3 ms·

I'm talking about 2m years of humanity. Responding with "mediaeval" France is missing the point by a very wide mark.

skissane 3y ago
Mediaeval France was just an example. What I said was true of them was true of just about everywhere and everywhen else too. Rarely in human history have rulers displayed any great care for what goes on in a family behind closed doors; to the extent they ever have, it is predominantly a feature of modernity, not pre-modernity.
- mandmandam 3y ago
  The word 'demos' does not mean ruler, if that helps clear up this confusion.
  - skissane 3y ago
    The demos didn't either. Do you think people ever cared what their neighbours did behind closed doors? I didn't see it, so it didn't happen.
    - mandmandam 3y ago
      For 99% of human history, most children have been raised in communal environments. This whole 'keeping kids behind closed doors all their childhood' thing is a WEIRDness, and very much not the norm. It's ok to be wrong sometimes you know, as long as you learned something...
      - skissane 3y ago
        People have had doors that could be closed for thousands of years, and raised their children behind them. Not just in the West either. It isn’t a WEIRD thing. Of course, neither then nor now do children spend 100% of the time behind them. “Communal environments”? In many societies, the primary unit has been the extended/multigenerational family not the nuclear family, yes. But your grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins are not the demos any more than your parents and siblings are. The point I made stands, since I said “family” not “nuclear family”. Most of human history has been hunter-gatherer societies-many of which are composed of small units federated into larger ones. The members of the smallest units were usually closely related to each other by blood or partnering (but again, an extended/multigenerational family rather than a nuclear one). And my point stands there too - do you care what goes on in the friendly group that lives a couple of hills over? It's ok to be wrong sometimes you know…

Mediaeval France was just an example. What I said was true of them was true of just about everywhere and everywhen else too. Rarely in human history have rulers displayed any great care for what goes on in a family behind closed doors; to the extent they ever have, it is predominantly a feature of modernity, not pre-modernity.

mandmandam 3y ago
The word 'demos' does not mean ruler, if that helps clear up this confusion.
- skissane 3y ago
  The demos didn't either. Do you think people ever cared what their neighbours did behind closed doors? I didn't see it, so it didn't happen.
  - mandmandam 3y ago
    For 99% of human history, most children have been raised in communal environments. This whole 'keeping kids behind closed doors all their childhood' thing is a WEIRDness, and very much not the norm. It's ok to be wrong sometimes you know, as long as you learned something...
    - skissane 3y ago
      People have had doors that could be closed for thousands of years, and raised their children behind them. Not just in the West either. It isn’t a WEIRD thing. Of course, neither then nor now do children spend 100% of the time behind them. “Communal environments”? In many societies, the primary unit has been the extended/multigenerational family not the nuclear family, yes. But your grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins are not the demos any more than your parents and siblings are. The point I made stands, since I said “family” not “nuclear family”. Most of human history has been hunter-gatherer societies-many of which are composed of small units federated into larger ones. The members of the smallest units were usually closely related to each other by blood or partnering (but again, an extended/multigenerational family rather than a nuclear one). And my point stands there too - do you care what goes on in the friendly group that lives a couple of hills over? It's ok to be wrong sometimes you know…