Extracts from the video
Socrates’s point is that voting in an election is a skill, not a random intuition. And like any skill, it needs to be taught systematically to people. Letting the citizenry vote without an education is as irresponsible as putting them in charge of a trireme sailing to Samos in a storm.
Crucially, Socrates was not elitist in the normal sense. He didn’t believe that a narrow few should only ever vote. He did, however, insist that only those who had thought about issues rationally and deeply should be let near a vote.
We have forgotten this distinction between an intellectual democracy and a democracy by birthright. We have given the vote to all without connecting it to that of wisdom. And Socrates knew exactly where that would lead: to a system the Greeks feared above all, demagoguery. dēmos ‘the people’ + agōgos ‘leading
We have preferred to think of democracy as an unambiguous good – rather than a process that is only ever as effective as the education system that surrounds it. As a result, we have elected many sweet shop owners, and very few doctors.
Source: Why Socrates Hated Democracy
Σχολιασμός
Η Δημαγωγία της Δημοκρατίας
Σήμερα εν έτη 2016 και σύντομα 2017 αυτό βιώνουμε στο πετσί μας. Δεκαετίες τώρα εμάς τους Έλληνες, και όχι μόνο, μας “μορφώνουν” και διαπαιδαγωγούν για να διαπρέψουμε ως μονάδες του συστήματος, για να είμαστε οι πιο πετυχημένοι. Και με αυτό τον τρόπο να ΜΗΝ ασχολούμαστει με τα κοινά, να μην υπάρχει συλλογική συνείδηση και προσπάθεια, και να δεχόμαστε παθητικά τους δημαγωγούς μας.