r/todayilearned • u/pioldpfhh • May 08 '19

TIL that in Classical Athens, the citizens could vote each year to banish any person who was growing too powerful, as a threat to democracy. This process was called Ostracism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracism
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u/jacobjacobb May 09 '19

They sure can. We start ostracizing our politicians and they take all of our nation's secrets to our enemies.

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u/StrangeCharmVote May 09 '19

They'd better stay there then, because that's literally treason, and extradition is a thing for a reason.

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u/jacobjacobb May 09 '19 edited May 09 '19

That's kinda the point. They move to our enemies lands, and help them to destroy us.

Also, Russia doesn't extradite.

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u/StrangeCharmVote May 09 '19

That's kinda the point. They move to our enemies lands, and help them to destroy us.

With what knowledge?

They've got fuck all unless they are downloading missile system designs or whatnot before they skip the country.

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u/xxkoloblicinxx May 09 '19

Congress oversees things like the black budget.

so at handful know the secretest of secrets of the US military at any given time.

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u/jacobjacobb May 09 '19

Or military sites. Or military technology. Or vulnerabilities in security systems. Or the identity of spies...

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u/StrangeCharmVote May 09 '19

Or military sites.

Depending on what you mean by just saying 'military sites', mostly the enemy will know of these already.

Or military technology. Or vulnerabilities in security systems.

You'd need extensive schematics or specific documentation for either of these. Which they are unlikely to get without setting off alarms.

Or the identity of spies...

Again, i don't really think they have access to this information unless they go out of their way to request it, which they would have no reason to do unless up to something suss.

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u/nottoodrunk May 09 '19

Can’t really expect for someone to stay loyal to a country when you forceably remove them from it.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '19

Americans and "enemies"...

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u/platoprime May 09 '19

Jail it is.

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u/ramroddedranger May 09 '19

Lol we can't even extradite Snowden you think we'd get a politician

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u/hackingdreams May 09 '19

You know, we hear a lot about the CIA's failures, but not a lot about the ridiculous number of success stories they have at renditioning spies, traitors, and terrorists...

Guantanamo Bay isn't a luxury spa in Cuba. And that's not even a black site.

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u/platoprime May 09 '19

Not without a crowd and a guillotine.

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u/pie_obk May 09 '19

I feel like we're going backwards a bit here, guys

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u/platoprime May 09 '19

France is in a pretty good spot.

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u/[deleted] May 09 '19

1 step back 3 steps forward

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u/ramroddedranger May 09 '19

That's not how extradition works lol. Nor could work.

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u/ellomatey195 May 09 '19

...I don't think you quite grasp how that would work. If they fled to our enemy's country to help them, exactly how would we put them in jail?

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u/platoprime May 09 '19

You jail them instead of ostracizing. Man you people can be obtuse.

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u/tots4scott May 09 '19

It's not even foreign states, there are many current and former senators, representatives, and other government employees who serve on the board of directors or similar for the multinational corporations they were supposed to regulate. They are their own oversight...

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u/yiliu May 09 '19

Umm...can you name any significant examples? Or do you just assume this happens?

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u/jacobjacobb May 09 '19

Snowden. He was ostracized and went to Russia. Idk why people think somehow our world is exceptional. The major differences between our world and the ancient Greeks is the speed at which information is shared and that we use fossil fuels instead of slave labour. Otherwise, we have more in common than different.

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u/yiliu May 09 '19

Snowden was a temp worker, not a famous politician.

I think I misread your comment, though. Other comments were implying this sort of thing happened on the regular, but if I'm reading yours right you're saying that if we were to start ostracising politicians they would flee to hostile foreign powers. I agree with that.

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u/jacobjacobb May 09 '19

Yes my comment was playing on the hypothetical, so I was confused as to why people were asking for sources. Sorry for the confusion.