“Why do they want to know what their government is doing, saying, recommending? Don’t they know that their government is committing crimes? Why do they listen to their government?!”
These are consistent questions I’ve been getting from friends here in Egypt & here is my response:
Because of the illusion of democracy. If you live in a democracy you are indoctrinated into believing that the government is for the people & by the people. People think that the government is there to serve them & their interests. This is a delusion.
The government thus has the function of manufacturing consent– indoctrinating the people into believing they have self-agency & authority. In fact, the people are consenting to being manipulated into surrendering their agency & authority to a government that only serves its own special interest (money & power).
The people are thus trauma bonded to their government who acts as an all knowing parent that dictates the beliefs & behaviors of its helpless children.
Democracy is a codependent trauma bonding system of government that deludes people into thinking they have power & authority.
In non-democratic 3rd world countries where the governments have been failing them for decades, in some cases centuries, there is no such delusions. The people know that the what the government says is not what the government does. They also know that they have no control over what the government is doing & know it’s an abusive entity. So they have learned to ignore the government & just do what they need to do to survive. They learn to rely on themselves for survival.
Whereas in colonial democracies the people are manipulated into outsourcing their agency & authority to the government under the guise of “self-governance.” This is a falsehold, the trick of democracy– its ultimate lie.
If you’re feeling defensive about this, ask yourself “Why do I feel so attached to a colonial democracy that I need to defend it?” And if you’re feeling defensive about this, check your colonizer fragility & the white man in your head.