The Illusion of Democracy

In a recent Timcast IRL clip it was explained how America is not the democracy people suppose it is. The same could be said for other western countries.

For a while now I’ve come to realise that the choices and options put forward at the times of election, such as for Left or Right, this party or that, are not only limited and restricted by the very system itself, and at best, but that when we are even voting for the best of the worst (as I have in the past considered any vote to be) there is a probability that those things we believe we have voted for, fail to be implemented (consider the building of walls or the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

We can be wrong to believe that “voting for the other” will bring about much needed change. The evidence speaks for itself.

Today I watched a further episode from the Netfix series Snowpiercer. It is sent in a dystopic time when the world is frozen over and the remaining population live on a train (Snowpiercer) that has to keep circling the planet. The train represents the entirety of the human class system from those at the arse-end (literally, named ‘Tailies’) all the way up to those at the top, in First Class, and those in control of the train. In this episode Layton, a ‘tailie’, has taken back control of the train from the despotic Mr Wilford (whose very existence and control for a while was an illusion). One would hope that things would then improve for the masses on the train, but Layton’s first objective was to head the train to, where ‘science’ had suggested, is a relatively warm spot on the planet that they could potentially live at. However, perhaps to maintain order on the train and present a changing of ways now the tyrannical ruler had been overthrown (again), Layton puts it to the people: they could vote for heading to this location (a trip that wouldn’t be without risk) or not. In order to ‘sell’ his proposition however, he had a person he’d recently saved from the outside world to lie to the people and tell them she’d come from that warm place where there were green plants and trees; an Eden.

This is what politics has become (or has always been, at least not as brash, and perhaps this kind of illusion is born out of religion). We’re sold on ideas and lies, we’re presented with a ‘science’ (such as that about a Virus or the state of the environment) that backs up that narrative (a narrative that a few key people profit from), and then, as brainwashed and propagandised people, we’re asked (if we’re lucky) to vote on the options put before us, or just expected to play along (and pay our taxes into those causes), but the choices are narrow, and mere illusion themselves. It’s very difficult to play along when you see through the façade and in doing so means you’re no better than them.

There is also the question of protest which typically comes about because governments are either not doing what we expect of them (because that’s how the system expects/leads us to behave), they are doing wrong (and we’re fortunate to see that), or are overstepping a mark (again, we have to be able to see that).

While it’s nice to see people standing up for what they believe in, because they see a Truth, I have wondered: When have I actually seen the changes sought? With present-day Freedom protests I am moved to see so many people coming together and standing up (although it’s only taken 2+ years for these people to catch up! – not that I’m trying to be smug about that), but I have concerns.

It is alarming to see governments’ reluctance to ‘back down’ or even consider protested demands from its citizens. What are they reluctant to give in to? Is it the protested points or the position of power the illusion affords them? (I’d say it is clearly the latter). Governments around the world are taking note; if Trudeau fails, as he appears to be doing, then others will too, but likewise, if nothing changes, then will/can things ever change?

More recently I have considered also, from reading Ted Kaczynski’s ‘Manifesto’ that protest is a symptom and expression of the system, by people of the system. People can say that they are choosing to protest, and that they have the freedom to do so, but it is the very system that they are protesting against that has brought it about. If you want to be free, be free; free people would have no reason to protest, they would just be (this is perhaps why the powers-that-be don’t really care if you protest or not, because protesters are just reaffirming the illusion that they are slaves). By protesting for freedom, you’re showing how free you believe yourself not to be. But again, with the present protests, with placards of “Love and Peace”, it’s nice to see and I can only hope that it addresses the balance of power which should not be tipped in favour of the very few.