7 Responses to Greece: Unemployment Continues to Soar

1. DWBartoo October 6th, 2012 at 9:46 am 1

   Thank you, GREYDOG, your posts are much appreciated, and I hope that they shall come to receive the attention and respect, at Firedoglake, which they fully deserve.

   DW

   Reply
2. DWBartoo October 6th, 2012 at 9:48 am 2

   Recommended, of course, to the consideration and conscience of everyone at FDL.

   DW

   Reply
3. metamars October 6th, 2012 at 10:46 am 3

   Although I haven’t been there since 1989, and don’t follow closely what’s going on in Greece (too painful; I have close relatives there), Greeks have an advantage over Americans in that they’re not so docile. IIRC, the Greeks managed to scare Bill Clinton away from a visit! Good on them!

   Although my Greek patrioti need less help in getting motivated to organize than my lame American patrioti, I hope my new local networking tool (which is in BETA, here, and described, here) might be of use to get shyer Greeks out into public, and facilitate pathways for both shy and non-shy to peacefully and legally organize. Like the citizens of the US, the citizens of Greece live in a democracy, even if a greatly dysfunctional one. Thus, the burden of rectifying irresponsible government actions belongs to the citizens, try as they might to blame the elite classes, entirely, for their predicaments.

   My Theio Yianni once told me that he wasn’t concerned about Papandreou getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar, but would fight him if he came to his house and tried to steal his goods. Say, now, there’s a real responsible attitude! Now he has dementia, and one of his sons can’t find a job. Just because cause and effect are separated by a few decades, doesn’t mean the causal chain is not there. This is an analogy for the inevitable fruits of a democracy composed largely of what the Ancient Athenians would call idiotes. From wikipedia:

   Idiot as a word derived from the Greek ἰδιώτης, idiōtēs (“person lacking professional skill”, “a private citizen”, “individual”), from ἴδιος, idios (“private”, “one’s own”).[1] In Latin the word idiota (“ordinary person, layman”) preceded the Late Latin meaning “uneducated or ignorant person.”[2] Its modern meaning and form dates back to Middle English around the year 1300, from the Old French idiote (“uneducated or ignorant person”). The related word idiocy dates to 1487 and may have been analogously modeled on the words prophet[3] and prophecy.[4][5] The word has cognates in many other languages.

   An idiot in Athenian democracy was someone who was characterized by self-centeredness and concerned almost exclusively with private—as opposed to public—affairs.[6] Idiocy was the natural state of ignorance into which all persons were born and its opposite, citizenship, was effected through formalized education.[6] In Athenian democracy, idiots were born and citizens were made through education (although citizenship was also largely hereditary). “Idiot” originally referred to “layman, person lacking professional skill”, “person so mentally deficient as to be incapable of ordinary reasoning”. Declining to take part in public life, such as democratic government of the polis (city state), was considered dishonorable. “Idiots” were seen as having bad judgment in public and political matters. Over time, the term “idiot” shifted away from its original connotation of selfishness and came to refer to individuals with overall bad judgment–individuals who are “stupid”. According to the Bauer-Danker Lexicon, the noun ίδιωτής in ancient Greek meant “civilian” (ref Josephus Bell 2 178), “private citizen” (ref sb 3924 9 25), “private soldier as opposed to officer,” (Polybius 1.69), “relatively unskilled, not clever,” (Herodotus 2,81 and 7 199).[7] The military connotation in Bauer’s definition stems from the fact that ancient Greek armies in the time of total war mobilized all male citizens (to the age of 50) to fight, and many of these citizens tended to fight poorly and ignorantly.

   FWIW, the author of this tool is not only Greek, but a maniati. ;-)

   Reply
4. GREYDOG October 6th, 2012 at 11:52 am 4

   In response to DWBartoo @ 1

   Thank you very much DW. Your comments are much appreciated. :)

   Reply
5. hermit October 6th, 2012 at 2:29 pm 5

   In response to metamars @ 3

   Thanks for the informative comment.

   Jefferson well understood the Greek implicit suggestion: that education of the people (the idiots) is the only way that democracy could survive intact, and true to its original intent.

   The erosion of the American ideal of a well educated enlightened citizenship, essential if we are to control our own destinies, is the root cause of the societal dilemma we find ourselves in.

   We only educate enough for competent labor, not citizenship. Disciplined to expect and accept only bread and circuses, the oligarchy survives by rhetorical BS. An idiot doesn’t know an oligarchy from a democracy. And so it goes.

   Reply
6. hermit October 6th, 2012 at 2:31 pm 6

   Thanks for the update Greydog, enjoy your vacation. ;^) Rec’d

   Reply
7. GREYDOG October 6th, 2012 at 6:08 pm 7

   In response to hermit @ 6

   Thank you hermit. I am in Barcelona looking for an apartment. My visa is in process and I am moving here in November. I will continue to post updates from Greece and will begin to add some first hand information on events in Spain, as well.

   Reply