Sunday, January 09, 2005
Be aware of the authorities which influence your life
There are more authorities around than you might think of. If you are not aware of these authorities they influence you in a perfidious way.
In its common sense authorities refer to political or municipal authorities. Yet, if you consider every organisation or person which is able to influence your life, the the number of "authorities" increases tremendeously.
What all authorities have in commen is that they need control to prevent them from getting too much power. This conclusion is a reflection of the work of Montesquieu on the seperation of powers which led him to come up whith the concept of the three branch theory. This theory still grants the stability of modern democracies. The loss of the seperation of powers was always a threat to freedom and human rights as we can learn from history.
Since Montesquieu new authorities or powers have evolved which affect the stabilitiy of a democracy which were left unaccounted in the theroy of the three branches. These powers are basically economy and information.
As we can learn from communism economy should not be controled form the governmet. On the other hand stakeholders of the economy should not have any control over the government. Moreover as single company should never have the opportunity to control the market without considerable competition. This might destabilzie the economy and as a result the whole country.
Information should also be free and independent. Yet we should never forget that our opinion is always based on the information we can access. Thus, those who can control information can control our opinion. Freedom of Opinion is one of our most important human rights since we control the government in a free democratic country with our opinions and our votes.
In conclusion we should always be alarmed if too much power is cummulation in one place. Examples for this are:
1. Silvio Berlusconi : Italien Prime Minister, owner of companys which dominate Italien mass media. (Information, Economy, Legislative)
2. FOX News: Said to be controled by the republicans. (Anyway, they are not independent nor balanced)
3. Microsoft: Responsible for the operating system and office application most of us use (90%+). Trying to gain control over the whole IT-market. (Economy. controls IT market)
4. George Bush: Said to have close accosiations to oil-industry (Economy, Legislative, Information -> see FOX News)
Be alert !!!
In its common sense authorities refer to political or municipal authorities. Yet, if you consider every organisation or person which is able to influence your life, the the number of "authorities" increases tremendeously.
What all authorities have in commen is that they need control to prevent them from getting too much power. This conclusion is a reflection of the work of Montesquieu on the seperation of powers which led him to come up whith the concept of the three branch theory. This theory still grants the stability of modern democracies. The loss of the seperation of powers was always a threat to freedom and human rights as we can learn from history.
Since Montesquieu new authorities or powers have evolved which affect the stabilitiy of a democracy which were left unaccounted in the theroy of the three branches. These powers are basically economy and information.
As we can learn from communism economy should not be controled form the governmet. On the other hand stakeholders of the economy should not have any control over the government. Moreover as single company should never have the opportunity to control the market without considerable competition. This might destabilzie the economy and as a result the whole country.
Information should also be free and independent. Yet we should never forget that our opinion is always based on the information we can access. Thus, those who can control information can control our opinion. Freedom of Opinion is one of our most important human rights since we control the government in a free democratic country with our opinions and our votes.
In conclusion we should always be alarmed if too much power is cummulation in one place. Examples for this are:
1. Silvio Berlusconi : Italien Prime Minister, owner of companys which dominate Italien mass media. (Information, Economy, Legislative)
2. FOX News: Said to be controled by the republicans. (Anyway, they are not independent nor balanced)
3. Microsoft: Responsible for the operating system and office application most of us use (90%+). Trying to gain control over the whole IT-market. (Economy. controls IT market)
4. George Bush: Said to have close accosiations to oil-industry (Economy, Legislative, Information -> see FOX News)
Be alert !!!
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