The Majority in the Minority by Jeanett Castellanos

In our opinion, therefore, it is necessary that majority and minority should succeed in living together peacefully and profitably by mutual agreement and compromise, by the intelligent recognition of the practical necessities of communal life and of the usefulness of concessions which circumstances make necessary.Īs well as their reason and experience telling them that in spite of using all the alchemy of elections and parliament one always ends up by having laws which represent everything but the will of the majority, anarchists do not recognize that the majority as such, even if it were possible to establish beyond all doubt what it wanted, has the right to impose itself on the dissident minorities by the use of force.Īpart from these considerations, there always exists the fact that in a capitalist regime, in which society is divided into rich and poor, into employers and employees whose next meal depends on the absolute power of the boss, there cannot be really free elections.This study assessed the influence of cultural orientation and cultural fit of 121 Latina undergraduates' help-seeking attitudes. Experience through freedom is the only means to arrive at the truth and the best solutions and there is no freedom if there is not the freedom to be wrong.

No one can judge with certainty who is right and who is wrong, who is closer to the truth and which is the best road to the greatest good for each and everyone. In any case it is not a question of being right or wrong it is a question of freedom, freedom for all, freedom for each individual so long as he does not violate the equal freedom of others. If at all times there have been advanced and enlightened minorities, so too have there been minorities which were backward and reactionary if there are human beings who are exceptional, and ahead of their times, there are also psychopaths, and especially are there apathetic individuals who allow themselves to be unconsciously carried on the tide of events. It would be absurd to maintain that one is right because one is in a minority. Indeed, humanity has always advanced through the initiative and efforts of individuals and minorities, whereas the majority, by its very nature, is slow, conservative, submissive to superior force and to established privileges.īut if we do not for one moment recognize the right of majorities to dominate minorities, we are even more opposed to domination of the majority by a minority. The fact of having the majority on one’s side does not in any way prove that one must be right. We do not recognize the right of the majority to impose the law on the minority, even if the will of the majority in somewhat complicated issues could really be ascertained.

The Majority in the Minority by Jeanett Castellanos