What is democracy?

One interesting part of Skypeland is that you can sample attitudes from around the world. I have noticed over the years in the media, and from listening to interviews of people, that many do not know the meaning of the word "democracy". For example, during the protests in Tiananmen Square, I heard many interviews with Chinese people who had completely confused ideas of what a democracy is.

This continues as I travel through Skypeland. I have heard all kinds of misconceptions about democracy. One young Saudi man did not know that Japan, Australia, Sweden, Denmark, France and many other countries were democracies. Some Skypeland visitors confuse democracy with capitalism. Some think that democracy is the same as freedom of the press, or freedom of speech, or freedom of religion. Some think that in a true democracy, a dictator should squash all dissent or condemn those who disagree with a given religion or viewpoint or who insult others and other religions. That is, they think democracy means that a person has the right to not be insulted. I have heard people say that to them, democracy means the entire world must be Islamic and all women must wear hijab, and all infidels must be dead. To some, they feel democracy is synonymous with terrorism and a military occupation. Some think that North Korea is a democracy. Another young Arab thought that Saudi Arabia is a democracy. People have claimed to me that if Denmark was a real democracy, it would not have allowed the Mohammed Cartoons to be published. Some say that if democracy really existed, Israel would be destroyed and all Jews slaughtered wholesale. People have said that if the US was a real democracy, it would not have dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. People claim that in a true democracy, Salman Rushdie would not have been allowed to write his "Satanic Verses" book, or would have already been killed in a grisly public execution. Some think that in a real democracy, the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay would not exist, or the Abu Ghraib scandal would not have happened. People think that in a real democracy, the United States would never have joined the coalition forces in Afghanistan or Iraq.

What is amazing to me, is that almost never is voting mentioned by people when they discuss democracy. The related concepts of a written constitution, and separation of powers, and guaranteed freedoms are rarely if ever discussed.

Most people I meet in Skypeland believe that democracy means something very different than what it really is. They think that democracy means that they personally get to have everything they want, everywhere in the world, and get to impose it by force on everyone else. Wow...

Here are some links that discuss democracy a bit more:
http://www.stanford.edu/~ldiamond/iraq/WhaIsDemocracy012004.htm
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/whatsdem/whatdm2.htm
http://www.whatisdemocracy.net/