They don’t care about abstract Western ideals of “democracy.” In fact, they do not even grasp these concepts.
Suppose that the article is wrong about that. Does that change the argument?
Taiwanese can look at democracy in America to see what it means in practice. There is an over-extended suffrage. This leads to momentum voting. A momentum voter votes for the same party that his father did and his father before him. It is like supporting a football team, and great for those who control the party; they have a vote block.
Over-extended suffrage also leads to low information voters, voting the way that the mass media tell them too. Indeed, rich people buy up the mass media, precisely to exploit this source of political power.
A Taiwanese policy wonk, dreaming of democracy as the path to implement his high brow policies can look at America to see whether that will work. He sees that in an American style democracy he is ruled indirectly by the rich, issuing orders to the media who manipulate their voters by the stories that they fail to cover. He also sees the momentum voters, who have no interest in his high brow policies.
So a Taiwanese policy wonk who does care about abstract Western ideals of "democracy" can observe their failure. He sees that there is nothing worth fighting for, because he grasps both the concepts and their impracticality.
[ + ] happytoes
[ - ] happytoes 0 points 2.3 yearsFeb 21, 2023 14:17:46 ago (+0/-0)
Suppose that the article is wrong about that. Does that change the argument?
Taiwanese can look at democracy in America to see what it means in practice. There is an over-extended suffrage. This leads to momentum voting. A momentum voter votes for the same party that his father did and his father before him. It is like supporting a football team, and great for those who control the party; they have a vote block.
Over-extended suffrage also leads to low information voters, voting the way that the mass media tell them too. Indeed, rich people buy up the mass media, precisely to exploit this source of political power.
A Taiwanese policy wonk, dreaming of democracy as the path to implement his high brow policies can look at America to see whether that will work. He sees that in an American style democracy he is ruled indirectly by the rich, issuing orders to the media who manipulate their voters by the stories that they fail to cover. He also sees the momentum voters, who have no interest in his high brow policies.
So a Taiwanese policy wonk who does care about abstract Western ideals of "democracy" can observe their failure. He sees that there is nothing worth fighting for, because he grasps both the concepts and their impracticality.