Political theorists have been worrying about mob rule for 2,000 years

Political theorists have been worrying about mob rule for 2,000 years(economist.com)

22 points by TheAsprngHacker 5 years ago | 6 comments

hilbert42 5 years ago |

This is an excellent short summary about the state/status of democracy from its inception and how political theorists from Plato and Aristotle to J.S. Mill et al have worried over its limitations, potential to descend into mob rule, etc.

A very discerning and prescient read given the current political climate.

nkurz 5 years ago |

https://archive.is/j5cFq

brokencode 5 years ago |

It seems to be unwritten law of all societies that they will eventually splinter into factions and self destruct. This is perhaps the greatest threat that humans have ever faced, and possibly one that we will never solve.

Humans just seem fundamentally incapable of living without conflict, even to the extent of creating vast conspiracy theories like QAnon to have something to be enraged about.

Recent months have been a wake up call for me that the United States could go the way of Rome or countless other historical superpowers, and it might even be inevitable. I just hope it doesn’t happen during my lifetime.

hilbert42 5 years ago | |

Tragically, I agree with you and I wish it weren't so.

I would only add that democracies seem to be at their most stable when inequality is at a minimum and everyone is treated with decency, fairness and respect.

It seems to me that since the early 1980s we've veered from this course and we need to correct it. We need review and renew our ethics along those lines and to do so we need trust and honesty from everyone especially bureaucrats and politicians. What I'm afraid of is that we've not the collective will to do so.

ricc 5 years ago | |

> It seems to be unwritten law of all societies that they will eventually splinter into factions and self destruct. This is perhaps the greatest threat that humans have ever faced, and possibly one that we will never solve.

> Humans just seem fundamentally incapable of living without conflict, even to the extent of creating vast conspiracy theories like QAnon to have something to be enraged about.

I've been part of so many online communities and even those formed for the most mundane of hobbies still manage to find something to fight about. In one pipe smoking forum, one petty incident of comparing the "bad-assery" of smoking cigars and the "lameness" of smoking pipes developed into actual personal conflicts.

sleepysysadmin 5 years ago |

>It is naive to assume that mobs will be confined to the “nice” side of the political spectrum; the left-wing kind by their nature generate the right-wing sort.

The implication being that the left-wing is nice?

Murder in Seattle is up 74.1% in 2020 because of the riots.

Seattle's east precinct was abandoned. The police couldn't hold it: https://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2020/11/who-ordered-the-a...

The rioters are throwing explosives and other weapons at police injuring many police officers.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8566755/Seattle-pol...

The important thing here isn't that the author is calling trump people 'not nice' or 'not kind by nature' but rather he's blind to the fact that seattle has been a very violent riot. The real story though is the echo chambers.

This trump riot thing was very odd to see. For all of 2020 you could see extreme violence from left-wing riots and left-wing news sources like msnbc did not cover this at all. You CANNOT find anything about injured police or explosives in seattle on msnbc.

When trump rioters took control of capitol hill. MSNBC had more articles in a week about the evil MAGA riot and how Trump incited a riot than they covered about violent riots in seattle all year.