"Perhaps you should research what the classical Athenian word was for a man who did not engage in the politics of the city."I got a chuckle and I salute him for the subtlety of the remark. And then I decided that I shouldn't do any coverage of the CSM 9 election after all. Thank you Malcanis for opening my eyes to what I almost stepped into.
Sorry for the short post, but I really wanted to play EVE last night.
Except this isn't Athens and we aren't slaves.
ReplyDeleteOkay, for those who (like me) had to google this. MoxNix - I think you may have missed.
ReplyDelete"The English word idiot is etymologically derived from the ancient Greek word for a private individual, or someone not engaged in civic affairs." (via Democracy Web)
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot
Good find.
ReplyDeleteI went with slave because in classical athens only adult male citizens were entitled to vote. Any Athenian man who was not engaged in politics was a slave.... Or I suppose an idiot. :)
So you're choosing not to engage in the "politics of the city"?
ReplyDeleteI ran into that definition a few years ago (language, the art of communication, has always facinated me...) and (as I live in a democracy)(not all of us do you know...) this has since always been in the background of my thoughts. It was in my thoughts when I started my blog... As such a fav quote of mine is, and always will be:
ReplyDelete“The world is run by those who show up.”
— Unknown
And to go a wee bit farther than Yakob...
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiot#Etymology]
An idiot in Athenian democracy was someone who was characterized by self-centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private—as opposed to public—affairs.
In Athenian democracy, idiots were born and citizens were made through education (although citizenship was also largely hereditary). "Idiot" originally referred to "layman, person lacking professional skill", "person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning". Declining to take part in public life, such as democratic government of the polis (city state), was considered dishonorable. "Idiots" were seen as having bad judgment in public and political matters.
Bad judgement... bad judgement in public and political matters...bad judgement combined with selfcenteredness... Hmmmm, who here in the comments does that most call to mind?? Who here in comments abrogated his right to an opinion when he 'declined to take part' in a highly public manner... Hmmmm?
Besides the fact that Athenian society would be abhorrent to any self-respecting Minmatar pilot like myself, did you find why Athenian democracy was defined the way it was? I dug a little deeper and decided I didn't want to go Greek.
DeleteIsn't Malcanis *not* running again?
ReplyDeleteThat being said, I would have enjoyed your coverage.
LR
Agree with the Anon above.
ReplyDeleteMaybe Malcanis should be a bit more careful with his ancient history references. :(
Malcanis is still deeply involved with the politics of the city, and will remain reasonably involved even after the election. And if you review my history, my idea of "reasonably involved" has had considerable influence in the past, even without a CSM forum badge. I can point to several past game changes that I was influential in.
DeleteI feel that's sufficiently "cautious" of me to avoid that particular charge.