[LINK] Tea Parties

[Karl Auer]

On Sun, 2009-04-19 at 10:35 +1000, Jan Whitaker wrote:
> At 10:06 AM 19/04/2009, Karl Auer wrote:
> >Just what exactly would wipe the "yawn" off your face, if the fact of
> >*three hundred thousand people* taking the time to protest leaves you
> >unmoved?
> 
> Goodness, I struck a nerve! Unintentionally, btw.

Absolutely! People who profess to believe in democracy often
unintentionally reveal themselves to believe in only half of it - the
will of the majority.

> [in Buffalo], with one million people in the metro area, 150 people 
> attended a "tea party". Why is anyone talking about this again?

The number of voices that say something is not relevant to the truth of
what they say. I do not know whether these three hundred thousand are
saying a true thing or not. But don't dismiss them because they are few.
That is a specific and particularly pernicious anti-democratic form of
the ad hominem attack.

Regards, K.

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)                   +61-2-64957160 (h)
http://www.biplane.com.au/~kauer/                  +61-428-957160 (mob)

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