Re: Snail mail vs. Email

[Jeffrey Walton <noloader () gmail com>]

On Thu, Oct 13, 2011 at 1:34 PM, Kurt Buff <kurt.buff () gmail com> wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 12, 2011 at 22:11, Jeffrey Walton <noloader () gmail com> wrote:
> > Sparta, as one of the first democracies, had it right. They put the
> > public officials on trial when their term expired because they knew
> > what Class A fuck-ups they were. Its funny how that lesson was lost to
> > history.
>
> Sparta in the Classical age and earlier was not a democracy. They were
> a set of invaders who had enslaved the native Hellenes in the area (as
> opposed to buying slaves or capturing slaves in battle, which is what
> the other Hellenic city-states did), and which had kings and enforced
> military servitude from approximately ages 8 to 50 or so. And,
> actually, Athens, though it was the Western birthplace of democracy,
> free speech and all that, wasn't a very pretty society itself. Aside
> from the primitive state of technology, they were a religion- and
> superstition-bound society to a degree that most modern cultures would
> have difficulty comprehending.
I agree with the hypocrisy, and much hasn't changed with the
superstition/religion bound society (the best I can tell).
http://www.google.com/?q=early+democracies.

> Not something I think we should emulate.
Unfortunately, we are emulating those past invaders (at least in the
middle east).

Jeff

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