#tyrannyofthemajority — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #tyrannyofthemajority, aggregated by home.social.
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A quotation from Bertrand Russell
Those who believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God may infer that any unusual opinion or peculiar taste is almost a form of impiety, and is to be viewed as a culpable rebellion against the legitimate authority of the herd. This will only be avoided if liberty is as much valued as democracy, and it is realized that a society in which each is the slave of all is only a little better than one in which each is the slave of a despot. There is equality where all are slaves, as well as where all are free. This shows that equality, by itself, is not enough to make a good society.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Lecture (1949-01-16), “The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, “Authority and the Individual” No. 4, BBC RadioMore about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/837…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #authority #conformity #democracy #dissent #equality #freedom #freedomofthought #herd #heterodoxy #liberty #majority #mob #popularopinion #slavery #tyrannyofthemajority #wethepeople #voxpopuli
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A quotation from Bertrand Russell
Those who believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God may infer that any unusual opinion or peculiar taste is almost a form of impiety, and is to be viewed as a culpable rebellion against the legitimate authority of the herd. This will only be avoided if liberty is as much valued as democracy, and it is realized that a society in which each is the slave of all is only a little better than one in which each is the slave of a despot. There is equality where all are slaves, as well as where all are free. This shows that equality, by itself, is not enough to make a good society.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Lecture (1949-01-16), “The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, “Authority and the Individual” No. 4, BBC RadioMore about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/837…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #authority #conformity #democracy #dissent #equality #freedom #freedomofthought #herd #heterodoxy #liberty #majority #mob #popularopinion #slavery #tyrannyofthemajority #wethepeople #voxpopuli
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A quotation from Bertrand Russell
Those who believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God may infer that any unusual opinion or peculiar taste is almost a form of impiety, and is to be viewed as a culpable rebellion against the legitimate authority of the herd. This will only be avoided if liberty is as much valued as democracy, and it is realized that a society in which each is the slave of all is only a little better than one in which each is the slave of a despot. There is equality where all are slaves, as well as where all are free. This shows that equality, by itself, is not enough to make a good society.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Lecture (1949-01-16), “The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, “Authority and the Individual” No. 4, BBC RadioMore about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/837…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #authority #conformity #democracy #dissent #equality #freedom #freedomofthought #herd #heterodoxy #liberty #majority #mob #popularopinion #slavery #tyrannyofthemajority #wethepeople #voxpopuli
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A quotation from Bertrand Russell
Those who believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God may infer that any unusual opinion or peculiar taste is almost a form of impiety, and is to be viewed as a culpable rebellion against the legitimate authority of the herd. This will only be avoided if liberty is as much valued as democracy, and it is realized that a society in which each is the slave of all is only a little better than one in which each is the slave of a despot. There is equality where all are slaves, as well as where all are free. This shows that equality, by itself, is not enough to make a good society.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Lecture (1949-01-16), “The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, “Authority and the Individual” No. 4, BBC RadioMore about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/837…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #authority #conformity #democracy #dissent #equality #freedom #freedomofthought #herd #heterodoxy #liberty #majority #mob #popularopinion #slavery #tyrannyofthemajority #wethepeople #voxpopuli
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A quotation from Bertrand Russell
Those who believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God may infer that any unusual opinion or peculiar taste is almost a form of impiety, and is to be viewed as a culpable rebellion against the legitimate authority of the herd. This will only be avoided if liberty is as much valued as democracy, and it is realized that a society in which each is the slave of all is only a little better than one in which each is the slave of a despot. There is equality where all are slaves, as well as where all are free. This shows that equality, by itself, is not enough to make a good society.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Lecture (1949-01-16), “The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, “Authority and the Individual” No. 4, BBC RadioMore about this quote: wist.info/russell-bertrand/837…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #bertrandrussell #authority #conformity #democracy #dissent #equality #freedom #freedomofthought #herd #heterodoxy #liberty #majority #mob #popularopinion #slavery #tyrannyofthemajority #wethepeople #voxpopuli
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Now the bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self (rudimentary as his may be). And so at the cost of intensity, he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he does comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire. The bourgeois is consequently by nature a creature of weak impulses; anxious, fearful of giving himself away and easy to rule. Therefore, he has substituted majority for power, law for force, and the polling booth for responsibility.
[Der Bürger nun schätzt nichts höher als das Ich (ein nur rudimentär entwickeltes Ich allerdings). Auf Kosten der Intensität also erreicht er Erhaltung und Sicherheit, statt Gottbesessenheit erntet er Gewissensruhe, statt Lust Behagen, statt Freiheit Bequemlichkeit, statt tödlicher Glut eine angenehme Temperatur. Der Bürger ist deshalb seinem Wesen nach ein Geschöpf von schwachem Lebensantrieb, ängstlich, jede Preisgabe seiner selbst fürchtend, leicht zu regieren. Er hat darum an Stelle der Macht die Majorität gesetzt, an Stelle der Gewalt das Gesetz, an Stelle der Verantwortung das Abstimmungsverfahren.]Herman Hesse (1877-1962) German-born Swiss poet, novelist, painter
Steppenwolf, “Treatise of the Steppenwolf,” ch. 2 (1927) [tr Breighton (1929)]More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/hesse-herman/82858/
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #hermanhesse #steppenwolf #bourgeois #calm #comfort #convenience #democracy #force #law #liberty #majorityrule #peaceandquiet #power #responsibility #security #selfpreservation #tyrannyofthemajority
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A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
BALLOT, n. A simple device by which a majority proves to a minority the folly of resistance. Many worthy persons of imperfect thinking apparatus believe that majorities govern through some inherent right; and minorities submit, not because they must, but because they ought.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Ballot,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-04-23)More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/82483…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ambrosebierce #devilsdictionary #ballot #democracy #majority #minority #populargovernment #popularopinion #tyrannyofthemajority #voting
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A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
BALLOT, n. A simple device by which a majority proves to a minority the folly of resistance. Many worthy persons of imperfect thinking apparatus believe that majorities govern through some inherent right; and minorities submit, not because they must, but because they ought.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Ballot,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-04-23)More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/82483…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ambrosebierce #devilsdictionary #ballot #democracy #majority #minority #populargovernment #popularopinion #tyrannyofthemajority #voting
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A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
BALLOT, n. A simple device by which a majority proves to a minority the folly of resistance. Many worthy persons of imperfect thinking apparatus believe that majorities govern through some inherent right; and minorities submit, not because they must, but because they ought.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Ballot,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-04-23)More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/82483…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ambrosebierce #devilsdictionary #ballot #democracy #majority #minority #populargovernment #popularopinion #tyrannyofthemajority #voting
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A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
BALLOT, n. A simple device by which a majority proves to a minority the folly of resistance. Many worthy persons of imperfect thinking apparatus believe that majorities govern through some inherent right; and minorities submit, not because they must, but because they ought.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Ballot,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-04-23)More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/82483…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ambrosebierce #devilsdictionary #ballot #democracy #majority #minority #populargovernment #popularopinion #tyrannyofthemajority #voting
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A quotation from Ambrose Bierce
BALLOT, n. A simple device by which a majority proves to a minority the folly of resistance. Many worthy persons of imperfect thinking apparatus believe that majorities govern through some inherent right; and minorities submit, not because they must, but because they ought.
Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?) American writer and journalist
“Ballot,” “Devil’s Dictionary” column, San Francisco Wasp (1881-04-23)More about this quote: wist.info/bierce-ambrose/82483…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #ambrosebierce #devilsdictionary #ballot #democracy #majority #minority #populargovernment #popularopinion #tyrannyofthemajority #voting
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A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt
It seems to me that it is the part of common sense for the world as a whole to protest in its own interest against wholesale persecution, because none of us by ourselves would be strong enough to stand against a big enough group which decided to treat us in the same way. We may have our individual likes and dislikes, but this is a question which far transcends prejudices or inclinations.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) First Lady of the US (1933-45), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1943-08-13), “My Day”Sourcing, notes: wist.info/roosevelt-eleanor/78…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #eleanorroosevelt #coexistence #commonsense #enlightenedselfinterest #persecution #prejudice #solidarity #target #tolerance #tyrannyofthemajority
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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
On every hand are the enemies of individuality and mental freedom. Custom meets us at the cradle and leaves us only at the tomb. Our first questions are answered by ignorance, and our last by superstition. We are pushed and dragged by countless hands along the beaten track, and our entire training can be summed up in the word –suppression. Our desire to have a thing or to do a thing is considered as conclusive evidence that we ought not to have it, and ought not to do it. At every turn we run against cherubim and a flaming sword guarding some entrance to the Eden of our desire. We are allowed to investigate all subjects in which we feel no particular interest, and to express the opinions of the majority with the utmost freedom. We are taught that liberty of speech should never be carried to the extent of contradicting the dead witnesses of a popular superstition. Society offers continual rewards for self-betrayal, and they are nearly all earned and claimed, and some are paid.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Lecture (1873-12) “Individuality,” Chicago Free Religious SocietySourcing, notes: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #uniformity #religiousintolerance #conformity #groupthink #intolerance #orthodoxy #regulation #religion #selfbetrayal #society #suppression #tyrannyofthemajority
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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
On every hand are the enemies of individuality and mental freedom. Custom meets us at the cradle and leaves us only at the tomb. Our first questions are answered by ignorance, and our last by superstition. We are pushed and dragged by countless hands along the beaten track, and our entire training can be summed up in the word –suppression. Our desire to have a thing or to do a thing is considered as conclusive evidence that we ought not to have it, and ought not to do it. At every turn we run against cherubim and a flaming sword guarding some entrance to the Eden of our desire. We are allowed to investigate all subjects in which we feel no particular interest, and to express the opinions of the majority with the utmost freedom. We are taught that liberty of speech should never be carried to the extent of contradicting the dead witnesses of a popular superstition. Society offers continual rewards for self-betrayal, and they are nearly all earned and claimed, and some are paid.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Lecture (1873-12) “Individuality,” Chicago Free Religious SocietySourcing, notes: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #uniformity #religiousintolerance #conformity #groupthink #intolerance #orthodoxy #regulation #religion #selfbetrayal #society #suppression #tyrannyofthemajority
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A quotation from Robert Ingersoll
On every hand are the enemies of individuality and mental freedom. Custom meets us at the cradle and leaves us only at the tomb. Our first questions are answered by ignorance, and our last by superstition. We are pushed and dragged by countless hands along the beaten track, and our entire training can be summed up in the word –suppression. Our desire to have a thing or to do a thing is considered as conclusive evidence that we ought not to have it, and ought not to do it. At every turn we run against cherubim and a flaming sword guarding some entrance to the Eden of our desire. We are allowed to investigate all subjects in which we feel no particular interest, and to express the opinions of the majority with the utmost freedom. We are taught that liberty of speech should never be carried to the extent of contradicting the dead witnesses of a popular superstition. Society offers continual rewards for self-betrayal, and they are nearly all earned and claimed, and some are paid.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) American lawyer, agnostic, orator
Lecture (1873-12) “Individuality,” Chicago Free Religious SocietySourcing, notes: wist.info/ingersoll-robert-gre…
#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #robertingersoll #uniformity #religiousintolerance #conformity #groupthink #intolerance #orthodoxy #regulation #religion #selfbetrayal #society #suppression #tyrannyofthemajority
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One should respect public opinion insofar as is necessary to avoid starvation and keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny.
Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Conquest of Happiness, Part 1, ch. 9 “Fear of Public Opinion” (1930)Sourcing, notes: wist.info/russell-bertrand/337…
#quote #quotes #quotation #conformity #convention #orthodoxy #publicopinion #society #submission #tyrannyofthemajority
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The fundamental Article of my political Creed is, that Despotism, or unlimited Sovereignty, or absolute Power is the Same in a Majority of a popular Assembly, an Aristocratical Counsel, an Oligarchical Junto and a Single Emperor. Equally arbitrary cruel bloody and in every respect, diabolical.
John Adams (1735-1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797-1801)
Letter (1815-11-13) to Thomas JeffersonSourcing, notes: wist.info/adams-john/1455/
#quote #quotes #quotation #absolutepower #aristocracy #autocracy #despotism #dictatorship #evil #government #monarchy #oligarchy #tyranny #tyrannyofthemajority
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A quotation from Roosevelt, Theodore:
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The good citizen will demand liberty for himself, and as a matter of pride he will see to it that others receive the liberty which he thus claims as his own. Probably the best test of true love of liberty in any country is the way in which minorities are treated in that country.
»Full quote, sourcing, notes:
https://wist.info/roosevelt-theodore/15037/#quote #quotes #quotation #civilrights #equalrights #freedom #liberty #minorities #tyrannyofthemajority
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”[We] had simply traded monarchs for majorities, aristocrats for administrators, and one privileged elite for another. We are still abused and oppressed. Our fate is still in the hands of people who claim a “right” to rule over us.” #TyrannyOfTheMajority https://mostr.pub/objects/bf83995725caef57e38950299ad4b8d7601857845c3ff8e1945485d45c4eee35
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(2/2)
...the anti-democratic, plutocratic #HeritageFoundation bemoans the imaginary #TyrannyOfTheMajority*, it successfully has been implementing a #TyrannyOfTheMinority, a #plutocracy in tendency(!) similar to the post-feudal system in Europe.
*
https://mastodon.social/@HistoPol/110888931313470397//
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Every time I read something like this, I have to think of this #FederalistSociety BS piece, The #TyrannyOfTheMajority.*
This is a typically #Goebbels propaganda piece: accuse the opponent of what you have done or are about to do yourself.
Yes, protection of (real) minorities is a yardstick to evaluate modern democracies.The #GQP however, is perverting US democracy to become a #TyrannyOfTheMinority, an #oligarchy. It already is a #plutocracy.
*
https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/preventing-the-tyranny-the-majority -
In case you’re wondering why the Turkish people “reelected” Erdoğan it’s for the same reason Americans would be “reelecting” President DeSantis after 20 years of rule.
(And in case you’re thinking “term limits”, realise that Turkey has term limits too. He was prime minister first, then president, and then he changed the constitution to make it into a presidential system which he argued reset the clock on the presidential term limit…)
#turkey #erdogan #autocracy #democracy #tyrannyOfTheMajority
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Democracy has been on my mind a lot lately with the current Israeli government's moves to "reform" our Judiciary, and essentially cripple it in the process. The consequences of this for our democracy will be devastating.
Here is a part of a discussion about the elements of an effective democracy:
https://youtu.be/FFNh3MuvvmE?t=426
And here is my post where I explore this further, particularly in the #Israeli context.
https://pauljacobson.me/2023/02/24/a-real-democracy-has-checks-and-balances/
#judicialreform #AnneAppelbaum #autocracy #democracy #israel #JonStewart #judiciary #tyrannyofthemajority
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Reminder for the #GQP:
"Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness] it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government."
Thomas Jefferson
Isn't it ironic that the #HeritageFoundation is authoring this?
https://www.heritage.org/conservatism/commentary/preventing-the-tyranny-the-majority
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I think this headline basiclly makes the case against #JudicialReform in #Israel, and reinforces concerns about #TyrannyOfTheMajority.
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Quote Calendar Day # 13
"My father always used to say, 'Don't raise your voice. Improve your argument.' Good sense does not always lie with the loudest shouters, nor can we say that a large, unruly crowd is always the best arbiter of what is right."
- Desmond Tutu
#Quotemas #Debate #Rhetoric #TyrannyOfTheMajority #Oppression #AntiOppressive #AntiRascist