NationStates Jolt Archive

This may be apocryphal, and if so, I invite someone to correct me, but in ancient Athens, politicians would be lined up and the populace would be invited to throw mud at them. The politician with the dirtiest clothing (indicating who the people felt was the most dangerous/arrogant/overly ambitious,) would be banished (with no loss of property and no hard feelings) for a period of 10 years.

I think we need to bring this practice back.

Instead of mud can we throw vials of corrosive acid?

Why don't we put that politician in power? After all, if everybody hates you then you must be doing something right.

No, today the politicians would sue people for assault. Even if they agreed to do it!

Why don't we put that politician in power? After all, if everybody hates you then you must be doing something right.

Do we really want Carrot Top or that douchebag from American Idol running the country?

I think we should give people in cubicles (whose faces are hidden by one-way glass, but whose hands are free to lob) the choice to throw one of two different kinds of identical-looking mud, one which will glow red under fluorescent light, the other which will glow blue. This will allow for a secret ballot detailing whether a politician is hated by Republicans or Dmeocrats.

Then put all those hated by Democrats into power! :D

Why mud? Why can't it be something a bit more coprophilic?

Why mud? Why not eggs and do it at inauguration? :D

Why mud? Why not eggs and do it at inauguration? :D

Because the Secret Service would shoot you.

Because the Secret Service would shoot you.Not if we brought back the idea of "egg"slinging. We could reduce the banishment to 4 years though... :p

thats just retarded

Not if we brought back the idea of "egg"slinging. We could reduce the banishment to 4 years though... :p

yeah, but then the pro-chicken-lifers would get all pissy.

thats just retarded

It's usually best to let everyone know what you are pointing your comment at.

yeah, but then the pro-chicken-lifers would get all pissy.What do I care for PeTA? :D

Not if we brought back the idea of "egg"slinging. We could reduce the banishment to 4 years though... :p

No, the Secret Service would still shoot you. You could be throwing grenades or anything.

No, the Secret Service would still shoot you. You could be throwing grenades or anything.

Is "Watenho" a foreign word for "wet blanket"?

This may be apocryphal, and if so, I invite someone to correct me, but in ancient Athens, politicians would be lined up and the populace would be invited to throw mud at them. The politician with the dirtiest clothing (indicating who the people felt was the most dangerous/arrogant/overly ambitious,) would be banished (with no loss of property and no hard feelings) for a period of 10 years.

I think we need to bring this practice back.


I'm not sure about your definition, from what I can find, and this is by no means defnitive, it originates from an ancient Latin proverb:

'Fortiter calumniari, aliquia adhaerebit,' or 'Throw plenty of dirt and some of it will be sure to stick.'

The phrase comes up in "The Barber of Seville" by Beaumarchais, which dates from 1775 :

'Calumniate! Calumniate!' Some of it will always stick,' which when spoken in French does actually sound a lot better :)

Either way I think it;s an excellent idea and should be implemented immediately! :D

This may be apocryphal, and if so, I invite someone to correct me, but in ancient Athens, politicians would be lined up and the populace would be invited to throw mud at them. The politician with the dirtiest clothing (indicating who the people felt was the most dangerous/arrogant/overly ambitious,) would be banished (with no loss of property and no hard feelings) for a period of 10 years.

I think we need to bring this practice back.
It's a great story, even if it isn't true. And while we wait for the mud to be delivered...

Virtual Mud-slinging! (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/news/newsbeat/election/newsbeatgame/a_election_game.shtml)

I think it might be apocyphal.

If I remember correctly, the process to ban someone from Athens for 10 years was known as Ostracism, for the fact that the people would take a vote by writing the name of the person they want to banish on broken pieces of pottery(Ostraka).

I'm not sure what the origin of the term mud-slinging is..

Eggs can hurt if they hit you, especially when your stupid friends build crossbow-style guns (with an effective range of about 30 feet, can't remember exactly) to fire them at you on April 1st because they have nothing more imaginative to waste their damn time on.
Not that I'm bitter or anything, though.