Author Topic: Schadenfreude - don't you badmouth Spartans. (Read 296 times)

miko2d · « **on:** December 15, 2003, 04:40:33 PM »

At least untill you know about them.

Schadenfreude: Uncivilised people from an uncivilised country - the new Spartans.

There was a good reason why the ancient greeks had a saying "It is easier to persuade thirty thousand athenians to fight than it is one spartan".

If civilisation means "Low degree of time preference" - which is the true definition of social civilisation, the spartans were way more civilised than any of their contemporaries.

Their obsession with militarism and personal perfection was combined with amazing lack of expansionism and military adventurism - as opposite to the contemporaty democracies like Athens that expaned at any chance and commonly practiced genocide.
Spartans fought everywhere and anywhere - as free market mercenaries on personal business, rather than advancing expansionist agenda of their government.

If you want to offend americans, better use athenians than spartans. Those were real bloodthirsty agressors.

miko

Delirium · « **Reply #1 on:** December 15, 2003, 04:42:21 PM »

I still have to finish my Christmas shopping...

Hey, whats the average cost of a hotdog at a football game today?

Pei · « **Reply #2 on:** December 15, 2003, 05:05:49 PM »

Miko,
I would have thought you would disapprove of the Spartans: they tried to quash free enterprise and industry in thier domains, replaced the currency with a system deliberately designed to discourage it's use (huge iron bars) and all Spartans were supported by the State (by the assignment of slaves and lands to their warrior societies).

ON another point:
It's interesting that in ancient Greece the Spartans were considered the ideal society, where as now the Athenian democracy is lorded over their martial, restrictive society.

miko2d · « **Reply #3 on:** December 15, 2003, 05:18:30 PM »

Delirium: I still have to finish my Christmas shopping...
Hey, whats the average cost of a hotdog at a football game today?

Delirium: I find channel 1 even worse than the boards lately... when people verbally attack anyone and make a game out of it, it screams for better closer monitoring.

In fact, I JUST log on to the regular arena and within two minutes and I see 3 examples;
1. Someone on channel 1 telling another to 'F off' (wasn't shortened on channel 1 but altered so the mod can't catch it)
2. Someone telling another he hopes his grandmother dies.
3. Someone yelling profanities on channel 2 because they lost virtual territory in a virtual game.
If nothing is done I hope they at least make persistant squelches that carry over onto the next log on.

That's what I thought - an uncouth whining hyppocrytical lout. Out of three posts in the O'Forum two are complains about others violating the net etiquette, one is regular noncense and the fourth one is a blatant violation of the net etiquette.

Zero content and BS to nonsence ratio of 3:1 and zero you are just beginning to post here! I do not have anything against you, Del, just not find you worth scrolling over.

miko

miko2d · « **Reply #4 on:** December 15, 2003, 05:27:29 PM »

Pei: Miko,
I would have thought you would disapprove of the Spartans

Sure, they were operating on the flawed doctrines - but that is understandable because even now most of the people share the same misconceptions about the "evils" of free enterprise and money. Even when the state of knowlege has greatly advanced since spartan times.
But they were at least looking in the right direction.

They saw the individual person as a paramount of creation - the person who's valor lied in serving the community, but the person nonetheless, not the state.

They did not believe that it added to their power or valor to increase the geographical extent of their state, their material wealth, or even their numbers.
That is a marked contrast to individual athenians or americans who believe that their valor is somehow increased because they live in a bigger or wealthier country, even if they are dregs of human race individually.

Also, they had a quite lively commercial system, not a state-controled economy, despite all the alleged quashing.

miko

Dinger · « **Reply #5 on:** December 15, 2003, 09:59:05 PM »

Both were societies founded on instituionalized pederasty so severe it'd make Jacko blush.

There are no spartans or athenians today.
Spartan notorious slowness to engage in wars should be placed in the context of the necessity to keep the massive helot population in order. Frankly, they couldn't afford to have their hoplites too far from home for extended periods, because of the uprisings of the unfree peoples who provided the labor necessary to free the spartans to spend all their time in military pursuits.

Yeah, Athenian democracy, especially up to the end of the Peloppenesian war, was largely funded by Athens' "Allies"