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Re: CHAT: cultural interpretation [was Re: THEORY: language and the brain]

From:Andreas Johansson <andjo@...>
Date:Saturday, July 5, 2003, 16:39
Quoting Joe <joe@...>:

> ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andreas Johansson" <andjo@...> > To: <CONLANG@...> > Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2003 12:23 PM > Subject: Re: CHAT: cultural interpretation [was Re: THEORY: language and the > brain] > > > > Quoting Joe <joe@...>: > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > > From: "Mark J. Reed" <markjreed@...> > > > To: <CONLANG@...> > > > Sent: Saturday, July 05, 2003 1:25 AM > > > Subject: Re: CHAT: cultural interpretation [was Re: THEORY: language and > the > > > brain] > > > > > > > > > > On Fri, Jul 04, 2003 at 11:18:48AM +0100, michael poxon wrote: > > > > > Sorry, but this notion of the US being the acme of freedom is > complete > > > tosh. > > > > > > > > I didn't say "acme", I said "prototype". First, not necessarily best. > > > > And the US was, in fact, the first modern nation to have rule by the > > > > people's representatives rather than by a monarch who either inherited > the > > > > job or was chosen by some other less inclusive means. > > > > > > Switzerland? > > > > How democratic was the pre-1798 system? Some swift browsing suggests it > left > > effective power in the hand of aristocrats and merchant elites, with > little > > influence for peasants and poor city-dwellers. > > And largely the US power at that time rested in the hands of white males. > Neither can claim to be prototypical for democracy without having equal > voting rights for all over a certain(low-ish) age.
I strongly tempted to argue that the prototype for democracy is Classical Athens, wherefore keeping women and slaves out of the electorate strengthens the early USA's claim to be a democracy. More relevantly, going by how the word have actually been applied in the last quarter millennium or so, excluding women from the electorate does not prevent a state from being democratic, excluding the lower classes does. Andreas

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Joe <joe@...>