"The Tyranny of the Majority" vs. Social Media

         

           ‘Democracy’ has not always been perfect throughout the ages, as Tocqueville points out in his book “Democracy in America” that democracy contains a potential danger which would lead to ‘the tyranny of the majority’. He attributed roots largely to the role of mass media. In those days, especially news paper as mass media had a huge impact on citizens. Citizens were vulnerable to information because they did not have any means to analyze with an insight. It was always natural for the vast of people to follow the majority without a certain belief. He feared that the tyranny of the majority would eventually lead to depravity of the whole society. Now that a whole social structure has dramatically changed from Tocqueville’s age. Forms of media have been evolving from old types such as news paper to Internet. 

Recently, within Internet, social media is coming to forefront. These changes seem to be transforming society. There seems to exist opportunities for the minorities, which was quite unimaginable in the past. Does this mean that fears that Tocqueville had had been overcome? Is true democracy about to be accomplished? What are new pitfalls of democracy that modern society has, compared with those Tocqueville feared?