HN Gopher Feed (2017-09-23) - page 1 of 10 ___________________________________________________________________
Like modern democracies, ancient Greek democracy had an anger
problem
59 points by drjohnson
https://www.neh.gov/about/awards/jefferson-lecture/martha-nussba...___________________________________________________________________
baxtr - 3 hours ago
Quite interesting read. However, I would refrain from drawing
general conclusions about democracy out of this. I guess, we as a
species tend to have anger problem, no matter which societal form
we live in.
walshemj - 1 hours ago
err you don't the the Melian Dialogue and other examples from the
Peloponnesian War are not relevant today?
eighthnate - 17 minutes ago
It's absurd to compare ancient greek "democracy" to modern day
democracies. Ancient greece was a slave state which didn't have
any notion of human rights. Not only did ancient greece own
slaves, they also had votes to kill their own citizens. The most
notorious being socrates drinking the hemlock.Ancient greece
wasn't a democracy. It was an oligarchy of slave owners.
Razengan - 50 minutes ago
> I guess, we as a species tend to have anger problem, no matter
which societal form we live in.I'm not so sure about that. I
think it has a lot to do with how we are raised and what we are
taught when we come into this world, and it can be
changed.Recently I read some very nice fiction called the Green
Sky Trilogy [0] (that has given rise to a video game which was
far ahead of its time [1]), which depicts a pacifist society
where there is a taboo on "unjoyful" behavior and activities,
like anger and violence, but not on inherently "joyful"
activities like sexual relations.It really raised something I
have always found very odd about our own world.Why does almost
every cultural on Earth, even relatively secular ones, repress
activities that bring pleasure and life, but promote violence and
death?It's just bizarre.Consider the infamous censorship of a TV
show where they showed plenty of gore but not naked corpses, so
they covered their buttocks with even more blood. [2]Like we are
supposed to be OK with that, but not nudity.You have people
beating each other up, and show weapons and guns in children's
cartoons, but they shy away from showing anyone kissing
someone.When you look at human civilization from a detached
perspective, there is a pervading sense of repression, guilt and
struggle just about everywhere. No wonder there is malcontent
bubbling underneath the fabric of every society.[0]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Sky_Trilogy[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Below_the_Root_(video_game)[2]
https://www.google.com/search?q=Hannibal+censorship
scythe - 15 minutes ago
I don't find such predictions at all utopian, and I'm surprised
this thread of argument has persisted in culture so long.Sex is
associated with pain and suffering, and that's why taboos
exist. Whether it's unwanted children, unwanted contact,
diseases, or unfulfillable desires, there's plenty of downside
to sexual behavior. Violence is easier to understand correctly
than sex: violence is always bad unless it's necessary, while
the conditions which make sex good or bad are more complicated,
and thus, less comprehensible to children. Every four-year-old
knows you shouldn't actually drop anvils on people.
Inappropriateness is an ingredient of slapstick comedy which is
(partially) why characters in children's shows do bad things to
each other. Note that Pepe le Pew nonetheless appears in
children's shows; his attempts at romance are also obviously
wrong and thus funny.On the other hand I do notice a positive
correlation between people thinking the solutions to social
problems are easy and people becoming angry about politics.
This makes sense because it's natural to feel aggrieved when
someone fails to solve an easy problem. But in reality the
solutions to social problems are not so easy.
pnathan - 2 hours ago
Fascinating.
adrianratnapala - 3 hours ago
I never thought I would say this: but is this thing available as
video or audio? It seems to be the transcript of a lecture, and I
would like to listen to it as I clean my house.I found this thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWZbQuqAQCI, but that is an
interview in the wake of the lecture, not the lecture itself.
def- - 2 hours ago
https://www.neh.gov/content/2017-lecture-video
adrianratnapala - 2 hours ago
Thanks.And I gotta love America, where professorial lectures
are accomapnied by the national anthem and a military flag
ceremony!
[deleted]
truxus - 1 hours ago
Well you don't become the largest democracy in the world by
baking pies...
octaveguin - 2 hours ago
That lecture has a 20 minute introduction.A long meandering of
thanking and praising various funding organizations and people.
A great example of what's wrong with modern academia.
Spooky23 - 1 hours ago
That?s nothing.When I was an intern acting as an AV monkey we
ran into all sorts of crazy stuff.Sucking up to people who
give you money is an art form present in all forms of
business.
maxxxxx - 54 minutes ago
They should just put up sponsor banners like sports do. I
almost reflexively fast forward 10 minutes now when I watch a
lecture because it seems they always feel that need to give a
long intro speech.
bllguo - 54 minutes ago
Academics would love it if they didn't have to do that.
Society's undervaluation of academic research has led to this
situation.
katastic - 1 hours ago
I see nothing terrible with people wanting to make a big deal
out of handing you (tens?) of millions of dollars and getting
thanked.If this was Hollywood, instead of a ceremony, there'd
be a "casting couch."The only real issue is whether you can
search for, and publish results that are the opposite of the
hand that feeds. And as Google recently proved, that is a
problem.What seems like you're actually annoyed by, is having
to wade through comments and content that were never intended
for you. (Pro-tip: Skip ahead.) I mean, should we also get
mad at PBS saying "this program was brought to you by the X,
Y, Z, and Viewers Like You?"?Is the issue one of "length" or
"content?" Because as I've shown, PBS does the same content
and nobody complains. And if it's length, yeah, it's
annoying, but we're the most spoiled people in the history of
the human race if we can't skip some video being beamed
across the entire planet after previously being recorded on
trillions of dollars of research, billions of dollars of
industry, and tens of thousands of smart people all working
together in harmony to bring us a video... that could have
been clipped a little in the beginning.
ouid - 3 hours ago
text to speech!! ^^
QAPereo - 3 hours ago
To be fair, it was passion in general they thought was base and
animalistic, not just anger.