• flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz
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    1 day ago

    But it is a lack of democracy institutions development. “Slave mentality” too, although I prefer different phrasing.

    • vivalapivo@lemmy.today
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      1 day ago

      There’s the trick: what do you call democracy? Usually, the word “democracy” is reduced to the word “elections” and here the field where the autocrats like to play.

      “Slave mentality” too

      In my experience, this one is usually used as a token of some superiority over another nation or over your very neighbors who elect candidates you don’t like.

      • flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz
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        24 hours ago

        Usually, the word “democracy” is reduced to the word “elections” and here the field where the autocrats like to play.

        That’s the problem. For a functional country, or “democracy” for short, you need mechanisms to prevent a collapse into autocracy. And general participation of citizens in decision making, which is related to my second point.

        What I mean by “slave mentality” is better described as “rejection of personhood”. People supporting authoritarian governments reject their own status as a person, by rejecting their own (and everybody else’s) political agency. Usually by looking for some great leader to be a saviour, as long as you keep your head down and obey.
        Political rights are what makes you a full person in a society.

        • vivalapivo@lemmy.today
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          16 hours ago

          I’m sorry, my friend, I don’t want to sound condescending, but the sentiment like “if only all the people did …” is inherently flawed. There should be a material force dragging us, the people, into this mindset.

          There were some opportunities in the recent times like the rise of twitter and COVID times where people had been engaging into the real politics, but apparently it was not enough yet