DEMAGOGUE

Demagogue

A demagogue or rabble-rouser is a political leader in a democracy who appeals to the emotions, fears, prejudices, and ignorance of the less-educated citizens in order to gain power and promote political motives. Demagogues usually oppose deliberation and advocate immediate, violent action to address a national crisis; they accuse moderate and thoughtful opponents of weakness. Demagogues have appeared in democracies since ancient Athens. They exploit a fundamental weakness in democracy: because ultimate power is held by the people, nothing stops the people from giving that power to someone who appeals to the lowest common denominator of a large ...

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demagogue

Noun

  1. A leader of the people.
  2. An orator or leader who gains favor by pandering to or exciting the passions and prejudices of the audience.

Verb

  1. To speak or act in the manner of a demagogue; to speak about (an issue) in the manner of a demagogue.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: demagogue
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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