Systems and Voice

My friend was talking to me about authoritarian systems and about the voice of the people. In most systems, the minions are unable and/or unwilling to speak out. This is especially true when the minions are a part of a minority. The voice of a minority is invariably softer than that of the majority, and the voice of the minions are individually softer than the united cry of the dominant.

It is, therefore, simplest that the dominants keep the minions from uniting, for in unity, the voice of the minions will easily drown out those of their keepers. The simplest way to do this is to have a self-perpetuating system whereby the minions learn to become dependent on the dominants i.e. they need "experts" to make decisions for them, causing a state of learned helplessness.

This can easily be combined with an education that teaches the minions to respect the points of authority. Helplessness and the despair that accompanies the unqualified respect for authority are great ways for the minions to never gather enough gut to get their act together and speak out.

Better yet, the human propensity for conformity will make minions even more uncertain about turning on the dominants when fellow minions kindly try to talk dissenting minions out of their "foolish ways".

The true voice of the minions exists, and that voice takes the form of the internet. It is a place where every commoner has, to a large extent, license to say what she wants. Be it seditious or plain insightful, the voice can exist, and people can hear when they wish to. Why would anyone let this space of the minions be taken over by the dominants?