Comic for Friday, June 2, 2023

[Darth Fluffy 302]

10 hours ago, mlooney said:

Lord is a tricky rank.  It ranges from lowest level of nobility too the 3rd most powerful noble in the British Isles.

My admittedly limited understanding of the term is that 'Lord' is not strictly a rank, more of a term of membership in the recognized nobility. Even then, there are gray edges, the seemingly related term laird points more toward acknowledgement as chieftain.

I would expect that in use, it is a term of respect, like 'sir'.

 

12 hours ago, ijuin said:

IIRC, Liam is basically a Captain of the Royal Guard? (Or whatever you call a high-ranking Royal Guardsman who is not a General. Would they use Colonels?) Dwight addresses him as “Lord”, which implies a rank of Nobility higher than Knight but probably lesser than Baron.

In James Michener's novel, Poland, the Knights are all landed Nobility of various ranks. Knight is one of their functions. He seems to have done considerable research for accuracy, so I would defer to his opinion.

It is probably cultural. In the Round Table mythos, it seems that many of the knights did not have their own estates. <shrug>

A Baron is pretty high in the pecking order, a subordinate king of sorts, really. Threat of a baron rebelling was a big deal. I think some currently independent small nations are historically baronies.

 

[ijuin 572]

A Count has dominion over a County. A Baron generally ranks below a Count.

[mlooney 3,417]

2 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

My admittedly limited understanding of the term is that 'Lord' is not strictly a rank, more of a term of membership in the recognized nobility. Even then, there are gray edges, the seemingly related term laird points more toward acknowledgement as chieftain.

I would expect that in use, it is a term of respect, like 'sir'.

 

That's pretty much the case.  There are some nobles that had "lord" as part of their titles (Lord of the Isles being chief among them).  Most of the time some one of lower rank would address someone of higher rank as "my lord" as a mark of respect.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

2 hours ago, ijuin said:

A Count has dominion over a County. A Baron generally ranks below a Count.

Count

Baron

It's muddy, but yes, a count outranks a baron. However a baron is often a direct underling of the monarch, not under another layer of nobility.

As you say, a count is over a county, a significant subdivision of land holding. Probably has a lot of resources at his disposal, beyond what he can manage directly and delegates quite a bit.

A baron seems to be big enough to have an impact, but small enough to manage his own affairs. I picture an independent operator that you can count on. Probably specifically useful over far flung holdings;' that foothold in hostile territory, that isle in the channel between you.

But what do I know? I live in a Capitalist country where nobility is created by paying off politicians.

[Southern Cross 5]

And more to the point, these three basically want to steal somebody's magic powers so that one of them can become Uryoum royalty. They seem convinced that "royals" are always evil. (Which makes them hypocrites, in addition to their planned and preexisting crimes). However, that is clearly not the case, as the only "crowned ones" (for want of a better term) that we know of on the EGS side are Edward Verres, Nanase Kitsune, and Rhoda, who all seem to be good people.

This plan does not seem to be well thought through at all.

[ijuin 572]

They are probably thinking that power corrupts, but their guy will be all right because they are doing it for their people instead of for personal glory—the standard thinking of most revolutionaries.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

Power corrupts.

Absolute power corrupts absolutly.

Petty power corrupts out of all proportion to actual power.

 

[mlooney 3,417]

8 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Petty power corrupts out of all proportion to actual power.

 

The smaller the actual power, the more vicious the politics. 

[Darth Fluffy 302]

17 minutes ago, mlooney said:

The smaller the actual power, the more vicious the politics. 

At least more arbitrary. I've observed this over many years IRL. State politics is more manipulative and dirtier than federal, and below that level can get really nasty.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

38 minutes ago, Darth Fluffy said:

At least more arbitrary. I've observed this over many years IRL. State politics is more manipulative and dirtier than federal, and below that level can get really nasty.

I am not sure I dare to ask about how it works when you elect village dogcatcher.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

2 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

I am not sure I dare to ask about how it works when you elect village dogcatcher.

By extrapolation, I'm pretty sure it involves weapons and last man standing.

 

[mlooney 3,417]

5 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

I am not sure I dare to ask about how it works when you elect village dogcatcher.

At least that is real governmental position.  The amount of viscous infighting you get from "leadership" of local clubs and organisations is pretty bad. 

[ijuin 572]

I have no idea why dogcatcher should be an elected position. It is not any sort of policy-making position, and one would expect that qualification for it should be based on the candidate’s job skills rather than on the ability to campaign.

 

[Darth Fluffy 302]

12 hours ago, ijuin said:

I have no idea why dogcatcher should be an elected position. It is not any sort of policy-making position, and one would expect that qualification for it should be based on the candidate’s job skills rather than on the ability to campaign.

Sheriff, in the US, county law enforcement, is from what I've seen an elected position. This makes sense, because it is one of the higher positions at a county level, where government is sparse. The actual road cops for counties are deputies, appointed by the sheriff.

I would imagine that where 'dogcatcher' is an elected position, it is essentially similar; you are voting for a chief of animal control, who will appoint staff. The 'dogcatcher' would indeed make policy, how long strays will be retained, and what fees and medical procedures will be applied.

[ijuin 572]

In that case, the position ought to be called something like “Chief Dogcatcher”, as opposed to sounding like he was the one who went out to catch the dogs himself.

[mlooney 3,417]

I've never heard of chief animal control officer being elected, but there are a lot of cities and towns out there, it's possible that there is one or more that do elect them.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

2 hours ago, mlooney said:

I've never heard of chief animal control officer being elected, but there are a lot of cities and towns out there, it's possible that there is one or more that do elect them.

I have seen some fairly mundane positions on ballots. 'Safety Inspector' is one around here. Every elevator has her safety certification with her signature. I am fairly certain she does not do it personally, rather uses a staff; either that, or she just inspects elevators full time all year.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

On 6/7/2023 at 9:57 PM, Darth Fluffy said:

By extrapolation, I'm pretty sure it involves weapons and last man standing.

I have now asked an American friend of mine how it works in her area. She says it is kind of like Game of Thrones but with more leashes and dog collars. I am very sorry I asked.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

County & city clerks, drain commissioners, comptrollers.  

Lots of thankless jobs that probably should be awarded on a civil service meritocracy, or could be political appointees, are elected.  Often with incumbants running unopposed because the posts have little to no real or perceived political power.

It can be weird in other ways.  My license to work in security was issued by the Secretary of Agriculture.

 

[mlooney 3,417]

5 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

She says it is kind of like Game of Thrones but with more leashes and dog collars. I am very sorry I asked.

Don't kink shame

[Darth Fluffy 302]

On 6/9/2023 at 4:54 AM, The Old Hack said:

I have now asked an American friend of mine how it works in her area. She says it is kind of like Game of Thrones but with more leashes and dog collars. I am very sorry I asked.

My response was not meant to be taken too seriously. I think the gist, though, is that small politics has less accountability. Still, we are tribal by nature, I suppose that mitigates.