Scomagia wrote:Infected Mushroom wrote:Sometimes, democracy can really lower the standard of behavior we have come to expect from our leaders.
Can you imagine people behaving like this in a castle in front of the king?
People are neither more nor less well behaved in a democracy than they are in an autocracy. /autocrat threadjack.
i disagree but whatever.
People can be really theatrical and rude (like in the OP) because democracy, through its adversarial nature promotes confrontationalism and has a higher tolerance for theatrics. The elected representatives in general also come from really aggressive professions (like running businesses or being lawyers) and this promotes a different dynamic than if you were raised a gentleman, in a mansion, and with all the proprieties of good manner from a young age. It's just different.
I think things have gone too far in America; now we get all sorts of theatrics with the democratic representatives. The confrontationalism in Congress and bad upbringing is fueling this stuff. It definitely has something to do with democracy and its emphasis on confrontation, competition, and adversarialism. Politicians are so obsessed with winning the next round of elections and making the other side look bad, sometimes its like there are many countries in one country (it often doesn't feel like they all have the USA's best interest at heart but their own party/personal success). Democracy seems to lead to division...