"Under pressure, democracies have a nasty habit of acting like panicked crowds, suppressing anything frightening or just different in a search for security and conformity... a grim illustration of just how vulnerable the "liberal" element of liberal democracy can be." BONUS #QotD

"Under pressure, democracies have a nasty habit of acting like panicked crowds, suppressing anything frightening or just different in a search for security and conformity...   "In the wake of [the brutal mass murders committed at two mosques in Christchurch], the country's government has succumbed to blind reaction by restricting speech, depriving innocent people of arms, and heightening domestic surveillance—intrusions into individual rights that are inherent whether or not governments and majorities formally respect them.  

  "It's a grim illustration of just how vulnerable the 'liberal' element of liberal democracy can be." 

          ~ Jerome Tuccille, from Reason magazine's 'In New Zealand, a Democracy Turns Against Itself'.