) is a very bad idea.
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1. myrmidon ◴[] No.42174272{6}[source]
Who gets to define what "ignorance" is, though?

Because to me it appears that you just give the "ignorant" peoples power to someone else, and if your goal is to keep being a democracy, then this sort of power redistribution is almost certain to screw your system over in the long term.