Idiots
In which Rat is suspiciously certain
Good time of the day, humans!
Transcript:
Human: — It appears that «idiot» is not really an insult at all.
Human: — In Ancient Greece, this word meant simply someone not interested in politics.
Rat: — Yeah, only idiots would not understand this!
tl;dr: summary of the argument: The Ancient Greek Meaning of the Word “Idiot”
What it (and most of the internet wisdom) however misses is that the meaning of «politics» wasn’t quite the same, either. Before the separation of powers, «political» activity mostly consisted not of continuously making up new laws, but of resolving private disputes — and Pheidonides suing Diogenes isn’t that interesting if you’re not directly involved.
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." -- Plato
Plato was no idiot.
As someone who has to deal with the fallout from an overactive state legislature, I heartily wish they would quit constantly making up new laws.