Meet Apollo Robbins: he's a pickpocket.
He's also a deception specialist, a con artist, a defrauder, a wallet lifter, a purse snatcher, a swindler, a trickster, a deceiver...
Plain and simple, Apollo Robbins is a thief!
He doesn't just take things from people's jackets, pants, purses, wrists, fingers, and necks; he's so skilled in his dark craft that he even tells people beforehand that he will do so. He then proceeds to manipulate their attention, weaving tales and performing tricks. He controls their focus and slowly, but irrevocably, leads them into an alternate reality until, ultimately, he succeeds in stealing items from his marks without them realizing it.
What's more, Apollo Robbins has never faced legal repercussions. He's never been arrested for his thievery and remains a free man. Incredibly, law enforcement agencies have even consulted with him, paying him to learn his techniques.
In truth, Apollo Robbins is an honest thief. He always returns the items he has taken to their rightful owners. He is an artist who performs in Las Vegas and elsewhere, on stage or in the streets.
In 2013, Apollo Robbins delivered a TED Talk demonstrating before a live audience how easily people's attention could be manipulated and their reality controlled. He removed a watch from a wrist, money from a front pocket, and other items. Robbins concluded his performance with these remarks:
Attention is a powerful thing. Like I said, it shapes your reality. So, I guess I'd like to pose that question to you:
If you could control somebody's attention, what would you do with it?
Thank you.
(Applause)
Indeed, our attention is shaping our reality, and whoever controls it wields enormous power over us, which they can leverage in many ways.
Apollo Robbins has learned to shape people's reality and uses his skills to make a living, not by stealing his victims' wallets, but by entertaining them.
Governments, business leaders, and the media – all possess the power to direct our attention, and consequently, the power to influence us. They can control what we know or what we believe, shaping our mental realities. They can wield this power for good: to inform, educate, and empower us. Or they can use it for nefarious purposes: to manipulate, deceive, distract us from inconvenient truths, and ultimately, promote their agendas.
The media, access to accurate information, the prevalence or not of disinformation, and both private and public political discourse, are integral components of a democracy, serving as primary indicators of its state of health.
"Democracy needs a ground to stand on and that ground is the truth."
- Jamie Raskin, US congressman, in the documentary The Sixth.
For a healthy democracy to thrive, and for citizens to cast their ballots with genuine understanding and purpose, it is imperative that they have access to relevant, accurate, and factual information about candidates and the issues at stake.
The very foundation of a functioning democracy crumbles when the informational landscape is polluted by lies, disinformation, and manipulative narratives.
In our previous discussion on the fourth level of democracy, we explored the intricacies of elections, including the Duverger Syndrome, various electoral methods, and the overall electoral process.
Now, at the fifth level of democracy, we must address a crucial prerequisite for any orderly election to produce sane and truly representative results that genuinely reflect the Will of the People: the informed citizen.
To this end, citizens must be provided with the information they need to make the best possible choice at the ballot box.
While every citizen's vote is sacred, and the choice they make is an unalienable right, the ideal expression of that right should be founded on a full, accurate, and truthful understanding of the pertinent facts, issues, and candidates. This understanding is not optional but essential for an electorate capable of making sound judgments.
Here, we use the term "media" in its broadest possible sense. We are not limiting ourselves to traditional news outlets, social networks, or formal sources of information, but extending our definition to encompass all the ways in which information is exchanged within a society. Each of us, in our daily lives, serves as a medium for information. We receive information from friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues, and in turn, we disseminate information within our social circles. The quality of our own speech, our own commitment to truth, significantly impacts the overall political discourse and shapes the public opinion around us. This concept moves beyond institutional media and implicates every member of the society.
Therefore, in this section we will engage with complex topics such as traditional news media, social networks, the impacts of artificial intelligence on media, and the essential importance of freedom of speech, all within the context of this fundamental need for an informed citizenry. These are complex issues, and a holistic understanding of the interconnectedness of these elements will be crucial to creating a responsible electorate capable of effectively governing itself.
The state of our current political discourse is a matter of serious concern, demonstrating a clear need for fundamental change in how we engage with one another. The highly divisive and polarized nature of contemporary political debate is not merely a symptom of deeper issues; it actively erodes the fabric of our societies. We must, therefore, critically re-evaluate our approach to political conversation, prioritizing more constructive and respectful modes of communication.
The entrenched polarization we observe in today's political landscape is a direct manifestation of Duverger's Law, one of the most important symptoms of what we call the Duverger Syndrome.
The two-party system that often arises from first-past-the-post electoral methods tends to simplify complex issues into binary choices, fostering an environment of "us versus them." This dynamic discourages nuanced debate and incentivizes adversarial tactics, ultimately exacerbating divisions within the population. This is why a critical priority must be to address the root causes of this phenomenon, starting with the implementation of better voting methods in our elections. By adopting alternative voting methods, we can begin to dismantle the two-party structure and encourage the emergence of a more diverse range of perspectives in our political discourse.
However, simply changing the electoral system will not be enough. We must also actively cultivate a culture of empathy, mutual respect, and open-mindedness within our society. This involves a conscious effort to move away from heated rhetoric, personal attacks, and the misrepresentation of opposing viewpoints. We must strive to engage in thoughtful and reasoned conversations, where we can respectfully challenge each other's ideas without resorting to animosity. This will require a willingness to listen more attentively to opposing perspectives and to approach political discourse with a spirit of learning, rather than one of antagonism. The pursuit of truth should always be prioritized over the scoring of political points.
In the end, fostering healthy and constructive political discourse is essential for any society aiming to thrive. It will require both systemic changes, such as the adoption of better voting systems, and changes at the level of individual attitudes and behaviors. By working on these two levels concurrently, we can begin to repair the damage caused by polarization, and construct a society where citizens can engage in vigorous debate without losing sight of our common humanity.
5: Information — Access to accurate information is a necessity in a democracy.