Tyranny of the Majority
Majority rule is the principle that the greater number should exercise greater power. The Khmer Rouge takeover in Cambodia is a good example of a majority rule government. During the Cambodian genocide, the Khmer Rouge and their notorious leader, Pol Pot, represented the majority after it defeated the Lol Non government. The question is how are they considered to be the majority when most of the population of Cambodia is against them? They used fear to make the people their followers and thus controlled both the country and its population. After reading the memoir "First They Killed My Father" written by Loung Ung, I believe that majority rule is not an effective way of government and the majority of people should not be able to impose their views on all the citizens. Majority rule is not a good form of government because it oppresses the minority. This means that a group of people has power over another. The Khmer Rouge used scare tactics to become the majority. Even though people did not want to follow their cruel regime, they did so in fear of their lives. Pa referred to the Khmer Rouge soldiers as "destroyers of things" (Ung, pg. 36) and this was exactly what they were. They destroyed lives, families, and the Cambodian way of life. A majority rule type of government causes the minority to hate them, so how can this be an effective form of government? "The water washes away the dirt, but it will never put out the fire of hate I have for the Khmer Rouge." (Ung, pg. 168) Loung Ung must follow the way of the Angkar, but she must not express how she truly feels in fear of her life. In Cambodia, she was not the only person who quietly conversed about the tyranny the Khmer Rouge represent. So after all of these negative examples we can conclude that majority rule is by far an ineffective way of government. People express themselves in many different ways. Whether it's the way you dress or the way you act, these characteristics make up who you are as a person. Many