Q&A: Question
Question
Question
Is interpreting democracy as something other than majority rule, even a little bit, not like saying about a cow that was killed that it wasn’t ritually slaughtered, and that it’s kosher since it comes from a kosher species? Similar, but different.
Answer
Are you engaging in a dictionary debate? I have no interest in that.
Discussion on Answer
The question that should be discussed is what is appropriate and inappropriate to do, not the semantic question of what is called democracy.
In your view, is it appropriate to use a certain term while meaning the opposite—and all this when it isn’t done transparently? [There are times when this is done in good faith. And there are times when it’s done deliberately, in order to mislead and make use of the original term. Because only that way will people come to me.] And then you present this to people. What if they’re people who haven’t been trained to think critically?
I’m not just stubbornly trying to be semantic, but in a discussion it’s important first of all to put this on the table. Am I wrong?
And also, why not choose a different word? Isn’t this distorting the term, and if you like, hijacking the concept—especially in matters where most people interpret it as X while you mean Y? When it’s transparent, there’s no problem. The problem can be when it isn’t, and then it can even be deception. So how am I supposed to approach a discussion with you—according to what most people think, or according to reasonable logic?