Real Life / Serious Discussion was removed, but consider this thread as a Real Life / Serious Discussion thread. Also, please refrain from going into things like "Illuminati control the world" or similar.


Democracy's founding principles include that everyone (who is able to vote) has the ability to judge by themselves what is better for their country (or themselves). With the social media manipulating behavior, which is actually not new to social media (masses manipulation via media arguably appeared with radio, to a lesser extent), and with the ton of people who are illiterate to different extents (cannot read at all, can only understand one sentence but not make links between them, etc.), along with the fact that including the words "That's the taxpayers' money!" is enough to cause indignation over literally anything in most democracies, I have an important question.

Do we really have a democracy, an actual one, anywhere on Earth?

And if we don't, then what do we have? Is it good? Bad? Is democracy an utopia that is and will always remain extremely far from truth?