Many of us have an intuitive sense of what we consider ‘democracy.’
The diversity of understanding of what constitutes democracy leads to a realization that democracy is one of the more confusing words in the English language. Many interpret the word imperfectly to mean virtually unconstrained freedom.
Etymologically, the word democracy means essentially ‘rule by the people.’ But you might ask: which people? Rule by elites? Rule by despots? Or rule by those elected to public office who may be held to account?
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don't have an account? Create Account
Our globe is splattered with those who rule under a pretext of democracy. The People’s Republic of China is a country ruled by a modern dictator and a pliable political party. There rests a parody in the use of the word ‘people’ in that country.
And then there are countries that are anything but a democracy and in practice something more akin to a kleptocracy — a word from Greek meaning thief or stealing. There are far too many more examples of fraudulent ‘democracies.’
Terms such as ‘peoples republic’ and ‘democratic republic’ often become shell words hollowed of meaning and employed to obscure an elite, dictator or single party running a country.
Democracy has a much deeper and richer root base.
The 18th century ‘father of economics,’ Scottish philosopher Adam Smith, in his 1759 book ‘Theory of Moral Sentiments’ suggests that our moral ideas and actions are a product of our very nature as social creatures.
From this emerges the concept of ‘sympathy’ which an individual may express as ‘pity.’ Sympathy is a form of detachment, allowing us, for example, to separate ourselves from a suffering person.
Had Smith instead employed the word ’empathy’ he might have been much closer to understanding the very crux of democracy. Empathy is feeling that you understand and share another person’s experiences and emotions.
A phrase often attributed — wrongly — to French philosopher Voltaire is: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
The point being, whilst I may entirely disagree with your view, for example of Hamas’s war on Israel or Israel’s response to Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack, I have a responsibility to respect your right to express your views.
This is empathy and it does not encompass hatred and violence. Democracy is sufficiently flexible as a concept to permit us to exercise our imaginations and visualize an alternate point of view empathetically.
But democracy as we imagine it also acknowledges that my pursuit of freedom as I visualize it can be entirely different from yours. That is what makes democratic politics so difficult, both for politicians to accommodate and, more to the point, for most people to understand.
Social media, while opening opportunities to understand diverse opinions, also has facilitated many people isolating themselves from reality. Social media offers means for far too many people to escape from individual responsibility, thereby distorting — if not demolishing — the ability to be empathetic.
Arguably, social media allows us to merge individuality into a melange of dis-individuality. So when we take to the streets as fervent protesters waving signs and hurling vituperative slurs and obscenities at others we are effectively diminishing democracy.
When extremists take to streets and engage in orgies of burning and looting — as occurred in Dublin, Ireland, recently with right wing anti-immigrant groups going on a rampage — democracy is under attack, triggered in that case by social media.
Meanwhile, in Canada, self-esteem low-lights have thrown fire bombs at synagogues and done worse, as Windsor painfully witnessed in hosting a trial of a creature who destroyed four lives in London with his truck just because his target was a Muslim family.
An Indigo store in Toronto was splattered with red paint in an alleged response to the store founder’s support for Israel. Another misinterpretation of democracy.
Protest if you wish. Indeed, rant and rave and dance publicly in the nude if you prefer. But refrain from violence and threats of violence.
That empathy which gives life to democracy is sorely strained when we permit ourselves the indulgence of obdurate hate.
Lloyd Brown-John is a University of Windsor professor emeritus of political science. He can be reached at lbj@uwindsor.ca.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
Brown-John: True democracy relies on free expression, but with empathy
27
0
02.12.2023
Many of us have an intuitive sense of what we consider ‘democracy.’
The diversity of understanding of what constitutes democracy leads to a realization that democracy is one of the more confusing words in the English language. Many interpret the word imperfectly to mean virtually unconstrained freedom.
Etymologically, the word democracy means essentially ‘rule by the people.’ But you might ask: which people? Rule by elites? Rule by despots? Or rule by those elected to public office who may be held to account?
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don't have an account? Create Account
Our globe is splattered with those who rule under a pretext of democracy. The People’s Republic of China is a country ruled by a modern dictator and a pliable political party. There rests a parody in the use of the word ‘people’ in that country.
And then there are countries that are anything but a democracy and in practice something more akin to a kleptocracy — a word from Greek meaning thief or stealing. There are far too many more examples of fraudulent ‘democracies.’
Terms such as ‘peoples........
© Windsor Star
visit website
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Rami G Khouri
Donald Low
Mort Laitner
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
