The Tyranny of the Minority -- and How to Prevent It
AREOMAGAZINE.COM -- For centuries, theorists have worried that unrestrained democracy could lead to a tyranny of the majority, where the majority rides roughshod over minorities. What we often see today is instead a kind of tyranny of the minority: where a particularly extreme and motivated minority wields outsized power over a majority, too indifferent or too scared to oppose it. However, activist minorities draw their strength from the tacit assumption they represent more people than they actually do.There is a reason why we make decisions based on how many people like a certain option, rather than how strongly its supporters feel about it: if intensity of feeling is allowed into the picture, that would create an unhealthy dynamic incentivizing ...
