3 ms·

I'm glad someone brought this up. Vlad Tepes was remembered by his people as a just ruler. One story about him (paraphrased): A wealthy merchant lost a purse h

I'm glad someone brought this up. Vlad Tepes was remembered by his people as a just ruler. One story about him (paraphrased): A wealthy merchant lost a purse holding a large sum of money. He announced to everyone that whoever found it and brought it to him would receive a tenth of what it held. Eventually, a poor villager found it and brought it to him. The merchant looked inside and saw all of the money in there, but, not wanting to pay the promised reward, said "Oh thank you! And it seems you have already taken your share of the reward. Then all is well." But the villager protested that he took nothing from the purse, and that he deserved the promised reward. They took it up to Vlad Tepes. The prince heard the story, checked the bag, and decided "Since this did not have the money that was you say it was lost with, then it is not your purse." And he ruled that the purse and all of its contents go to the villager.

jstanley 5y ago
That doesn't sound like a very good precedent. Steal someone's wallet, throw away a single coin, and now they no longer have any claim over it and it's rightfully yours?
- scrollaway 5y ago
  Good leaders know how to make practical, human-centric decisions. Forgetting the human by hyperrationalizing, creating rules and following them too strictly etc is a good way to become an absolute ass of a person. There are fields that reward that type of thinking though and i recommend going into game design for example if you want to learn how to create fair rulesets that "remember the human" (or rather, put the player's enjoyment of the game as a priority).
- trabant00 5y ago
  The decision was not meant to be fair or rational, but to find some clever pretext to punish the greedy noble and reward the honest peasant. The story is fiction of course, Vlad would not have presided over so small issues. The unjust nobles and noble peasants are also stereotypes of popular stories like this.
  - jstanley 5y ago
    > The decision was not meant to be fair or rational, but to find some clever pretext to punish the greedy noble and reward the honest peasant. Right, and this isn't how the decision should be made. He shouldn't be trying to find a clever pretext to punish the person he doesn't like and reward the one he likes! Those kind of shenanigans rightly destroy the public's trust in the justice system.
    - trabant00 5y ago
      Are you complaining that in the children books they kill the evil witch without a trial? Also what justice system? There was no such thing at the time. Might was right in the purest form possible. PS: are you making fun of me?
- ASalazarMX 5y ago
  It's not DnD. Vlad likely decided who was the liar based on context.

jstanley 5y ago

That doesn't sound like a very good precedent. Steal someone's wallet, throw away a single coin, and now they no longer have any claim over it and it's rightfully yours?

scrollaway 5y ago
Good leaders know how to make practical, human-centric decisions. Forgetting the human by hyperrationalizing, creating rules and following them too strictly etc is a good way to become an absolute ass of a person. There are fields that reward that type of thinking though and i recommend going into game design for example if you want to learn how to create fair rulesets that "remember the human" (or rather, put the player's enjoyment of the game as a priority).
trabant00 5y ago
The decision was not meant to be fair or rational, but to find some clever pretext to punish the greedy noble and reward the honest peasant. The story is fiction of course, Vlad would not have presided over so small issues. The unjust nobles and noble peasants are also stereotypes of popular stories like this.
- jstanley 5y ago
  > The decision was not meant to be fair or rational, but to find some clever pretext to punish the greedy noble and reward the honest peasant. Right, and this isn't how the decision should be made. He shouldn't be trying to find a clever pretext to punish the person he doesn't like and reward the one he likes! Those kind of shenanigans rightly destroy the public's trust in the justice system.
  - trabant00 5y ago
    Are you complaining that in the children books they kill the evil witch without a trial? Also what justice system? There was no such thing at the time. Might was right in the purest form possible. PS: are you making fun of me?
ASalazarMX 5y ago
It's not DnD. Vlad likely decided who was the liar based on context.