Dear Ipso Fatso,

«Is it better that we live in a democracy?
I say yes.»

Only if it helps.

Democracy is a tool, not an end in itself.

The idea is that if you must be ordered around, what you may do, must do and must not do, then in the least you should have a say in it and try to mitigate these decrees.

We technically have a democracy, on paper we do, but for every practical purpose we have no one to represent us, I certainly have no one representing me in parliament, no one there to defend me against the brutality of the state - so if that is democracy then I don't need it!

«And for that we need elected representatives.
We have them.»

They are elected alright, but they are not elected to represent me, they are elected because they are believed by most to do less harm than the other candidates.

Every ecological environment has its predators, and in ours these are states and their kings/princes/ayatollahs/oligarchs/chairmen/governments. I rather face this reality square in the face, but if believing in democracy helps you to reduce your anxiety and feelings of helplessness, then so be it, go on and play that game which I have no need for.

We live in Australia.
We live in a democratic system.
No individual who lives here can survive by themselves.
They cannot defend territory they might claim.
They cannot do everything needed to survive well.
They cannot be doctor, nurse, patient, cleaner, mechanic, driver, etc etc, all at the same time.
For that we need a lot of persons, all doing individual jobs to add to the whole.
Those who pretend otherwise are simply not being logical.
They appear to be very immature.
But they are citizens.
And still need the support of the rest of society.
If one of these 'separate persons' gets seriously ill, we should still attend to their care.
But they rely on that.
It is part of the pretend world in which they live.

Dear Ipso Fatso,

Whether and how I survive or otherwise is none of your business,
nor what I can or cannot do, which I don't need to report to you.
So far, it is you who claims a territory to yourself, not I,
this whole continent in fact - which you did not make, nor could!
It is you and your gang who desire to "defend" it,
denying this air from all other children of God who want nothing to do with you and your ways:
you have no moral backing for those sick desires of yours, only brute force,
which makes you and your "Australia" thing brutes!

You seem to think that there is no God and nobody is watching,
that you can get away with all this bullying,
yet your cup of sins is filling up quickly!

Nothing is perfect.
Democracy has its downsides.
But I would rather live in our democracy than in some other places in this world.
If I beleive news reports. many other places are in turmoil.
And yet here we live peacefully and safely.
We are well fed, well looked after. and provided with much opportunity.
We can keep tabs on our leadership, and change it if we need to.
But not all citizens are appreciative.
I think they would still find fault, even if they were able to design and build their perfect world.
In this world, their way of life seems to involve using others as a kind of 'foil'.
As something to rail against, which they will do on the slightest pretext.
They have an innate need to feel a sense of strength and sufficiency.
And by taking this aggressive stance, they get a feeling that they have some form of control.
Which of course they don't.
For they are simply citizens, expressing a very illogical point of view.
But they are still citizens.
And I think most citizens would prefer to be respected.
And the way to gain respect is by being logical and forthright.
Then people will listen to you.

This is a little off topic, but I think it is relevant.
So here goes...
When we venture opinions on subjects, our opinions must be based on sound and truthful principles.
Unless our basis is truth, our opinions are almost certain to contain elements of falseness.
And there is one basic truth one really needs to keep in mind.
We must keep it front and centre of our consciousness.
As we live our lives each day, everything we are is controlled by our computer brain.
All of our thoughts and all of our actions come from that one intangible resource.
However, of necessity we interact with the world around us using our PHYSICAL FORM.
Our body is our 'interface' with the world, and it also supports and nourishes our brain.
All of our instincts, and all of the things we learn, are stored in our brain.
Whilst our computer brain runs, we have awareness, and we are alive.
It all begins shortly before birth.
Before that, we have no awareness, and so there is no life.
Hopefully, we will all live a long and very full life.
But eventually, our body will fail, and will not be able to support our computer brain.
Then, the brain will shut down.
All brain activity will cease.
We will never have thoughts again.
All of our instincts, and all of the knowledge we had, will vanish in an instant.
There can be no more awareness.
We will be dead.
It is clear we live life between birth and death, and at no other time.
Until you fully understand and appreciate this truth, your concept of life must be based on false assumptions.
And a life based on untruths must be flawed, and irregular in its path.
And opinions then expressed, are likely to be irregular too.

Dear Ipso Fatso,

«But I would rather live in our democracy than in some other places in this world.»

Well here is one reason why, everything else being the same, I rather live NOT in a democracy:

Every state oppresses its people and there is nothing really you or I can do about it, people suffer everywhere from their respective regimes, but in a democracy this is done presumably "in my name".

In a democracy, theoretically at least, I should be able to stop that state-violence, or at least, come elections, I must choose as carefully as I can those political candidates who would do the least harm relative to the others.

That is heavy and if I make any mistake, if I fail to study them all very well and locate the least harmful people correctly among them, then part of the responsibility for the ongoing oppression and sufferings should lie on my shoulders.

In a dictatorship, me and others suffer, but there at least my conscience remains clear as I am not the instigator and there is nothing I could do about it. Not so in a democracy!

---

«As we live our lives each day, everything we are is controlled by our computer brain.
All of our thoughts and all of our actions come from that one intangible resource.»

Brains are very tangible - ask the brain surgeons.

We, on the other hand, are not tangible at all.
Nobody can even locate us, let alone touch, see, hear, taste, smell, cut or paste us.

«Whilst our computer brain runs, we have awareness, and we are alive.»

Awareness never ceases: when the brain has not yet been born, or is dead, in a coma, or even deeply asleep, there simply is nothing to be aware of, so we are aware of nothing - but even then we still experience nothingness!

A camera filming in the dark is not broken, it still records blackness.