CBC Ideas - Astra Taylor - The Hidden Truth of the World

“The ultimate hidden truth of the world is that it is something we make and just as easily make differently” - David Gregor, Anthropologist

Things I liked:

14 min - The corruption/evolution of the words freedom, security, and democracy following 9/11
Part of “Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone“ contrasts direct democracy (Occupy) compared to the captured representative democracy at the time. Now I’m curious to read it.
25:40 - “it’s actually a system where we all have to think, deliberate, and govern together“
The point that voting is not democracy - it may be an action but is not democracy in of itself.
28 min mark - The framing that elections are more aristocratic rather than democratic due to the barriers to entry.
31 min mark started a section on how public spaces and institutions represent key components of democracy - how accessible are spaces? Are there bathrooms?
A library or a park can be a cathedral to democracy - accessibility, common good, etc.
- Me: democracy does not have exclusivity on this but shows the strength of a democracy
People don’t feel inequality - they feel instability.
Debtors revolts are not new.

Last Modified: 4/1/24
Word Count: 223
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