Boys must be taken from their parents at age seven and enrolled into the military: all else is folly.
17 comments
Good idea, OP: and it must be done retroactively, with anyone so much as thinking of protesting, disagreeing, saying ‘That’s a BAD idea!’ or simply saying ‘No’ resulting in your policy… er, I mean ‘opinion’ being denied it’s right to exist before it started. Because we’ll start with you , OP. No matter what your age is now. Like I say: Retro actively.
You were seven once, ergo…!
Between this and their lauding of slavery, I think we can safely say they adulate (and probably romanticize) Sparta.
But really, what happens when any given boy proves inherently unsuitable for the military, whether physically or mentally? Such is not exactly a thing of evil (while weakness-shaming is ).
Hellenist makes the mistake so common to bigots: he believes that he would be an elite Spartan in his future society, rather than one of the enslaved and oppressed Helots. Considering that the ratio of Helots to Spartans was roughly 7:1, the odds are very much against him.
“Boys must be taken from their parents at age seven and enrolled into the military: all else is folly.”
Just go ahead and say you want to brainwash the nation into your ideal society. Enslave the military, enslave the blacks, and probably take away all rights women currently enjoy, i would guess? So, enslave everyone, then society would be composed of…?
@JeanP #209453
Even better, it was Thebai who broke Sparta’s power by tying their forces up well enough that most of the Helots could escape to lands that would neither enslave nor remand them. That basically emptied Sparta of its fuel.
Note that we don’t seem to actually have much evidence for the Sacred Band’s charioteers being romantic couples. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Thebai encouraged some sort of camaraderie, whether born of eros or philia, that the idea derived from. Point being that Boeotia’s forces probably had plain better sense of humanity than Sparta’s.
How could this not be trolling? Child soldiers do exist, in some of the “third world”. It’s linked to crimes against humanity, not “non-folly”. There’s always the scouts, if you want your kids to learn a bit about camaraderie, basic survival and discipline, without the imminent risk of amputation and death. Even forcing that would be unacceptable. Stupid.
You’ll then say that you’re “pro-life” too? How is your bullshit compatible with life in any way?
Meanwhile, in another part of the Mediterranean, there was the Sacred Band of Thebes, an army formed entirely of homosexual couples, on the theory that a man would fight all the harder beside - and to protect - his lover.
One of their most famous victories was kicking the shit out of Sparta.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.
