http://www.corrupt.org/articles/politics/alex_birch/democracy_is_political_entertainmentThe latest controversy around the racial slurs against Obama and the sexist remarks about Hillary, proves in effect what we've always known to be true: democracy is political entertainment. The masses simply can't get enough; we've had a disastrous war in Iraq that is leading nowhere, an economy that's about to go into recession, increased ethnic conflicts and several reports of corrupt lobbying, yet we insist on more.
We want more entertainment, in any form, to keep us occupied in between work and TV. We need something to discuss and feel important about. Sexism and racism are currently two hot topics that serve this end. We feel good inside by asserting what's seen as morally correct in the social environment we're in. It's good to be an anti-racist but even better to be a feminist. Preferably you're both.
http://faculty.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/PlatoRep.htmThe two political parties or social classes that vied for power in classical Athens, as in most other Greek city states, were the oligarchs and the democrats. The oligarchs tried to establish a state in which only owners of substantial amounts of property could vote and hold public office, while the democrats insisted that all male citizens have the same rights. "An oligarchy is said to be that in which the few and the wealthy, and a democracy that in which the many and the poor are the rulers," as Aristotle put it in his Politics. (1)
Is not rule-by-wealthy collectives the eventual consequence of having a democracy; a control system for the foolish:
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/mathew/logic.htmlArgumentum ad crumenam
The fallacy of believing that money is a criterion of correctness; that those with more money are more likely to be right. The opposite of Argumentum ad Lazarum.
Argumentum ad novitatem
This is the opposite of the Argumentum ad Antiquitatem; it's the fallacy of asserting that something is better or more correct simply because it is new, or newer than something else.
Argumentum ad numerum
This fallacy is closely related to the argumentum ad populum. It consists of asserting that the more people who support or believe a proposition, the more likely it is that that proposition is correct.
Argumentum ad populum (Appeal to the people or gallery)
This is known as Appealing to the Gallery, or Appealing to the People. You commit this fallacy if you attempt to win acceptance of an assertion by appealing to a large group of people. This form of fallacy is often characterized by emotive language.
