Democracy's dilemma

Democracy... It seems the hope of the free world, if Im to believe the media.
But there are a few messy side effects too. Im not saying btw that democracy is bad, but Id like to take a little time to muse about certain drawbacks of our current system of democracy.

First of all, everyone is equal in democracy.

"Well", you might say, "thats good, isnt it? No discrimination, no system that places any individuals opinion above any others, sounds great to me! After all, we're all equally valuable as individuals"

And up to a certain point, you'd be right.

However...

What makes us believe that all opinions are equal? Lets examine the following situation: I have some physical problem, lets say very frequent stomach aches. A good friend of mine (not a medic) might say "sounds like you got an ulcer.", while a doctor might conclude that Im under too much stress.
Would I consider each opinion to be equal? Or would I believe one more than the other?

The point here is that opinions are only as good as the information behind them. The opinion of someone who has a lot of knowledge about the topic under discussion will likely be more valuable than the opinion of someone who has very little.

However, in a political election everyone's opinion is equal, no matter whether they are subject matter experts or not. This creates a situation where the majority of uninformed votes will overshadow the well informed votes.  Compare this to going to a hospital to find out what's wrong with you, and instead of the doctor being able to calmly tell you his/her diagnosis, you'll both be standing in the hallway with all the other patients and visitors, while everyone is yelling their opinion. Would you be satisfied in such a case?

So point one is to separate basic rights from use. Everyone has the right to voice their opinion, but not everyone's opinion is equally useful (mainly due to a difference in knowledge).

Well, than the solution is easy! Inform the masses!!!
Arrrr....That has a few problems of its own....

Looking at the US primaries going on, the Egyptian election, the current political situation in Holland all leads me to the same conclusion.
A lot of people are easily convinced by soundbites (statements which sound good, but lack actual factual meaning or underpinning), and can therefore be exploited. Media attention, saying the thing people want to hear, spreading false accusations (take Obama's birth certificate for example. I dont think many people really believe that he's not borne in America, but the soundbite is still exploited by his opponents), simplifying things to the level that they mean something different entirely, and many other kinds of manipulation are fired at us on an almost hourly basis.
Modern elections will be won by the person who can convince most people that his or her spin on the truth is the best one. And if the majority of voters are virtually blank slates (when it comes to factual knowledge about complex political issues), its easy to pour them full of half-truths and exploit their vote.

In Holland there is a far right politician named Geert Wilders. He's really good at this trick. He's managed to convince the working population that voting for a party with close ties to trade unions and a historic track record of sticking up for the little man will be bad for them. Thats quite a feat! And did he use any facts to back this up? Rarely. Most of it was rants against individual leftwing politicians, rants against "the left church" (one of his most successful soundbites btw) and tons of unsubstantiated accusations. Of all his election promises, none have been fulfilled so far, but funny enough no-one seems to care... This has been pointed out many times by politicians opposing him (including obviously the left wing politicians he rants against), but no-one seems to be interested in the fact that he is NOT actually doing anything to improve peoples lives. Strange, isnt it? Or is it the power of misinformation...

And the best part is, these kind of tricks can be learnt! Most people can easily be taught how to sway people based not on content, but purely on presentation. Take NLP for example. Its a skillset purely meant to teach one how to use non-verbal communication to manipulate other people. And there are many more skillsets like this out there, usually with a few courses attached so you can learn them if you want. Now remember that manipulation is just a tool. It isnt good or bad in itself, that is determined by the use people put it too. A knife isnt bad, stabbing someone is! and manipulating someone to do something which is good for them (quiting smoking, visiting a doctor when they are reluctant to) is hardly a bad thing.

Its important to realise that no-one is immune to this. Its basically hardwired into our brain, and most of the time its extremely for us useful to be able to pick up body language clues etc. How else would we be able to interact with each other as smoothly, rapidly and efficiently as we do. Only when people can actively choose to send false messages through this medium, it gets dangerous... And I believe that the less factual knowledge is involved (either in the content of whats being discussed or already present in the person who is forming an opinion), the more power these tricks have.

How much knowledge does one need to be relatively immune to this type of voter manipulation? A lot! I dont think there is anyone on the planet who is completely immune. Its a sliding scale, with those who are completely unaware being the easiest to influence, and those who already know a lot about the issues being debated being the hardest ones. But Id say (looking at voter behaviour, at peoples reaction to for instance global warming or the Irak war and at how easily Im still swayed by good sounding oneliners if im not careful) that the vast majority of voters is close to the easy end of the scale (no insult intended, different people simply have different talents / skills, and most people dont have the talent, patience or will to acquire in-depth knowledge about the facts underlying the big issues).

Thats an important fact though. It means that if everyone's vote is equal, its easy to manipulate the majority of the population and this is a trick anyone can learn, we're basically voting the smoothest operator into office instead of the one who will defend our interests best.

Wow, thats scary!!

If I had a daughter I wouldnt be too happy if she's going out with the smoothest operator in class, purely because he knows how to manipulate her opinions! Than why would I want such a person to be running my government?

How about the genuine good guys? How about those wise men and woman, those clever, well-informed people who would be the "best person for the job", because they know all the facts and all the issues? Ha, thats one on the scariest parts... One of the first things the "soundbite politicians" did, was create an atmosphere in which its actually considered BAD to be too factual! Its not sexy, so the masses dont want to listen or vote for you. Bush actively pretended to be dumber than he actually is, so people would trust him more. Thats ridiculous!!

But... But... I thought we were trying to select the best people to lead our countries, not having a popularity contest! I dont care if (s)he's ugly or stutters. If (s)he knows how to fix our economy, fix the hurts of the nation, and maybe even of the world (in that order), and bring prosperity and peace to the nation, I like!

So back to the start: Whats wrong with Democracy today?

A population of MTV-lings who want to be entertained rather than educated have the majority vote.
They are being grossly manipulated by a rich elite (funny isnt it, the top 1% of the American rich had a 27% salary raise in 2011. I wonder how that could have happened?!), who can afford to pay the PR teams that win elections, and therefore own the politicians (and therefore make the rules).
This leaves real power in the hands of a greedy few, while everyone else is scratching their ears, wondering why the world is in such a state.

Democracy?? Is is mob rule? Or perhaps a new form of serfdom...



Dear readers.
Id love to hear what you think about this and other posts on my site. Please leave a comment below if you agree or disagree, want to comment on my style, or just want to leave a "Mr. X was here ;-)