Kwartetspel 'Who killed Dem O’Cracy

International conference

Towards Knowledge Democracy

August 25th – 27th, 2009 Leiden - City of Discoveries

An initiative of

Why was Dem O’ Cracy Murdered?An Inspector Field Mystery

The Politician’s Motive

» Fear

» Greed

» Legitimacy

» Arrogance

“O’Cracy spreads dangerous ideas among

the students. He advocates direct forms of

people’s involvement, whereas democracy

is those who know how to deal with power.”



» Fear

» Greed

» Legitimacy

» Arrogance

“O’Cracy publishes stories about so-called

corruption of politicians. Complete

nonsense! We are the ones who rule the

city and we should get paid for that

adequately.”



» Fear

» Greed

» Legitimacy

» Arrogance

“O’Cracy undermines our democratic rules

and regulations by questioning our

representativeness. This can not be

accepted.”



» Fear

» Greed

» Legitimacy

» Arrogance

“Simple citizens like O’Cracy have no right

to interfere with professional politics. They

do not have the required knowledge.”


The Politician’s Defence

» Tolerance

» Morality

» Nobility

» Pluralism

“We have to tolerate that people like

O’Cracy have strange ideas and put these

ideas forward in public.”



» Tolerance

» Morality

» Nobility

» Pluralism

“It is immoral to treat a political opponent

like O’Cracy otherwise than we like to be

treated ourselves.”



» Tolerance

» Morality

» Nobility

» Pluralism

“O’Cracy is a nuisance, but we should

respect even such individuals.”



» Tolerance

» Morality

» Nobility

» Pluralism

“O’Cracy seems to represent a new

political movement; this is an enrichment

of the political arena.”


The Civil Servant’s Motive

» Power

» Obedience

» Confusion

» Inconvenience

“O’Cracy challenges the authority of the

local administration by demanding

citizens’ participation in fields like urban

planning”.



» Power

» Obedience

» Confusion

» Inconvenience

“O’Cracy does not obey the rules and

regulations which we have skilfully

designed. A student should know his

place.”



» Power

» Obedience

» Confusion

» Inconvenience

“O’Cracy causes confusion in our carefully

organised city administration, because he

asks unanswerable questions.”



» Power

» Obedience

» Confusion

» Inconvenience

“O’Cracy publishes information which

contradicts the results of our own

investigation. This causes citizens to ask

inconvenient questions.”


The Civil Servant’s Defence

» Deliberation

» Open society

» Checks & balances

» Best knowledge

“O’Cracy shows that public deliberation

about societal problems brings in practical

knowledge and increases public support

for policies.”



» Deliberation

» Open society


» Best knowledge

“Maybe our society is too elitist; at least,

O’Cracy forces us to think about what a

more open society would look like.”



» Deliberation

» Open society


» Best knowledge

“O’Cracy rightly points at the risk of group

thinking in our administration; we need

checks and balances, both internally and

externally, to do our work well.”



» Deliberation

» Open society


» Best knowledge

“O’Cracy brings in new knowledge, from

new fields of science and from practice.

This helps us to combine the available

knowledge into information which is most

useful for policy making.”


The Scientist’s Motive

» Protection

» Disturbance

» Authority

» Revolution

“O’Cracy argues that educated citizens

should be directly involved in determining

the research agenda of the university. If he

had got his way, we would never have

achieved the scientific discoveries that are

so important for society as a whole.”



» Protection

» Disturbance

» Authority

» Revolution

“The university is a place for free thought,

but in a a context of authority and merits.

O’Cracy thinks he can ignore the rules of

the academic world.”



» Protection

» Disturbance

» Authority

» Revolution

“Science must be authoritative. O’Cracy

makes people believe that ‘street science’

is also useful. An extremely dangerous

idea.”



» Protection

» Disturbance

» Authority

» Revolution

“O’Cracy is man with revolutionary ideas,

whereas science is about contemplation,

about small steps, about evolution.”


The Scientist’s Defence

» Curiosity

» Citizens’ science

» Freedom of thought

» Transdisciplinarity

“O’Cracy is a great example for scientists.

His curiosity is famous. Like a good

scientist, he is not easily satisfied but

always wants to dig deeper.”



» Curiosity




“O’Cracy brings society inside the

ivory towers of the university, by

giving citizens the opportunity to

present their practical knowledge and

experience. Scientific innovations cannot

break through when we ignore such

citizens’ knowledge.”



» Curiosity




“How can one argue that O’Cracy should

keep his mouth shut? Freedom of thought

and speech is essential for science.”



» Curiosity




“O’Cracy shows that the interaction of

academic disciplines and practical

knowledge increases the chance of better

solutions for complex societal problems.”


The Journalist’s Motive

» Protection

» Pride

» Editorial accountability

» Creating news

“O’Cracy encourages students to write

their own, completely biased, leaflets and

periodicals. This endangers the future of

the free press, which understands its

responsibility towards the public”.



» Protection

» Pride


» Creating news

“O’Cracy is an amateur journalist and an

insult for our profession.”



» Protection

» Pride


» Creating news

“O’Cracy’s news letters are biased and

contain unverified information. He thinks

he can be a reporter without having an

independent edictorial board.”



» Protection

» Pride


» Creating news

“The killing of O’Cracy is a win-win event:

it makes our newspaper sell better, and we

will not be harassed anymore by him.”


The Journalist’s Defence

» Freedom of word

» Curiosity

» Pluralism

» Innovation

“Of course O’Cracy should be allowed to

speak, write and think what he wants. He

is the martyr of freedom of speech.”



» Freedom of word

» Curiosity

» Pluralism

» Innovation

“O’Cracy is in fact a great journalist. He is

curious, investigates his cases well, and

has a gut feeling for what the public wants

to read.”



» Freedom of word

» Curiosity

» Pluralism

» Innovation

“What a pity if our city would become a

one-paper city. The more different papers,

journals or news letter, the better.

Competitors keep you sharp.”



» Freedom of word

» Curiosity

» Pluralism

» Innovation

“Some seem to forget that it takes people

like O’Cracy to find new ways for collecting

the information that is hot now.”

Documents

Kwartetspel 'Who killed Dem O’Cracy