Saturday, April 10, 2010

Minority Report

I was discussing philosophy and politics with an old friend of mine, and a phrase that he used instantly took me by surprise and stuck with me. The phrase was "Democracy is the tyranny of the majority" . I instantly realized how true these words are. Here I am, born and brought up in a democratic country and now pursuing higher studies in another democratic country trying to justify that this is the best system that can ever exist anywhere. But what is my basis of justifying democracy? What do I know of other systems? Is everyone truly happy in this system?
Have you ever been in a minority oppressed by a majority? Minority is always a subject of ridicule. Right from my birth, I was a minority. I was born a left- hander in a time when left was considered "wrong". (The parts of the body were the right hand and the 'wrong hand' --ulta haath..) I am so proud of my parents that they did not forcefully convert me to a right hander. It would have been such a big disaster curbing my natural instincts. Right from desks to a computer mouse to a guitar, I had to face the oppression of the majority. (Its logical from a business sense point of view, but when you stand in my shoes, its oppression alrite!)
I was also a religious minority. Jainism however, did not ruffle anyone's feathers and so I luckily faced no huge oppression on this front.
Women have been trying to fight so long for equal rights, however where are we still? If you look in rural areas, equality is a distant dream!
The point I'm trying to make is that the majority is not always right, one needs to adopt a more balanced and sensitive view towards everyone to ensure the success of a democratic system.
Lowly vote-bank politics should be a thing of a past. One needs to target an inclusive growth.

5 comments:

All Talk and No Action said...

very well expressed and I agree completely...
About democracy, yes, from experience and hindsight, it does seem the best form of governance...
However, it fails, if it doesn't empower..
also I also think there is a time for everything..not every culture will succeed under democracy. Some, cultures require other forms of governance if they need to perform

India, acc to me, didn't benefit much under democracy ... or lets say, we didn't know how to make it work..

akanksha said...

Hey Zuin! Very well written :)
Liked it...

ZK said...

Mukta..But I think we are too far along now to experiment with the system (not that you are suggesting it). Just have to make democracy work somehow!

ZK said...

Thanks KTKR

Lavanya said...

well yes we are too accustomed to democracy..but to come to terms its not the same in the rural areas yet..and the other point is in a democracy there isa nedd to take opinion and acceptance for almost evry matter.thats the reason we dont advance as fast as the capitalist US or the like the monarchy system of china..well expressed...