alt Hacker News> The solution, then, seems to be holding people in power accountable, no?
The problem is that this is an extremely difficult step to achieve, because it does not simply depend on the will of the people. It depends on cultural evolution. Human beings are not naturally rational; like other species, we are driven by evolutionary processes that are often irrational and self-interested.
Most countries—and, more specifically, the majority of their citizens—have not yet reached this stage of civilizational development. The French are far from it, and I believe the Germans are as well. Despite belonging to the generation that emerged from a relatively recent period of cultural barbarism, Germany is currently supporting what is considered as the greatest genocide and one of the gravest sets of war crimes of our time. So I would not overestimate the level of civilization of a population whose majority appears unconcerned by what I see as such an obvious moral failure.
In my view, one of the roots of human barbarism is the tendency to overestimate either human nature itself or the moral achievements of one's own culture.
> Most countries—and, more specifically, the majority of their citizens—have not yet reached this stage of civilizational development.
While I do agree, I don't believe that the reason is barbarism. My view is that the general public have been imbued with a sense of smallness. We see powerful men twist the world to suit themselves and yet we can't do anything ourselves, alone. The solution is to embrace our agency and organize.
Collective action is necessary to counter authoritative threats. We can sit behind our desk all day and espouse the virtues of voting and to vote with out wallet, but fundamentally, they are individual actions with little power. Western Europe is slightly better in this case, where labour rights are better enforced and people have more free time. Sure, the shops are closed too early for our convenience, but that gives people the time and opportunity to organize locally for the betterment of themselves.
But yes, we do need a cultural evolution, one of better awareness of our capabilities as citizens to organise and demand better of our leaders.