Proving Plato wrong

COMMENTARY

Published: 10 Jun 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Plato argued that the majority of the people are ignorant and ill-informed, that they would always get it wrong. According to him, they are easily swayed by specious rhetoric and tend to be short-sighted, selfish and fickle. They are conditioned to fall prey to skillful manipulators, worship demagogues and are nothing but a collective tyrant. Hence, democracy does not work. Does any of this sound familiar?

The philosopher was speaking of the challenges facing Greece's democracy then, but that what he said 2,500 years ago still rings true - even if to a lesser degree - for present day Thailand is a testament to two things. One, philosophers have better foresight than fortune-tellers, and two, my country needs some serious re-engineering.

An educated populace is required to engineer a healthy democracy. But ranting about Thailand's educational system can be quite redundant. Rote learning, tea money and the obsession with obedience, forms and ceremonies have all been well documented and discussed. The masses are poor and poorly educated. Also Thai education being what it is, how well educated are the educated anyway? There are definitely brilliant minds and success stories in Thailand, but looking at the country as a whole, our screws are quite loose.

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Ian
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Discussion 51 : 13 Jul 2012 at 11.0451
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i keep reading similar articles, Cassandra would have empathised with their authors.
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blumanthai
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Discussion 50 : 17 Jun 2012 at 13.0150
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Democracy is the equal balance of majority rule with minority rights. Undemocratic practices include either tyranny of a majority over a minority or tyranny of a minority over the majority. Both are unacceptable in democratic principles.
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SteveCM
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Discussion 49 : 16 Jun 2012 at 01.3149
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howell (#48) - Interesting to see how "Godwin's Law" never loses its relevance.
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howell
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Discussion 48 : 15 Jun 2012 at 23.0248
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@steveCM. 'Democracy is just a tool, not our goal. The goal is to give people a good lifestyle, happiness and national progress'.

Unfortunately Thaksin is an habitual liar. He says he knows how best how to do that, not unlike Hitler and other totalitarian dictators.
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SteveCM
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Discussion 47 : 12 Jun 2012 at 01.2047
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spiceman (#33) - An interesting point & strikingly similar to what Thaksin said (&, via selective quoting, has been much derided for) in 2003:

“Democracy is a good and beautiful thing, but it’s not the ultimate goal as far as administering the country is concerned. Democracy is just a tool, not our goal. The goal is to give people a good lifestyle, happiness and national progress."
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nns
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Discussion 46 : 12 Jun 2012 at 00.3846
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The existing players in the political arena are either clueless or have lost all credibility. We need to have new players emerging with fresh and progressive ideas. I think they are out there. The question is whether they can consolidate into a base big enough to appeal to the masses. Undoubtedly, it will be an uphill battle because the powers that be on both camps will do what they can to maintain this messy status quo.
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nobody
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Discussion 45 : 11 Jun 2012 at 20.3945
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But the real world is more than one Matrix, every country/society or culture is probably still very much an independent Matrix; but of course nowadays all the Matrixes are more and more linked up, especially in economic aspects, the globalization & internet.

The USA is probably the most fluked case that the right historic opportunity was presented to the right group of people and the right kind of Matrix can be completely created new from scratch. And that right type of Matrix actually changed & guided its people to a better society than when it was started.

The Kronstadt sailors had the historic opportunity and the idealist tenacity that pretty much spearheaded the Russian Revolution and destroyed the old Matrix; but only to found the Matrix taken over by Lenin the Mr. Smith, and the whole country turned into Smiths / or Bolsheviks.

Maybe one can hope some right people are getting ready when some ridiculously unlikely historic opportunity presents itself during a perfect storm of human suffering that actually flip the human psyche of enough masses for change. But anyone seen the Oracle yet?
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domdunnn
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Discussion 44 : 10 Jun 2012 at 21.1544
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I agree with 'faceless1' D41. It's not only Voranai, I don't think I have ever read a staff journalist in TBP who offers a solution, just and endless list of woes facing the country.
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domdunnn
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Discussion 43 : 10 Jun 2012 at 21.1143
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whatajoke D27

"A bipartisan committee of qualified people"???

Even supposing that such a thing could exist, who is going to select them?

The senate may not be lawmakers but they have immense power, among other things they select the judges and they are the only ones who can impeach judges.
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domdunnn
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Discussion 42 : 10 Jun 2012 at 20.5942
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democrazy D39.

The present AG was appointed by the senate, many of whose members were picked by the military and has been in the job since 2009, so the present government had no influence in the matter. Would the senate pick someone biased towards Thaksin? I doubt it.
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Proving Plato wrong | Bangkok Post: opinion