What did democracy really mean in Athens? - Melissa Schwartzberg

[theexnay]

One of the biggest problems with modern democracy is it requires so much money to get elected that their job often becomes just fundraising.

[beantsran]

Whose else’s online assignment is this? 😂😂

[decaf-nosebleed]

Everyone in the comments is like "oh school assignment ugh" and I'm over here procrastinating school work and writing a storyline-

[pacoo]

Another video that, in my opinion, should be seen by all highschool students.

[mrstealyocat]

Thank You TED-Ed i really needed to research some new things about Athens for a school project, You were the only one so far that i found that made it easy to understand as well as making it quick to! i didn't waste my time :)

[bluelotus.society]

I have always been of the opinion that all legislators and government officials should be drawn by lottery, just like jury duty. This eliminates corruption and the need for campaigning, saving tons of money as well in the process and allowing legislators to be focused on the task at-hand rather than constantly being focused on their re-election, like they currently are.

[madcowdiseasman]

Winning the Lottery equalled being chosen by the gods by Ancient Athenian standards. So people thought the gods were choosing you to serve in government back then.

[hacker-]

Thanks for uploading, cleared some of my questions that we are learning in History class.

[angeldeleon]

It helped me a lot to understand the point of "the begin of democrcy" of my greece unit in history ¡¡¡¡¡
Ilove it, it is really well done...

[biranfalk-dotan]

"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter."
- Sir Winston Churchill

[chocdesglacons]

This is important stuff. I was rejected from Cambridge even after acing the interview because I failed to recognise a trick question about sortition in the subsequent exam. I learnt to never underestimate the importance of classics.

[cilglwb]

아테네에서 민주주의의 진실한 의미에 대하여 배워보는 시간이 되었습니다. 정말 재미있는 시간이 되었습니다. 배우며 더 성장하는것을 느낍니다. 정말 감사합니다. 응원합니다!!!

[Bongo]

Platos argument was far more nuanced making a distinction between the good and the bad for of "democracy".
for Plato there was a distinction between Democracy and Politocracy.
For him a democracy was a society ruled by the mob, violently temperamental whose only value was that the majority (50% +1) approved of an initiative even though this decision had no real merit or would ultimately harm the whole constituency.
Whereas Politocracy was always open to the public (by ancient standards so no slaves and foreigners) but the assembly would govern for the well being of everyone, that would mean some people would have to vote in favour of things that would damage them (say higher taxes on the wealthy). Decisions would have to be unanimous as all the members of the assembly would reach the conclusion that a certain decision was the best for the well being of all within the Polis.

[osGFXman]

unbelievable animation! :D .. good job!

[Xfan]

Very informative and easy to understand. Thanks!

[athenavibrating]

What is most difficult with applying Athenian-style democracy is to have citizens willing to take part in politics on an everyday basis. Compared to them we look more like the shaded part of the circle at the end of your video. There were also other things setting them apart, like recall elections and ostracism, but I guess you can't tell everything in one video!

[CashusKlayton]

It seems ideal to combine random selection with election, the ability for the people to select from a set of candidates. We could:
- randomly select a set of candidates (X per office)
- give them each a fixed amount of campaign resources and don't allow fund raising
- require each to get roughly equal coverage time from the media
- ensure debates are held and rules enforced (e.g. time limits per response)
- let the affected constituents vote from amongst the available candidates

This has the advantages of random selection (no more career politicians willing to sell out to stay in office) without the downside of just assigning offices randomly. If a complete psycho is randomly selected as a candidate, odds are that there would be better candidates selected to campaign for the same office, and that should be exposed through the campaign process, giving the psycho less of a chance of of being elected. Our current system doesn't prevent this because narcissistic psychos can have huge campaign budgets and receive grossly unequal media coverage (for ratings).

[scallopmania]

This was a big help in understanding today

[scivolanto]

A good complement to this talk is the Princeton Study ("Testing theories of American Politics", 2014) which demonstrates the US is no democracy, but an oligarchy. (probably the same for all other countries who claim they are democracies, but we miss the statistical studies to prove it). The illusion we live in a democracy comes from the fact that oligarchs and ordinary people sometimes share the same interests, and from "social class-blind" topics like gay rights (the evolution of the way homosexuals have been perceived in the last decades is more or less similar in the richest, poorest and middle-class parts of the population.).

[jonathannolan]

To successfully achieve your goal, I believe that relying on a single idea won't suffice. Instead, it's essential to strategically plan out a course of action and tactfully handle any obstacles that may arise along the way. I believe it's the people who truly define this system. Autocracies or democracies? It depends on who's operating systems that matter. I think that every culture should value having strong mental and emotional well-being, which allows individuals to be adaptable, wise, and brave in their everyday lives.