Propaganster wrote:
Under a dictator's rule, the lives of some will invariably be made miserable. Some may still have a 'decent' life under a dictatorship, even a good one, but what does it say that they are silent in the face of the mistreatment others will suffer through?
That they have the sense to know that they don't have any power to stop it, only the power to get themselves noticed and made to suffer similarly? As I say, to my mind Libya, Egypt and Syria all seemed more appealing countries before the uprisings. In places where tribal power-struggles are a real threat I think dictorship is necessary, revolutions have only resulted in many deaths and homelessness along with diminished freedoms, so in such cases how is democracy anything other than a choking word.

Democracy is, in some manner, specifically that - Everyday freedoms. But what I most associate with ''democracy'' as an idea, a concept, is the Right of Dissent. That right, and the freedoms that come with it, is worth dying for. If not, than nothing and no one is worth dying for in my view.
I fail to see how any of that is relevant for an average family. Wanting the right to dissent for its' own sake? It's like John Proctor in The Crucible, so what if it's his name, say what they want and live, I really don't get principles that result in being dead. Life is what matters, not concepts. This is how I see it anyway, not everyone sees it the same obviously.

Hmmmm.. no.
'I don't believe in a deity that created the universe', how is that not a belief?