We live in a democracy..... right?
Each election you give away your vote to someone who should--but does not--represent you and your interests, and thus you are left voiceless except for the act of protesting. Neat democracy system, shrug. Switzerland on the other hand is the beacon of light when it come to direct and true democracy 
Well, democracy is actually not about voting but about negotiations, but here too its all about choosing representatives who will negotiate on your behalf and to your advantage, do we know or promote such people?
know likes this.
harry haller
in reply to Fortuitous • • •Those statistics are totally meaningless.
In the UK referendums are dictated by parliament - just a yes/no answer to free the rulers of any any reponsibility - the rsult is decided by the media.
By constrast - in Switzerland referundums cam be intitiated by citizens and various options can be added to referendum by other parties - so it doesn't end up as a silly yes/no vote.
evertheless, the influence of the media, is as always, decisive.
As for the meaning of the word "democracy" - nobody dares to say much.
Who are the "people"? Define "power".....
The House of Lords had a closer resemblance to the original Athenian democracy than any parliament.
Monarchies are ruled by the monarch, but remotely - just as the major shareholders (people) have CEOs to run their companies - officially the shareholders have no say in the running of the companies they own - and certainly bear no liabilitiy for them.
Marx called democracies "dictatorship by the bourgeoisie" - do companies owned anonymously have more "power" than ordinary people?....
How much tht ia in your head ws put there and how much through going out and finding out stuff yourself?
For example you posted something about social media companies in China - you tagged china.
Would you be posting such stuff if the media focus wasn't focussed on china?
Hardly anybody on Diaspora lives in China....
Chinese social media?
Doesn't it worry you that the major socialmedia companies are USAmerican?
Could you write postsomething about german/french/british etc. socialmedia companies - doesn't this distortion worry you?
So how can we talk realistically about democracies when it is quite clear that the media dominate our thoughts?
Fortuitous
in reply to Fortuitous • • •I see your point, still I think the statistics are meaningful as it show how many decisions a nation have given to the citizens to decide. Some of these nations have centuries of existence. Its a valid point that the referendums are initiated and chosen by the parliament in contrast to Switzerland, but I think it serves to show how little “democracy” there really is.
The post about social media in China was made because the issue makes for a good topic for debate. Same thing could happen in Europe, so although we don’t live or get affected by the happening in China, it makes for an interesting thought process as to how we would or should think about it if the same were to happen here. If similar news crosses my path concerning EU/US social media and government then I don’t mind posting it.
harry haller
in reply to Fortuitous • • •Yes, but we don't have our own social media in Europe - it's all american.
That's totalitarianism quite literally. It applies to music , films , books and news as well to a great degree .
The problem is that we have got used to it and accept it - it's only we look at other countries that we see that they are independent - and without that, there is no democracy.
We have censorship here on Diaspora - some podmons not only close accounts, but also block other pods becuase they don't agree with them. That puts the whole diaspora system at risk because it messes up federation.
Anyway - the mini-blog type social media is not good for discussion - they kill it.
The old forum type social media was excellent. On the old Guardian "unlimited" forums, there were discussions which went on for literally years - a nice slow, cool, relaxed discussion - easier to find - no stream to search through - everyhing in folders, with titles - and searchable..
Usenet is still there if people would use it - but you know how it is - they follow fashions.
The internet is dying - ti's monopolised by business and our rulers - NSA, GCHQ and Echelon have been monitoring everyone for donkey years. I think people have forgotten Edward Snowden already... but that's how the system works - point the spotlight over there where you want people to look and criticise - and turn it off where you want people to forget, and of course, don't turn it on at all if something is not to be known in the first place - like the BBC did with Algeria - most Brits wonder what you're talking about if you mention Algeria in the '90s..
Finally, people ignore that journalists are professionals and not heros - they work for their employers. Whatever happened to all the german journalists from Nazi Germany? They just continued of course, working for their new employers - or even the old ones - but now conforming to their new rulers.. being "on message" as Blair would put it.