democracy
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John Stuart Mill argued that the active participation of the governed in the process of government is an essential component of a democratic system. “The food of feeling”, he wrote, “is action… Let a person have nothing to do for his country, and he will not care for it.” That, I assume, is what John F. Kennedy meant in saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”. Political indifference in the death of democracy.
Neil Postman -
Democracy depends on public discourse, and therefore the kind of quality of the discourse is of singular importance. Simply to say that more information is received more quickly in diverse forms, with opportunities for fast feedback, is not to say that democratic processes are enriched.
Neil Postman -
In a culture dominated by print, public discourse tends to be characterized by a coherent, orderly arrangement of facts and ideas. The public for whom it is intended is generally competent to manage such discourse. In a print culture, writers make mistakes when they lie, contradict themselves, fail to support their generalizations, try to enforce illogical connections. In a print culture readers make mistakes when they don’t notice, or even worse, don’t care.
Neil Postman
