The Warpfish Chronicles

"27 years on the planet, and I still haven't figured out what's going on."

The Tyranny of Democracy -- January 5th, 2002

Now, inflammatory comments aside (and, personally, I find the 'mentally insane' comment to be something that provokes much anger in me, so much so that I have thought about going down to her street and playing hockey in front of her house, just to annoy her) she does have a point. Property rights are important, and, under the law, there's no grey area. She does have the right to defend her property.

Where this becomes rather silly is the extremes she's willing to go to to defender her rights, to the deteriment of others. This woman can't seem to realize that, while people have to put up with her, she has to learn to put up with other people. It's a simple lesson, but it's amazing how hard it is for people, wrapped up in their self-importance and righteous indignation, to realize that. And, in my mind, the more important they make themselves to be, the less important they actually are, till they reach the point where there are mere annoyances to be ignored. This woman is such a case.

But, if the judge (in a fit of madness) does rule against the father, I think I'm going to go down and play road hockey, and bring along as many people as I can. At some point, you have to draw a line in the sand. If I'm going to defend my rights, I can't just lie around like a sheep to be slaughtered.

What it comes down to is the concept of democracy. The Western tradition holds individual rights to be sacred. And so they should be. But to form a functioning society, we must balance two things -- the majority and the minority.

Democracy is frequently quoted as being the defence of the minority against the tyranny of the majority. However, democracy is also the defence of the majority against the tyranny of the minority. We ingore this at our peril. In fact, we have ignored it, and, as such, we see frivolous litigation becoming more and more a part of our lives. I pay because some idiot can't take responsibility for themselves, and insists on blaming everybody around them.

Is there a solution? Can I force people to grow up and mature? No, of course not. All I can do is what I've always tried to do -- ignore them when you can, and when you can't, do what you can to mitigate the damage, guided by your conscience and by God. Sometimes, you can get rid of the trouble, other times you have to live with it.

The important thing to remember is that we, as a society, as a country, must act together, or fail miserably as a mob of individuals.

And to the woman from Hamilton, who represents this irresponsible, immature and unrepentant group in the press today -- grow the Hell up. I, and the other adults of this world, are tired of cleanning up your messes.

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