Ed Goertzen quoted Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia (which keyword?):
> "...If the mass of the population
> governed and they were virtuous, it was called a timocracy. (The Greek
> timios means "worthy.") But if the many were not virtuous, it was called a
> democracy. The Greeks generally had a very low opinion of democracy,
> equating it with mob rule".
Democracy as it is practiced today should rather be called "Mediacracy"
(oops, almost said "Mediocracy"..) -- the rule of the media: Even in a
'direct' democracy, the voters' decisions are based on information they
receive from the media, so in effect, the media are ruling by 'biasing'(*)
this information. And who 'owns' the large media...? (-->Oligarchy)
Chris
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(*) Whether this happens only due to (ad) bribery or mere silliness,
depends on the individual writers... remember the old poem:
"There's no cause to bribe or twist
that splendid chap the journalist.
But given what they'll do unbribed,
there's no occasion to."
