"We submit to the majority because we have to. But we are not compelled to call our attitude of subjection a posture of respect"
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Majority rule can win obedience without earning reverence. The line separates two kinds of power: the capacity to compel and the right to be esteemed. Submission may come from force of numbers, legal penalties, or social pressure, but respect is a moral response that cannot be coerced. To call subjection respect is to confuse survival with consent and to let power dress itself in virtue. The warning is not about anarchy, but about intellectual honesty: do not pretend the stronger claim is the wiser or the just.
Ambrose Bierce, the caustic American satirist of the late nineteenth century, aimed his barbs at democratic pieties as readily as at kings and clerics. Writing amid the Gilded Age, when party machines, corporate trusts, and sentimental rhetoric often masked corruption, he distrusted the comforting notion that numbers confer moral authority. He stands in a line of thinkers wary of the tyranny of the majority, echoing Tocqueville and Mill while giving the idea a sharper, sarcastic edge. For Bierce, language is the first battleground. If we are compelled to submit, we should at least refuse the flattery that turns submission into homage. Otherwise, the vocabulary of respect becomes another instrument of control.
There is a practical ethics here. One may comply with laws to avoid harm yet withhold acclaim, criticize openly, and preserve the right to resist unjust measures. That stance keeps conscience intact and keeps politics honest by denying majorities the unearned aura of moral triumph. It also exposes the rituals that demand not just obedience but adoration: loyalty oaths, ceremonial deference, compelled displays of unity.
The insight remains timely. Popular votes, trending mobs, and institutional blocs can all mistake headcount for legitimacy. Respect must be earned by justice, reason, and regard for minority rights. When those are absent, the most a majority can claim is submission. It cannot command the inward assent that the word respect implies.
Ambrose Bierce, the caustic American satirist of the late nineteenth century, aimed his barbs at democratic pieties as readily as at kings and clerics. Writing amid the Gilded Age, when party machines, corporate trusts, and sentimental rhetoric often masked corruption, he distrusted the comforting notion that numbers confer moral authority. He stands in a line of thinkers wary of the tyranny of the majority, echoing Tocqueville and Mill while giving the idea a sharper, sarcastic edge. For Bierce, language is the first battleground. If we are compelled to submit, we should at least refuse the flattery that turns submission into homage. Otherwise, the vocabulary of respect becomes another instrument of control.
There is a practical ethics here. One may comply with laws to avoid harm yet withhold acclaim, criticize openly, and preserve the right to resist unjust measures. That stance keeps conscience intact and keeps politics honest by denying majorities the unearned aura of moral triumph. It also exposes the rituals that demand not just obedience but adoration: loyalty oaths, ceremonial deference, compelled displays of unity.
The insight remains timely. Popular votes, trending mobs, and institutional blocs can all mistake headcount for legitimacy. Respect must be earned by justice, reason, and regard for minority rights. When those are absent, the most a majority can claim is submission. It cannot command the inward assent that the word respect implies.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
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