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While you are at it, consider reviving the term democracy as well. Ancient Greeks didnt just invent it, they thought deeply about all systems of power and thei
by nologic01 3y ago
While you are at it, consider reviving the term democracy as well.
Ancient Greeks didnt just invent it, they thought deeply about all systems of power and their failure modes. Techniques they used feel still a thing from the future for us modern "democrats".
For example, take the term ostracism/ostracize. Today the term has degenerated to mean a certain negative cultural phenomenon.
For them it was a democratic process, a sort of negative voting, to pre-emptively remove from power somebody becoming too entrenched.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracism
- jschveibinz 3y agoGreek democracy was very different, as you suggest. It was not a system of universal suffrage. Only free male citizens with military training (roughly 30% of the population) were permitted to vote. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athenian_democracy
- nologic01 3y agoIn this respect it was a slave-labor based economy like most of the civilizations of that time. It took millenia to deligitimize the notion of different classes of humans and that process is still mostly incomplete. "Reviving" means obviously the good bits, unless you claim that the only possibility is an all-or-nothing replica.
- 4gotunameagain 3y agoIt probably made sense to have only the educated people vote, and not all the elotes as well. The uneducated and stupid are always easily manipulated. See trump being a president of the united states for example. Or bolsonaro. Or erdogan.
- smorrebrod 3y agoThat's why developed countries tend to educate their citizen for free.
- 4gotunameagain 3y agoIt's a blessing, but it takes generations. The quality of the educational system reflects the quality of society, so it is not an easy task to undertake.
- denton-scratch 3y ago30% seems a lot! I suppose that doesn't include the slaves. Also, "Greek democracy" was diverse. Athenian democracy isn't at all the same as Spartan democracy.