“consensus” is just another way of saying “mob rule”.
Another reason to appreciate our founders framework of a the US being a republic - not a democracy.
“consensus” is just another way of saying “mob rule”.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Exactly.
There are only 3 possible moral bases once you evict a higher authority than mankind.
Basis 1 – The individual.
Each person their own set of morals. This destroys the idea of a moral standard and demotes morality to a matter of personal preference.
Basis 2 – The majority.
Morals are decided by consensus. This works well until the consensus changes in a short time period. Then those individuals who do not change quickly enough are subject to perfectly reasonable persecution. And if the point of contention is susceptible to pendulum-like acceptance/rejection, it is perfectly reasonable to persecute certain individuals because of their disagreement, then welcome those same individuals back into the fold once consensus swings back, ad infinitum.
AN EASY TO UNDERSTAND EXAMPLE OF BASIS 2: Brendan Eich, CEO of Mozilla, was publicly harassed until he quit his job, simply because his stance on same sex marriage did not shift at the same time that others with whom he formerly agreed (Obama and Hillary) did.
Basis 3 – The elite.
A minority (or individual) dictates the moral code. This is subject to the capriciousness of Basis 2, dangerously combined with the lack of inhibition. This is essentially tyranny, which calls for extreme measures of violence to retain control of the disagreeing majority.