Given that the alternative was "authoritarian rule under certain, unspecified circumstances", what does "democracy" even mean here? Was it presented as a binary choice? That is misleading.

[–] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I guess the original question was the typical "Do you trust the government" question. And with conservative governments presiding over a slow decline in living standards while doing nothing to challenge the status quo, it is no wonder they don't trust the government.

[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Absolutely. But they they vote in far-right parties that actively make things much worse.

Demoracy only works if the majority of voters are both informed and of sufficient mental werewithal to think critically, and I'm fairly sure both points are doing terribly right now, on a global scale.

[–] rumimevlevi@lemmings.world 3 points 22 hours ago

Democracy only works when politicians are responsible people improving the country and really listen to the population

[–] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Truth be told, most aren't that smart.

A less cynical take would be that in a world that is more and more fractured, where flimsy digital interactions have replaced a sense of local community and where the discrepancy between the cost of living and wages have made people more competitive and less charitable, it is only natural to be distrustful and to be looking for a culprit for your own misfortune. Right-wing politics have the easy job of just amping up your fear, while left-wing politics need to plead for compassion.

[–] Kyrgizion@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I saw it explained in another article that went deeper into the psychology behind both the right and the left's messaging. It came down to the point that the left's overarching message is "you don't have to partcipate" (in things like exacerbating climate disaster, the rat race, ...) while the right's is "participation is mandatory", and apparently psychologically the pull is MUCH stronger than the push, so the right have the advantage in these circumstances. We need the left to come up with something unified. Hell, they had the chance in 2016 with Bernie but they've since clearly shown they would rather have a republican in charge than "a leftist", so I have no idea how they're planning to pull this off.

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