Comments by "Alan Friesen" (@alanfriesen9837) on "China brokers deal between Iran u0026 Saudi Arabia | Quick Take | GZERO Media" video.

@BrianFullerPDX1 Perhaps I'm behind on my terminology, but assuming that the United States has always been a constitutional democracy, what with our democracy being defined in our Constitution, we functioned as such with legalized chattel slavery for eighty-four years and with authority over American Indians unable to attain citizenship based on race for a hundred and forty. Human rights isn't about the system of government; it's about the respect authority has over the people it governs. Any system can be humane, just as any system can be horrendous. The idea that democracy, constitutional or otherwise, is the humane system is the result of effective propaganda and long term institutional ideological education.
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@BrianFullerPDX1 Israel has a functioning democracy among its citizens. Of course many of the people it has at least some authority over are not citizens and among those people there appears to be little attempt to become such. Democracies can be just as selectively oppressive as any other system, it all depends on the will of the majority of the electorate (and its practical abilities). There are many Israelis who are uncomfortable with their government's human rights record and the policies it puts in place to maintain its status quo, just not a majority of the electorate. I would suggest that those Israelis, especially the Jewish ones, are most likely not antisemitic either. Mr. Bremer's assertion that Israel is the only democracy in the region is mostly correct. I would assert that Israel is the most democratic state in the region. Iran is probably the second most democratic state in the region, and it's a theocratic/democratic hybrid. I would also say that, where the Palestinians who do not hold Israeli citizenship are concerned, Israel is much more oppressive than Iran is on any of its people, including its Jews.
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