OK, Frog Bashing is cool. They need a little now and then.
Did you see the public television program about Sparta a while ago? Maybe a year ago. It did do something to correct those "public school" impressions of Sparta in my head, though it still sounds like a horrendous culture IMO, but--the commentator made the point that it was really very much like a culture of predators where the top predators have a pretty good life. The key is to get to the top. If you could live through the first twenty-five years of your life, you were abundantly protected, ate meat every day, lived in a society of equals, apparently very healthy (Spartans who made it to adulthood lived a lot longer than Athenians, and in better shape), and had no real worries. That is, so long as you subscribed to the system. I did find that interesting, to be sure. Maybe it was something like a human wolf pack, for real (I like wolves) and worthy of some admiration if one could stand to get over the lovey peacey gee-I-hope-the-electricity-don't-run-out perspective that I know I am so infected with.
Thanks for the new info, about Burning Man especially. The name sounded familiar but I did not know what it was.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2004-06-01 10:41 am (UTC)Did you see the public television program about Sparta a while ago? Maybe a year ago. It did do something to correct those "public school" impressions of Sparta in my head, though it still sounds like a horrendous culture IMO, but--the commentator made the point that it was really very much like a culture of predators where the top predators have a pretty good life. The key is to get to the top. If you could live through the first twenty-five years of your life, you were abundantly protected, ate meat every day, lived in a society of equals, apparently very healthy (Spartans who made it to adulthood lived a lot longer than Athenians, and in better shape), and had no real worries. That is, so long as you subscribed to the system. I did find that interesting, to be sure. Maybe it was something like a human wolf pack, for real (I like wolves) and worthy of some admiration if one could stand to get over the lovey peacey gee-I-hope-the-electricity-don't-run-out perspective that I know I am so infected with.
Thanks for the new info, about Burning Man especially. The name sounded familiar but I did not know what it was.