Democracies Quotes

“Whatever modern democracies may tell themselves about their commitment to free speech and to diversity of opinion, the values of a given society will uncannily match those of whichever organizations have the scale to pay for runs of thirty-second slots around the nightly news bulletin.”
― Alain de Botton, Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion

“In dictatorships the media is controlled by the State. In democracies the media is controlled by wealthy individuals with political affiliations. Objective media and journalists simply do not exist in the mainstream.”
― Robert Black

“La dictature c'est "Ferme ta gueule !", la démocratie c'est "Cause toujours !”
― Coluche

“There is no liberal world order anymore, and the aspiration to create one no longer seems real. But there are liberal societies, open and free countries that offer a better chance for people to live useful lives than closed dictatorships do. They are hardly perfect. Those that exist have deep flaws, profound divisions, and terrible historical scars. But that’s all the more reason to defend and protect them. So few of them have existed across human history; so many have existed for a short time and then failed. They can be destroyed from the outside and from the inside, too, by division and demagogues. Or they can be saved. But only if those of us who live in them are willing to make the effort to save them.”
― Anne Applebaum, Autocracy, Inc.

“Women should not be penalized for being women. Equally, men should not be penalized for being men. I fear that in overly politically correct western Christian democracies, the latter is occurring. It should not be forgotten that nature will correct the pendulum, so that is does not swing too far either way.”
― Robert Black

“It's not all about building police forces and more prisons. This is in a sense an abdication of what the rule of law is and in the same way that simply running to electoral processes has nothing to do with the true building of democracies. There's allot more to democracies then elections and there's allot more to the rule of law then law enforcement.”
― George Stamatis

“Do you want to live under someone else’s life? Nearly everything we get to do is because of politics. Everything else not open to us is because of the politicians. We don’t have much say already. Don’t make it we don’t even get to see”
― George Stamatis

“In the civilized world, there are two democracies, one largest "India" and one smallest stolen land Isreal. Both are mightily violators of human rights, international law, and against the self-determination of the peoples. The biggest achievement is now that our human justice is not anymore blind, it has got eyes and locked-mouth. Congratulations.”
― Ehsan Sehgal

“To properly compare democracies to dictatorships we need to consider the real reason democracies were created, that is, to divide the people. Politics only exists in the minds of the people. In reality, all political parties, apart from a few insignificant independents are controlled by the same rich and powerful entities. Therefore, there is essentially no difference between a democracy or a dictatorship. But, I can tell you one thing the Chinese do not waste their time doing, is arguing with their neighbours about which political party they support.”
― Jack Freestone

“Democracies should work, again in coalitions, to promote transparency, to create international standards, to ensure that autocracies don't set the rules and shape the products.

We are becoming aware of all these things very late. Around the world, democratic activists, from Moscow to Hong Kong to Caracas, have been warning us that our industries, our economic policies, and our research efforts are enabling the economic and even the military aggression of others, and they are right.”
― Anne Applebaum, Autocracy, Inc.

“...I believe the citizens of the United States, and the citizens of the democracies of Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America, should begin thinking of themselves as linked to one another and to the people who share their values inside autocracies too. They need one another, now more than ever, because their democracies are not safe. Nobody's democracy is safe.

Americans, with our long history of imagining ourselves to be exceptional, would do well to remember that our domestic politics have always been connected to, and influenced by, a larger struggle for freedom and the rule of law around the world.”
― Anne Applebaum, Autocracy, Inc.

“Human beings evolved to live in small bands with people more or less like themselves. But today, many of us live in wonderfully pluralistic societies. In America, Europe, India, and many other places, we're trying to build mass multicultural democracies, societies that contain people from diverse races and ethnicities, with different ideologies and backgrounds. To survive, pluralistic societies require citizens who can look across difference and show the kind of understanding that is a prerequisite of trust—who can say, at the very least, “I’m beginning to see you. Certainly, I will never fully experience the world as you experience it, but I’m beginning, a bit, to see the world through your eyes.”
― David Brooks, How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen