For the popular American consciousness, democracy is fundamentally thought of as one more technology, one more technocratic way of assuring something called "freedom," which is popularly understood as the absence of obstacles to consumption.
Do not be fooled: it fits right in with the older Ancient Near Eastern models of the Chaoskampf, the war or struggle against Chaos.
Do not be fooled: here any country (let's say any given one in Africa or the Middle East) that is not a consumeristic totalitarianism is seen as a backwards one, fueled by ethnic/tribal solidarities or religion or represive ideologies. It is seen as Chaos, to be made Cosmos by technology, or technocracy (power, governance or rule by method or technique). "One person, one vote." Democracy is one more machine to export, the mother of them all and their right use.
Real fundamental alleigances and commitments (in terms of God, country, tribe) must not be pre-given, for this restricts the licentiousness of the Appetite, and of the gods in their towers. These gods wish to pen this Appetite in where it is manageable, and where they will have sole ownership and feeding rights to this pet that has birthed them.
There is a legitimate American yearning for freedom which others may or may not share. A respect for individual rights lies at the heart of it. It is not identical to majoritarianism, although they share some characteristics. Liberty, by definition, cannot be forced on others; it can merely shine as an example to those who would freely pursue it.
I have no idea what the phrase "consumerist totalitarianism" is. It sounds offhand like the idle speculation of the guilty overprivileged.
Tribal loyalties have a quaint charm for video gamers and other fans of nostalgia, real and imagined. In twenty-first century real life, they are responsible for the pointless massacre of countless human beings.
Posted by: joe | 12/04/2010 at 05:13 AM