MY THEORY of democracy is very simple and easy for everybody to understand. But its fundamental problem is so different from the age-old theory of democracy which everybody takes for granted that it seems that this difference has not been grasped, just because of the simplicity of the theory. It avoids high-sounding, abstract words like “rule”, “freedom” and “reason”. I do believe in freedom and reason, but I do not think that one can construct a simple, practical and fruitful theory in these terms. They are too abstract, and too prone to be misused; and, of course, nothing whatever can be gained by their definition.
Rule - a set of explicit or understood regulations or principles governing conduct within a particular activity or sphere.
Freedom - the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
Reason - the power of the mind to think, understand, and form judgments by a process of logic.
Herein lies the problem that Popper was trying to address... these three words: rule, freedom, and reason have specific definitions according the the dictionaries that I looked at... but each of these definitions will be PERCEIVED differently by people for a variety of reasons. Some of these reasons are:
- Influence of parent or guardian
- Geographic location
- Religious influences
- Adolescent environment
- Educators
- Heritage
- Ethnicity
- Gender
For instance, a generally accepted and valid personality questionaire is the MBTI and according to this indicator, my personality type is an INTJ... INTJ's are only found in 1% of the general population... which means not only are we rare, but we have a different perception of life and of words than most everybody else...
In other words, I understand these three words differently than you understand them.
- Rule means something different to me than it does to you
- Freedom means something different to me than it does to you
- Reason means something different to me than it does to you
THEREFORE...
I see Democracy differently than you do... which means that Popper was correct in his analysis that these three words UNDERMINE THE SUCCESS OF A DEMOCRACY... and, what that means is that it is very difficult to implement a Democracy due to all the different perceptions of how our societies should be...
AND WHAT THIS MEANS is... How do you control the masses?
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