Fun fact: According to Greek legend there was a famous prostitute who managed to avoid a death sentence by showing the judges her boobs and arguing that it would be a crime against the Gods to destroy something so beautiful.
Before you ask, yes there are paintings of this. And yes, they’re amazing.
No, but this is one of my absolute favorite bits of history!
The courtesan named was named Phryne and she was indeed a renowned beauty, and was indeed was put on trial for a capital crime. And yes, the sum of her defense consisted of her stripping in court (helped by her lover/defendant) and asking the jury (all males) if they were prepared to destroy this.
But this is actually a very interesting case of Values Dissonance - the capital crime she was accused of was blasphemy. In Ancient Greek society, exceptional beauty was a sign of favor from the gods, and they took the idea that beauty indicated goodness with great seriousness. They even called their nobles Kaloi k'Agathoi, “the Beautiful and the Good.”
So by showing off her great physical beauty, Phryne was being very clever indeed, her argument essentially being “How could I possibly commit blasphemy if the gods have given me this body?“
“The electoral college is necessary! If the popular vote decided everything then it would always be liberal because urban areas trend liberal!”
Really? You don’t say? The areas with the highest population density tend to swing more liberal? That’s weird. It’s almost like being around other people makes people more sympathetic to others, and understanding that different people are still people.
It’s almost like conservative areas tend to be more isolated and insulated in their ways rather than allowing ideas to mix, since that could contradict their ideals. How strange that those areas tend to vote one way regardless of sense because it’s as much or more tradition than it does reason.
Yeah, it really makes sense that the votes of thousands of urban dwellers should count equal to a single rural voter because of no apparent reason.
The video raises some good points, but it doesn’t discredit my point. Yes the majority of the population lives in metropolitan areas, and those areas are predominantly liberal, and yes that in itself tips policy and campaigning towards appealing to those areas due to easier access to voters. That’s how it is and that’s how it’s going to stay regardless of whether the electoral college is abolished or remains as is.
However, the video never tackles the point that I made, the absolute discrepancy of how votes are tallied through the electoral college. The idea that one’s vote doesn’t matter comes to look more believable when 1 vote in my home state of Nebraska is equivalent to 3 votes from California despite California being MUCH more culturally and economically important to the country as a whole. California made up about 11% of the US population, but in the electoral college they represent maybe 9% of all votes.
The electoral college wasn’t made to make it balanced between urban and rural areas, it was established to make the vote for president easier in the early days of the country. It gave the vote for president to a number of electors equal to the number of representatives in Congress, which in itself is set by population. That hasn’t changed, but now there are more people in America than there were in existence when the electoral college was established, and a cap was put on the amount of representatives any one state can possibly have. With that affecting areas of higher population density, it tends to impact liberal leaning states more than it does conservative.
All of that aside, the video still doesn’t address my point: urban areas lean liberal because of a heavier mix of peoples and cultures, which tends to lead to an understanding that people are people and efforts to understand people other than oneself. Meanwhile conservative areas tend to be more rural with people split up and separated, only mingling with people who share their ideals in perpetuity, thereby making it easier to look at things that are different as other and by extension wrong.
go on anon and say the meanest thing you think about me
“The electoral college is necessary! If the popular vote decided everything then it would always be liberal because urban areas trend liberal!”
Really? You don’t say? The areas with the highest population density tend to swing more liberal? That’s weird. It’s almost like being around other people makes people more sympathetic to others, and understanding that different people are still people.
It’s almost like conservative areas tend to be more isolated and insulated in their ways rather than allowing ideas to mix, since that could contradict their ideals. How strange that those areas tend to vote one way regardless of sense because it’s as much or more tradition than it does reason.
Yeah, it really makes sense that the votes of thousands of urban dwellers should count equal to a single rural voter because of no apparent reason.
I am Silver Tongue, I am an artist. I have many characters and you can check out my art in the art tag. I occasionally practice witchcraft though I don't do anything too complicated. I am girl 2 and don't know what else to put here.
Anonymous
