choad wrote:

https://cruelery.com/sidepic/kingtut.jpg

NYTimes: King Tut Strut Redux

Thousands are massing again. What are the odds this blows to kingdom come?

Let's hope so. Over-populated countries need regular revolutions and civil wars, just to manage the cycles of human excitability (whatever the cause - I have a hard time with sunspots...overly tight underwear fashions?) As is often the case, the funniest thing in this whole thread is the blithe way people throw around the word "democracy." Will Egypt install a democracy? Should America extend its democracy overseas? Will the Brotherhood be true to its word and set up a democratic Islamic state? Hilarious - all of it. There isn't a single democracy on this planet, and there hasn't been since Pericles became the hawkish "First Citizen" of "democratic" Athens (thus substantiating many of the Platonic objections to the concept of democracy). Democracy demands equality and inter-cognizance - what is the point of a vote if you don't understand the issues, don't have full access to information, or if you don't personally know the qualities of the people you're being asked to vote for? In the absence of real equality of knowledge and power, the fourth chapter of Mein Kampf becomes the politician's best friend, and "democracy" becomes just another way to distract the masses while sociopathic power-mongers consolidate their rule. Like most of the nations of the world, including the US, Egypt teeters on the rim of all sorts of war, and war economies are never even remotely democratic. There's no hope for democracy, democracy is a myth, democracy is a tool in the hands of violent murderers. I miss the cold war - at least MAD gave me a slender thread of hope.

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

Emmeran wrote:

WilberCuntLicker wrote:

the funniest thing in this whole thread is the blithe way people throw around the word "democracy."

So I take it you are an active participant in your respective municipal proceedings?  Cuz if you ain't actively involved STFU and go wank somewhere else, the one thing democracy does not need is opines from the peanut gallery.

I fail to see the logic in that, Emmeran. Are the people who refuse to participate in fascism likewise wanking when they criticize the governmental structures around them? Of course not. Obversely, I have been active in the world of the arts - for years I was the Board Chair of a theatre company - does that make me a theatre critic? Nope. The view from the inside is important, but very often the best observers and critics create discourse from the sidelines, and that, in terms of "democracy" is where I will stay.