Do you have to have fought for your rights in order to appreciate them?

Question

Longest ever period of democracy and peace in Western Europe, and the participation rate at national elections is getting lower and lower. Do people value democracy only when it is threatened or when they have been deprived of it at some stage?

Answer 1

People are pursuing happiness and don't really bother about great ideas.
Once the people are well fed and entertained they mechanically lose interest in politics, they still appreciate political scandals though but just as an other form of entertainment.
Democracy is thus a very fragile political system because it contains the seeds of its own destruction.
The democracy as an ideal will probably survive as long as there are poor and unhappy individuals who will see it as a mean to improving their condition but even on this front democracy is threatened by inventive regimes like Singapour or China who are developping political systems able to provide wealth an entertainment to the mass without conceding political rights.

Answer 2

Well it's a leading question, but one I certainly agree with the thrust of... fighting for something always makes you appreciate it more and the right to vote is no exception, as the colossal turn-out in Iraq's election suggests (assuming that this was reported accurately!). It drives me crazy when people don't bother to vote, and while I sympathise with the viewpoint above that a voter may feel that no party represents their views, I think that in this circumstance you should spoil your paper - i.e., make your assessment of discontent with the system as a whole HEARD! If you don't state why the system is wrong, and do something to change it, you will be assumed to be apathetic and willing to go along with the status quo.

I think what makes someone appreciate the right to vote is a heghtened level of political consciousness, and having to fight for that right is an obvious way of attaining this - but as sophisticated and Mike's answers show, it's not the only way. And on the other end of the scale, there are cases where people HAVE been deprived of the right to vote, but are still apathetic about politics: from my own experience I would cite Argentina, where the dictatorship of 1976-83 led to over 30,000 people "disappeared", and yet in the 2003 election, the widespread disillusion incited by the 2001 economic crisis meant that almost everyone I spoke to said that they did not want to vote. Perhaps history is not enough, perhaps you personally have to have been deprived of that right to vote (hence why as a feminist I go nuts over women in particular not voting). Although voting there is obligatory, they did not want to, because "all politicians are the same" and a recurrent rallying cry was "que se vayan todos" (they should all go away).

Which brings me to another point: the power of political participation represented in the moment of voting will only be appreciated and taken up, if it genuinely does confer a sense of power and participation. Again, as the answers above suggest, "voting" is not synonymous with "democracy", and if there is a significant gap between the kind of politician you want to vote for, and the candidates offered to you, voting does not give you a sense of representation. Or, someone may seem to represent you, but if the government or opposition party then seems to change direction, or cease to reflect your ongoing or changing ideology (or immediate reaction to current events) in their policies, then that one-off vote no longer constitutes a democratic participation.

This is probably the way many Brits (and Americans) feel after the Iraq war: when a decision that monumental is made against the expressed will of what (I think?) was a majority of the British population, or at least a significant minority, it is understandable that people would not want to vote, and would feel that their own government is no longer acting democratically. As the protest marches show, voting is not the only means of political participation, and not voting does not mean that you are silent, but that you have perhaps opted-out of the system to make your voice heard through other channels. However, as long as we have a government that is elected through voting, it is voting that will determine the political direction of future governance rather than protests - which disrupt the system temporarily but do not change it at a structural level.

Answer 3

I have fought for my rights and the rights of others for the best part of my life.
I believe i can understand how democracy has become a none event, to so many people

I think people are getting more insular,
. They will only stick their neck out, for something that directly affects them,selves .

It takes a real crisis ( like 9/11) to bring people together ; but even that , close-ness, is soon forgotten,

There is a universal mistrust of politicians, and a great apathy descends when elections come ,

Many politicians are merely mouth and money Men ;, with no intention ,of actually improving their country's or voters well-being ..
Oh, they talk well, but with many empty promises .

unsurprisingly , there are a great many people who will not vote for anybody now.
'shoulders are shrugged 'and 'The someone else 'will vote , so == a why bother, mentality settles in

In the IDEAL WORLD we would have great leaders
to really look up to .
the support for real democracy would then be rekindled .

Sadly I fear we are our own worst enemies ,
The GREAT men are not "Up" there anymore

Answer 4

Like many people already said; it's all about awareness. In one way or another, you should be aware of the advantages of having these rights, and the disadavantages of not having them. This could be because you fought for your own rights, but also because of encountering or hearing the stories of people who were deprived of their rights or stood up for them, or even through education. At this time, I am doing volunteer work for an indigenous group in the Philippines, and rights are being overlooked all over the place. On paper, people have rights, but in reality... I appreciated what I had before I came here, but seeing the crude injustices here - and this country calls itself a democracy - makes me want to drag everyone down here and show them what the alternative is.

The problem with Western people in general, and the 'man in the street' in particular (no offence), seems to be that they FEEL powerless, when in fact they can make a difference if they were only aware of the way.

Answer 5

The highest our national election turn out has ever been is in the 1950s at over 80% in both elections.

I do think the very real threat of having those rights taken away in WW2 later spurred people to make full use of them.

As time has gone on people have either forgotten or lost the value of what my granddad and countless others fought and died for and this is mirrored in the drop in participation.

However its not all doom and gloom as it increased again in 2005, and hopefully those laissez faire idiots out there will get off their backsides and take some control of their lives with a vote instead of doing nothing and complaining about everything.

Answer 6

There is a vast assumption that the Second World War was fought specifically on behalf of democracy, and as a result all subsequent generations only owe posterity for their democracy and good governance now.
Never forget that Hitler was voted in- democratically. Never forget that the Allies included the USSR, which were not democratic, and which lost many millions of its citizens for all of us, too. Democratic Spain's government was overturned because nobody helped them in the hour of their need. When WWII finished however, people tried to look forward to a better, more peaceable time- and they wanted us to pull together to make a better world. Sadly, most people think only of themselves and so when they vote they are always swayed by low-tax politicians who, whilst they never offend the private greed of the voter, neither do they offer any of the original dreams of the victors of WWII. Just voting fixes nothing- it all depends on what we want to happen!

Answer 7

I dont think so...

I grew up in a middle-class, english estate were everyone, no matter their race, gender or religion was were free to play, get an education, get a job and do social activities without any opression.

but although I never had to fight anything as large as the government, i had my own personal battles that helped shape me. It may not have been a collective experience, but it certainly made me appreciate people and where i come from alot more.

Plus i think you can learn and be touched by what other people have done. I was personally touched and effected in a large way by the story of Marie-Claire, the french girl that went on trial during the 60s or 70s for having an abortion... It was a huge landmark case, but it really effected me emotionally to think of what she went through to get justice.

There are also those women that protested for the female vote...

My father is at the other end of the spectrum. He grew up on the Turkish side of Cyprus during the war and was witness to some horrific things... he is pretty open about what happened - but it is scary to think it happened to him and not someone on the tv.

One story was him saying that when he was about 14, the greek army came into his village and rounded up all the men in the village. He looked older for his age and they wouldve taken him too if it hadnt been for his aunties pleads... the men they took never came back...

He also said that an unarmed village was able to hold back the greek army with just a few rounds that had been shipped to them by a rowing boat!...

My point is, i didnt experience what he did, but i have been effected to the point that i dont take for granted that he is here and that i am not experiencing the same things.

I personally think that people neglect their freedoms through ignorance. I mean, how can you be gratefull for the freedom to say what you want about our government, without fear of being imprisoned (something that still happens in other countries) if you do not know how it happened or know nothing about those that fought to ensure we had it?

Answer 8

People do care, and do realise that we are lucky. However it's a long way from perfect. People don't vote because there is no one to vote for, none of the main parties speak for me. Democracy no longer represents the people (if it ever did). The government works for business and it's own self interest.
We care, a lot, but Democracy has not lived up to it's advertising. Freedom of speech is being increasingly repressed, Blair is talking about overturning the Human Rights Act, and the governemnt blames everything on foreigners, takes no responsibility, and continually lies to us.
We're losing our rights, we need to keep fighting, and increasingly people are!

Answer 9

Democracy: what does that word mean now?
I think the meaning has changed over the last 60 years.

Now it seems to mean: I'm right and you're dead. (pinched, out of context quote)

You're using the word democracy as if it means freedom.
Are we really any freer?

Big business, money, power all goes to make the man in the street feel helpless.

Anyhoo, back to the question which is quite ludicrous.
You're suggesting every generation should re-fight for their rights which is clearly nonsense. How on Earth would we progress (not that we're doing that now, of course)

Education, as always, is the key.

Answer 10

ehc11 - I think the question might go a little deeper than your career. To compare a Continent escaping from the worst evil the world has ever seen to "oppressed " woman is a joke at best and naive ignorance more than likely.

55 million people were killed in WWII. I don't recall ANY woman being slaughtered in the woman's movement so unless that answer was in fact a joke - get real.

To the question, I definitely think the lack of support we have for the war on terrorism in the US from the young here is a perfect example of what you address.

They think someone like Hitler just started killing 6 million Jews on day one. They don't realize it's one small incident, then another, then another. If they had lived through how these thing s work when a murderous dictator is attempting to exert his will on other countries, they would appreciate that it is better to stop it earlier than later.

They seem more satisfied with aimlessly running their mouths in support of the opposition than actually learning about what they are talking about and doing what is requires to stop it. If the aren't willing to fight themselves, at least vote foe the people who are willing to support the war from a government viewpoint.

ehc11 is a perfect example of how the young today are more concerned and consumed with a myopic view of the world can serve them than the world itself.