Democritus or democracy?

[imomus]

The Guardian today has an interesting breakdown of the kinds of people voting Yes and No in Sunday's Euro-constitution referendum:

"Only majorities of professionals, graduates and pensioners voted for the constitution," says the paper. "More than 80% of blue collar workers voted against. Haves and have-nots were divided by worries about unemployment, currently at a five-year high of 10.2% - and the biggest single reason for a no vote - and globalisation. Geographically, the trend was clear: Paris, with its large number of "bobos" (bourgeois bohemians) and high-profile socialist mayor, voted massively in favour. Lyon, Strasbourg and Bordeaux were in the yes camp. But Marseille, Nice and Lille said no."

(Fear Eats The Soul, Guardian leader, Tuesday May 31st)

It seems to me that a very similar thing has happened to Europe that has happened in the US: the people voting Yes to the EU constitution have the same educated, urban profile as the people voting Democrat in the last US election. And in both cases they've been defeated and outnumbered by less tolerant, less affluent and educated, more anxious, irrational and xenophobic people from smaller towns and country areas. People who feel like outsiders to the political process are now, with splendid passive aggression, exacting their revenge by dealing it blows. In many cases these people are also outsiders to the process of wealth creation: strip away the blue coasts and the big cities and America loses the economic powerhouses which make it the world's predominant power. It's the same in Europe: the people now determining the shape of the continent are the insecure poor, unwilling to share their meagre income with Polish plumbers and Turkish bakers, but also unwilling to admit their economic dependence on the dynamic city folk and political elites they've just dealt a slap in the face.



Jean de La Fontaine would probably have been a Yes voter. France's greatest writer of fables describes how the townspeople of Abdera summoned the great doctor Hippocrates to treat the philosopher Democritus, believing him to be mad. Hippocrates arrived and conversed with Democritus. They turned out to be kindred spirits; it was the townspeople who were mad. But what do you do when the majority are mad or abnormal? In a relativist conception of the universe, is it even possible to call a majority "abnormal"? In a democracy, can a majority be "wrong"? Surely we have to oppose to La Fontaine's fable the famous Brecht poem which advises the East German government, when it tells the people they have to redouble their efforts to regain the government's confidence in them, to "dissolve the people and elect a new one"?

Everyone who's ever believed profoundly in either a principle or a project, only to see a majority of the people spurn or destroy it, has to question, from time to time, the very idea of democracy: the idea that the majority of the people knows best what's good for the world. We all know that big majorities of the people would, given referenda on the death penalty, war, abortion, immigration and other issues, often choose the most barbaric and atavistic options. There are all sorts of sensible measures you can propose to improve the situation: give the people better access to information, improve education, make the political elites more responsive, make them explain their visions better. But although the editorials won't say it, I will: majorities of the people, at any given time and in any given place, are likely to be mad, bad and wrong.

I mean, someone in my position more or less has to believe that. For twenty years I've been making records. They've been available in shops and played on the radio, but the people have almost completely spurned them. If the people are always right, it would seem an unavoidable conclusion that my records are just a million times worse than Kelly Clarkson's. So give me the choice between Democritus and democracy and, well, you can see how passive aggression might just make me vote for the "mad" philosopher.

Comments

[bearzbub.livejournal.com]

That is some mad philosophy you've got going there. A majority of people have bad taste, it's a fact. Uncreative reality television does not locate talent, it simply showcases fools

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

the people now determining the shape of the continent are the insecure poor

But don't you think it's brilliant that the poor are finally becoming a force to be reckoned with, demanding that their very pressing needs are seen to *before* we all go marching off bravely into the future? Ignore us at your peril, they're saying. Maybe we're not the ideas men... but we still outnumber you.

[beingjdc.livejournal.com]

It's great. The constitution was defeated by radicals, workers, the marginalised, the poor, socialists, greens, communists, public sector workers, and students. It was backed by the elite. It didn't win in Paris because of the bohemians - look at the local breakdowns - it won because of the commuters.

[spoombung.livejournal.com]

"Only majorities of professionals, graduates and pensioners voted for the constitution," says the paper. "More than 80% of blue collar workers voted against. "

What was it that Quintin Crisp said?
"The working classes are such a disappointment"

Seriously, though, this really is a bit of a head-scratcher. Liking and intergrating with foreigners is generally something associated with nice, educated, leftish people - but there's loads of famous lefttes opposed to it all (including Tony Benn) on the grounds that it's all a bit undemocratic and unelected etc. Hmm. (scratches head)

[qscrisp.livejournal.com]

Did I say that? Or was it George Orwell? So hard to remember now.

I do have two tattoos, though. I don't have any Kanji like Kelly Clarkson, though.

I've always thought utilitarianism was a deeply dubious philosophy...

[spoombung.livejournal.com]

"We all know that big majorities of the people would, given referenda on the death penalty, war, abortion, immigration and other issues, often choose the most barbaric and atavistic options."

I see your point, but we have the option to do this in nearly every election in every country as there are always plenty of barbaric parties you can vote for at any time...but it doesn't happen that often.

[spoombung.livejournal.com]

Also it's quite refreshing that MPs (on both sides of the spectrum) in the UK turn down the death penalty time after time (against public opinion) which rather comes around to your suggestion that maybe real politics are best left to real politicians.

This has nothing to do with your post, but I thought you might like to know...

[iconoclastastic.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine saw you perform several years ago, when you were doing the thing that if people paid you money you'd write a song for them on the spot.

Just tonight I met a new person that remembered the song you composed for that person from those years ago, and thought it incredibly good and clever...enough to remember the title of it. The rememberer and the muse-man had never met previously. That's pretty cool, I think.

[rhodri.livejournal.com]

Maybe you need to have an "ASK MOMUS!" section on your website. Kelly does. This significant omission could be badly affecting your career.

21. Do you have any tattoos? If so, what is it of and does it have any significance?

Kelly: YES. I HAVE A JAPANESE SYMBOL THAT MEANS "BLESSED" ON THE BACK OF MY NECK WHICH I GOT WHEN I WAS 18. I GOT IT BECAUSE I AM BLESSED WITH SO MUCH IN MY LIFE. ALSO, THIS YEAR I GOT A BABY CROSS ON MY RIGHT WRIST. I GOT A CROSS TO REMIND ME THAT THERE'S ALWAYS SOMEONE LOOKING OUT FOR ME EVEN IF IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE IT.

Momus! Do you have any tattoos? If so, what are they of, and do they have any significance?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

12. What advice would you give others who want to accomplish what you've done?
Kelly: NO MATTER HOW MANY DOORS SLAM IN YOUR FACE, THERE'S ONE THAT'S WAITING FOR JUST YOU.

Nice, she managed to work in a reference to Kafka's parable "Before The Law".

[(Anonymous)]

Perhaps blue-colour workers are more savvy because they have a tradition of having to absorb change. Media workers' every breath is façade (how the whole thing looks, is it more or less polite, what class of person does it make me to believe this or that).

Put simply for those who don’t understand – 'slow values' and 'standing up to America' were NOT stated in any published version of the treaty, and clever people don't sign things they half complete in their heads. People where not prepared to buy something being sold by a shady right-wing crook like Chirac.

Lots of media workers fetishise the French Revolution – so why didn't they join in this time?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

"The streets of Paris, strewed with the carcases of the mangled victims, are become so familiar to the sight, that they are passed by and trod on without any particular notice. The mob think no more of killing a fellow-creature, who is not even an object of suspicion, than wanton boys would of killing a cat or a dog".

You might want to listen to this radio programme about The Terror (http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/downloadtrial/radio4/inourtime/inourtime_20050526-0900_40.mp3).

[(Anonymous)]

Aaah, years are passing, and grey gets blacker or whiter every day...

- Well, the ego is always right, isn't it? "I" am good, the "others" don't understand me, what's why "I" am not selling as many cds and don't get top charts successes as "I" should... «Serve the rich, screw the poor / Don't let the bastard grind you down» indeed

- Wat about Brittany? This region isn't particularly richer or poorer than, say, Rhone-Alpes (Lyon, Grenoble, etc). So why the massive vote for "yes" ?

- What about the whole debate that went on and on and on, on the yes blogs and the no blogs? Surely the no blogs were run by insecure poor uneducated people, weren't they?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Wat about Brittany?

It's true her records are better than Kelly's.

[zenicurean.livejournal.com]

...the very idea of democracy: the idea that the majority of the people knows best what's good for the world.

I was always under the impression that the point of a Rousseau-esque democracy was rather that the majority of the people should rule themselves - and the minority - according to what they want to see happen, what with them being the majority, rather than that they are supposed to be somehow correct and justified in some vague universal sense.

i live in a paper bag!

[cityramica.livejournal.com]

who's Kelly Clarkson?


xo

Re: i live in a paper bag!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

She's some American Idol winner who sells millions of records and gets asked about her tattoos. But I'd rather know about your tattoos.

[georgesdelatour.livejournal.com]

The fundamental problem with the European project is it's always been "top-down", never "bottom up". It starts with Monnet and Schuman insinuating their ideas into the bureaucracy and the political class, and keeping far away from the unwashed masses. Well, now the masses are revolting.

But what if it had grown from the bottom, like the suffragettes, Gandhi's movement for Indian independence, or Luther King and the American Civil Rights movement?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The trouble is, when you're at grass roots you tend only to be able to see your own turf. You need to be up at the top to see things like global injustice.

[mini-snape.livejournal.com]

I'm Dutch and voting against tomorrow, because of the way animal rights are neglected in the constitution. I would vote yes if they changed it to incorporate them.
Generalisations don't take these sort of choices into account, be careful with them.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I think it's worrying that you're rejecting a whole framework on the basis of a single issue. I'd ask you to reconsider, and then work within EU structures to improve treatment of animals. Any successes you had would be Europe-wide rather than restricted to single states.

[boof-boy.livejournal.com]

All of which begs the question - if you were a dictator, ruler of the world, albeit a benevolent one, what rules, laws etc. would you introduce?

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Abolish cars. Abolish poverty. Abolish the nation state. Terraform Mars. Make Tokyo the capital of Earth. And that's just the first week.

relativism v absolutism as appears in your post

[thetemplekeeper.livejournal.com]

Man, have you really never heard of inter-subjectivity? :)

Re: relativism v absolutism as appears in your post

[(Anonymous)]

Well done. You've dressed up the obvious and inarguable like it's a dolly. Again.

[(Anonymous)]

I've been searching desperately for the post where you featured a series of super high res photographic portraits of people's faces. Could you point me towards it?

Thanks!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

Employee of the Month (http://www.livejournal.com/users/imomus/94565.html)

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Barleycrat!

[fishwithissues.livejournal.com]

Although the other commentators haven't said it, I will: "Since You've Been Gone" is fantastic.

[theopsys.livejournal.com]

"In party terms, far-right groups such as Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National and the far left united against the treaty. The centre-right UMP and UDF were in favour, the Greens split. François Hollande's Socialist party, which backed the constitution in an internal ballot last year, divided 56%-44% against it. Thus the morning after the referendum was going to be bad day for the socialists, whatever the result."

I'm confused. You mean to tell me that France has more than two political parties? Here in America I'd gotten used to the fact that the world of politics is comprised of only Republicans and Democrats. Wait, lemme rephrase the question: You mean to tell me France has more than ONE political party?

Anyhow, regardless of the consequences of a "No" vote by the French, both France and the rest of Europe should feel lucky that they don't live in a country that is backwards enough to have twice elected an ill-equipped jackass like George W. Bush. Insofar as the self-interest of ruralites is concerned, at least those so-called country folk in France seem to have voted according to the possible economic consequences, as opposed to basing their decision entirely on irrelevant and highly personal (read: selfish) moral issues such as abortion and gay marriage, which are teh kinds of "issues" a vast number of pro-Bushies used to determine their vote. Talk about being unable to see the big picture: Ruralites here in America can't even take their noses out of the Bible long enough to give a shit about domestic issues, let alone what's going on overseas. EU constitution or no, Europeans should just be glad they live where they do.

[joentdothat.livejournal.com]

The Republican who served as my housemate last year told me that he would never have voted for John Kerry. "Why?" He is such a jackass. "In what was is he a jackass?" He has SUCH a STUPID FACE.

Try as I might, I couldn't get much better an answer than that, although I did manage to get admissions out of him that he was totally unprepared to vote (though he did).

[ewigweibliche.livejournal.com]

Greetings.
I didn't see this addressed in any of the previous comments. I am an overeducated, well-traveled, well-read, opera-loving, but poor as dirt "liberal" (US style liberal). However, I find the analysis you did in your third paragraph comparing the break down over yes-no EU voters to the red-blue breakdown in the US very unhelpful. Politics has become a dichotomy. In the US we have this weak two party system that divides everything up into further entrenching this false dichotomy. It hinders politics and makes issues appear as black and white as the Bush administration would have us believe they are. And the "liberal" side certainly isn't doing much to help the situation. Everyone is just alienating everyone else.

You call the people who disagree with you "less tolerant, less affluent and educated, more anxious, irrational and xenophobic people from smaller towns and country areas." While statistically this might be the way it breaks down, I think it does those people a disservice. Aren't their concerns worthy of acknowledgement? By disregarding their fears about losing work, lack of security, and fear of the unknown, you only fuel their hurtful stereotypes of liberal, educated, artistic types. No, I don't agree with xenophobic fears, but shallow analysis won't further dialogue or the political process. It's certainly not been working here in the US.

[lord-whimsy.livejournal.com]

Yes--I see a rationale based on class prejudice more than I do reason.

[cataptromancer.livejournal.com]

I demand that you send me autographed copies of all of your records or I will send more anonymous taunters your way! Mwahahaha.

[cos]

But although the editorials won't say it, I will: majorities of the people, at any given time and in any given place, are likely to be mad, bad and wrong.

I think you fundamentally miss what Democracy is, and why we have it. It has nothing to do with whether the majority of people are "right" or "wrong" about any black and white question you throw at them in a referendum.

[thetemplekeeper.livejournal.com]

Wow, where's this democracy you're talking about? Last I heard, USA and Germany were federal republics and the UK was a constitutional monarchy... there are pretty big political differences here, you know!

[cerulicante.livejournal.com]

It seems that grassroots efforts, blue collar/union solidarity and democracy as a concept are only acceptable to you when the outcome is agreeable to you. Were the vote to have been yes, I could imagine we'd be reading about how the common Euroman sent a powerful message to Bushitler and how the monolithic Europe, Inc. was going to knock down the US and transform it into rainbows and gumdrops for illegal immigrants.

The French people voted and soon the Dutch will vote. Regardless of the outcome, the people's voices must be heard and respected. To do any less is to become like China or Stalinist Russia, I think.

[mcgazz.livejournal.com]

How can you compare those who voted against the constitution to the 'Jesusland' Bush voters in the US when the constitution they rejected is all about enforcing an economic neo-liberalism that makes the Bush administration's policies seem left-wing?

[rwillmsen.livejournal.com]

The people of Europe need to learn a lesson from the Bolivians!

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N31688033.htm

[polocrunch.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm glad that you at least sought to defend your attack on those who voted against something of which you were in favour (and who happen, due to their differing social circumstances, not to value the same things as you), even if was done rather badly. Still, I am disappointed by yet another 'liberal democrat except when the people disagree with me' piece by a member of the cultural elite. Especially irritating was the point at which you disparaged lower-income people for supporting the 'most barbaric and atavistic' policies, which I found particularly condescending. You can be a terrible snob sometimes, Momus.

[imomus.livejournal.com]

The blue-collar workers who voted no want to protect their jobs against competition from within the expanded EU (from Poles and later Turks) but also from outside it, from call centre workers in Bangalore and steel workers in China. They think there can be a return to the days when France was at the centre of the EU, and its social legislation managed to protect them without alienating the international companies they work for. This is simply unrealistic. Not only can you not vote "no" to globalism, it's petty and selfish; people in developing countries deserve to be employed, and to share in the benefits of global trade. My "snobbism" is on behalf of people much poorer than the blue-collar workers who just said no to the EU constitution.

[casca-2u.livejournal.com]

We all know that big majorities of the people would, given referenda on the death penalty, war, abortion, immigration and other issues, often choose the most barbaric and atavistic options.

atavistic is a fascinating choice of word in the above context. However, i only think of the atavar in the religio-spiritual sense, and am a bit puzzled what you intended. Can you clarify? Thanks!

[imomus.livejournal.com]

'Atavistic' means reappearance of a remote ancestral characteristic, throwback; reversion to an earlier type. It would be atavistic to demand a return to hangings in the public square, for instance.