<
https://theconversation.com/how-the-ancient-greeks-kept-ruthless-narcissists-from-capturing-their-democracy-and-what-modern-politics-could-learn-from-them-208042>
"Ancient Greece was in many ways a brutal society. It was almost perpetually at
war, slavery was routine and women could only expect a low status in society.
However, there is one important sense in which ancient Greeks were more
advanced than modern European societies: their sophisticated political systems.
The citizens of ancient Athens developed a political system that was more
genuinely democratic than the present day UK or US.
Our modern concept of democracy is actually a degradation of the original Greek
concept and has very little in common with it. Modern democracy is merely
representative, meaning that we elect officials to make decisions on our
behalf, who become members of legislative bodies like the British parliament or
the US Congress.
The ancient Greeks practised direct democracy. It literally was “people power”.
And they took measures specifically to ensure that ruthless, narcissistic
people were unable to dominate politics.
Recent political events show that we have a great deal to learn from the
Athenians. Arguably, a key problem in modern times is that we aren’t stringent
enough about the people we allow to become politicians."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
