Blaming the Victim
People want Democracy, But they have no intention of Creating it Themselves.
They are still basically saying to the Great Leader, "Save us, please."
You voted for Brexit or Trump. Now what. What are they going to do after that.
In their representative democracy, it is true that their leaders failed them. They may think that it is all the fault of the President or Prime Minister, but what about the state representative, or city councilor, or ward boss: where was their leadership, where was their representation. Why wasn't something demanded of them. This was happening on their watch too.
Yes, this is, in a sense, blaming the victim. But in this case, the victim has been told since childhood, that they are directly and personally responsible for how their government works and what it does because what the government does is by "the consent of the governed." And if we have been lulled, seduced, convinced into believing that acting to put our personal comfort and convenience before any responsibility and sacrifice necessary to keep this country responsive to our will, then we do have a hand in what has happened to us.
This is a kind of alienation.
But this alienation is perhaps not so deliberate as a by-product of capacity. Supposedly, we can have a personal relationship with not more than 150 people, perhaps a dozen friends, and a community relationship with 500. But even a small city of 50,000 exceeds our capacity by 10,000%.
They are still basically saying to the Great Leader, "Save us, please."
You voted for Brexit or Trump. Now what. What are they going to do after that.
In their representative democracy, it is true that their leaders failed them. They may think that it is all the fault of the President or Prime Minister, but what about the state representative, or city councilor, or ward boss: where was their leadership, where was their representation. Why wasn't something demanded of them. This was happening on their watch too.
Yes, this is, in a sense, blaming the victim. But in this case, the victim has been told since childhood, that they are directly and personally responsible for how their government works and what it does because what the government does is by "the consent of the governed." And if we have been lulled, seduced, convinced into believing that acting to put our personal comfort and convenience before any responsibility and sacrifice necessary to keep this country responsive to our will, then we do have a hand in what has happened to us.
This is a kind of alienation.
But this alienation is perhaps not so deliberate as a by-product of capacity. Supposedly, we can have a personal relationship with not more than 150 people, perhaps a dozen friends, and a community relationship with 500. But even a small city of 50,000 exceeds our capacity by 10,000%.
posted by Godel at 10:35 AM
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