Explaining democracy to Americans:
Imagine a Coca-Cola
Fascism is when KFC only sells Pepsi.
We must seize the means of dispensing soda!
Well shit.
I’m sorry comrade…it must be done
Democracy is when corporations own the government and buy every election and control the media entirely. I am extremely intelligent.
Democracy is when you let private prisons lobby to make more actions crimes in order to increase the prisoner population.
great speech
Some liberal smuglords will dislike the comparison to Coca-Cola, but it’s accurate in describing how unipolar force is applied worldwide and it is simple enough for Burgerlanders to understand the metaphor enough to get mad at it.
oh im definitely stealing it! also it being something that feels good, but you know is bad for you in the long run is perfect.
And both murder trade unionists in the imperial periphery
It is quite a bit less funny when you realize Real Economiststm unironically use nonsense like the Big Mac Index
of course democracy isn’t a flavor of soda, it’s a beer
“and that’s why the Middle East can’t have any!”
- Generic “Redneck Comedian”, circa 2009.
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pretty sure every US secretary of state has said some variation of this, but only in defense of the “democracies” of client states that openly fix elections
I think, to an extent, Western-style liberal democracy is never going to work in China. In any big country, it has a nearly universal tendency to turn into oligarchy.
I think you missed her point, she’s saying that westerners have a narrow view of what even counts as “democracy”.
“Political activist” lol
big if true
Robbing banks to fund revolution is political activism
Actively robbing banks, not passovely waiting for banks to be robbed.
Also a poet, librarian-archivist, a teacher, and a journalist.
I mean, certainly one could pick out a few test cases to indicate a democracy. Do the citizens have the apparent right to…
- criticize the government freely
- due process and unpartial justice
- fair treatment of minority groups
- run for office when qualified
- free press
The US has a lot of headwinds on this short list but at least I am aware of the atrocities it has committed, can ask questions without being disappeared, and can theoretically run for office without being shot. Our democracy is ugly as hell, but at least I can see it. I question all governments that claim some higher ground.
criticize the government freely
How many peaceful protesters got bagged in unmarked vans in 2020?
Also the Chicago PD have black sites where they would disappear people without cause and their families would not be notified.
due process and unpartial justice
Yeah it would really suck to be locked up for years without a trial.
fair treatment of minority groups
Yeah that’s definitely not a thing in the US I’m not even sure how you could possibly think that it is unless you got kicked in the head by a donkey.
run for office
Okay…
when qualified
Who determines this qualification?
free press
It’s really easy for the press to be free when the same multinational corporations that the US works on behalf of also own the “free” press.
It’s really interesting that you didn’t mention the one thing that I think a democracy actually has to have: representation/reflection of the will of the citizenry.
How many peaceful protesters got bagged in unmarked vans in 2020? Also the Chicago PD have black sites where they would disappear people without cause and their families would not be notified
“Heh, don’t you know, hexchanner, that not all cops are bad and a few bad apples don’t condemn our great system of burgerland freedom?”
due process and unpartial justice
fair treatment of minority groups
The US
I question all governments that claim some higher ground.
Wow, such insight. I’m glad we have such an enlightened person in our midst to tell us that what if, like, all governments are bad, man? (and by that I mean China bad)
With regards to the US and UK.
Ask people like Julian Assange or Dr David Kelly whether or not you can criticize the government. You can’t ask Dr Kelly because he was murdered, and you will have trouble with Assange as he’s been illegally imprisoned for 4 years.
Again, ask Assange if he is getting due process, if you can get into Belmarsh prison.
Minority groups don’t get fair treatment.
The qualification for running for office is to be rich and connected. If you are not rich and connected and it looks like you might actually win, your name will be dragged through the mud by the “free” press.
The press is bought and paid for and dances to the tune of capital.
I question all governments that claim some higher ground.
Then you agree with Hua Chunying because she is literally doing the same thing.
I think e.g. Daphne Caruana Galizia would have some interjections here
free press tends to mean “press for hire by people with money” not “broadly representative press”
due process and unpartial justice
This is absolutely not the case in the US. Do you have any idea how common it is to just take plea deals because public lawyers are too overworked to handle their caseload?
The US has a lot of headwinds on this short list but at least I am aware of the atrocities it has committed, can ask questions without being disappeared, and can theoretically run for office without being shot.
You can criticize all you want but your criticism will be buried and ignored. You can run for office but you won’t stand a chance unless you bend the knee to a major party or be rat fucked by them.
The Western demcratic system has devolved to a point where it’s mostly for show. Parties only differ from each other on relatively minor policies and in most places you are simply voting for neoliberalism or more neoliberalism. Studies have shown that public opinion has pretty negligible effect on the chance of a law passing. You can see this I’m how a majority of Americans support universal healthcare but that reform never passes.
You’ve been taught that the choice of red coke or blue coke is the ultimate power, never questioning why you must always drink coke and nothing else.
Yes, in China, you can do these things.
How much movement has there been on key issues like healthcare, education, housing, affordability, climate change, and homelessness? What about LGBTQ+ rights, abortion, police brutality, and the racial prison gap?
The goal of democracy is for the government to follow the will of the people. In fact, the goal of all modern governments is to follow the will of the people. Has that happened in America?
china is much more of a democracy than the United States has ever been
Death to America
Liberal democracy is oligarchic period. Liberal legal frameworks exist to allow the rich to control the playing field.
If you look back at the first comment I made on this thread, you’ll see that this is exactly what I said. Liberal democracy has a historic tendency to turn into oligarchy.
You said “in any big country.”
Direct democracy works fabulously in small communes.
That is true, but you might notice that there is some space between these two categories. Germany is a pretty small country, and it’s also an oligarchy.
Small comunities is probably limited to pashtun villages with a few dozen freeholders. Anything at the size or larger than the free population of classical athens seems too big.
Direct democracy and liberal democracy are extremely different things
It doesn’t work anywhere so yeah no surprise lmao
Western-style liberal democracy
so, not a democracy?
China is a democracy though.