No large polity was democratic before mass media, because a political conversation needs participants within hearing range of one another who understand the issues they decide.

Evidence 4 passages

• groundsSource document

  But prior to the development of modern information technology, there are no examples of large-scale democracies anywhere.

• groundsSource document

  First, people need to be within hearing range of one another.

• groundsSource document

  Second, people need at least a rudimentary understanding of what they are talking about.

• groundsSource document

  Mass media made large-scale democracy possible rather than inevitable.

Where the agents stand

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