Are people too stupid for Democracy to function?
Yes, to some extent people are stupid for democracy.
The public is not well-informed. Most of them do not study real situations going on in the world, as everyone is busy taking care of their own needs. They really must listen to all sides of an issue to learn what the problems are. The news usually paints only one side of the picture (if you listen to only one channel), and if you listen to only one side, you will have only one opinion.
There is enough information available to the public to be trusted with democracy. Unfortunately, I also believe that the public as a whole chooses not to use the devices and information at its disposal to make informed decisions. I attribute this to apathy and an unwillingness to search out and read news sources that don’t necessarily agree with personal ideology. The public’s reliance on information from social media and uninformed or narrow-minded sources creates a vacuum in an informed decision-making process.
Another issue is the rewriting or complete disregard for history. There is the constant bombardment of “fake news” being thrown around. This propaganda has been used in the past with other names by other tyrants and political parties in other countries, to the demise of a free press. As a result of the public’s refusal to become self-informed, the repression of objectivity in media has become a very real possibility.