Democracy vs Authoritarian Regimes

Mine is an honest question, which I put first of all to myself and to everyone who wishes to try to answer it with conscience.

First, let me define what I mean by “with conscience”.

One can answer with conscience only if one is beyond the fairy tale of the democratic idea, that is, of the people governing through their elected representatives. Anyone with even a glimmer of conscience and of ideals in the search for truth knows perfectly well that there are power groups that manipulate consent, and that the “happy” zombie subjects of the Void are willing to choose against all common sense and against their own interests.

We are part of a society that Orwell imagined as a perfect dystopia, where there is no need to force people to do something absurd, because it is enough to manipulate them with a moralistic narrative.

Yet “with conscience” also means not having a ready-made, pre-packaged answer. Whoever has one is a subject who answers with the words of the master, not a thinking being. Unfortunately, from time to time even our comments section fills up with the mental rubbish of such people. With conscience means making that small effort which, in vintage times, was called “reflection”, and which today is seen as a waste of time.

Having made this long but necessary premise, I ask myself, and I sincerely ask you, whether our falsely tolerant democracy is better, or something along the lines of Russia, for example. Is it better to imprison opponents while passing it off as “just”, as with Julian Assange, or to poison them outright? Is it better to have a democratic regime where consent is built on the manipulation of inert minds and the denigration of dissent, or a despotic regime that is genuinely sovereigntist but at least in part pursues the interests of its country? Better a Draghi or a Putin? Is it better to have an enemy to fight, if need be (authoritarian regimes), or to see your fellow human beings turned into zombies who become the enemy’s best guardians (democracy)? Who knows, perhaps both aim to eliminate dissent and differ only in the methods used to achieve the result?

This is not a test. You can leave an active contribution in the comments that encourages reflection, or nothing at all…

m.m.