[lbo-talk] tribes, was Re: Speaking of female candidates...

Shane Mage shmage at pipeline.com
Sun Sep 7 12:45:32 PDT 2008


On Sep 7, 2008, at 3:18 PM, Chris Doss wrote:
>
> Well, it's the connotation. "Tribe," as opposed to "nation," implies
> alleged primitivity, at least in my mind. E.g. civilized Romans vs.
> barbaric German tribes.
>
The Roman term "tribune" is cognate to "tribe." The constituent political units of Athenian democracy and of the Roman republic were the tribes. Western culture is irremediably marked by the contributions of the twelve tribes of Israel. The Iroquois confederacy, the most democratic political institution ever to exist on this benighted continent, was composed of five (later six) tribes.


> Maybe I'm full of shit.

Shane Mage

"Thunderbolt steers all things...it consents and does not consent to be called Zeus."

Herakleitos of Ephesos



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list