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[–] 25 points 4 months ago

One is a more shareable parable. The other is mythology that doesn't scare kids into telling the truth as well as the former.

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  • [–] 13 points 4 months ago (8 children)

    it's told so rarely that I've never heard of it. can u fill me in?

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  • [–] [S] 19 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    The one sentence summary is thus:

    The story of Cassandra is a tale from Greek mythology where Cassandra is cursed by the gods to always tell the truth but never be believed

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  • [–] 23 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    Boy who cries wolf is kind of the opposite. He’s constantly lying for fun. So much so, no one believes him that one time he’s not lying. It’s a cautionary tale about the danger of lying too much.

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  • [+] [S] -4 points 4 months ago (4 children)
  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    That's not the story of Cassandra. She was cursed by Apollo for rejecting his sexual advances.

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  • [+] [S] -4 points 4 months ago (3 children)
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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago

    Cassandra and her twin brother Helenus have visions that if their brother Paris brings back Helen of Sparta, the city of Troy will be destroyed.

    Their family doesn't believe them and the city is burned down.

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  • [–] 14 points 4 months ago
    [+] 5 points 4 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    There's definitely a healthy dose of sexism in there.

    "Why would we share a parable about a woman?"

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (24 children)

    Because it’s mythology. Same reason why most people ignore the bible.

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  • [+] [S] -10 points 4 months ago (24 children)
  • [–] 17 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

    the story of Peter’s lesson is “don’t say anything unless you’re ABSOLUTELY sure”

    What? HOW did you get that? The lesson is that if you get caught in a pattern of obvious lies, your credibility will be shot and people won't believe your word even if the next time you tell the truth. I struggle to imagine how you managed to misunderstand an anecdote meant for children.

    The boy who cried wolf is a simple progression of cause to effect. Again, it's meant to be so simple and intuitive that a child can understand it. In comparison, Cassandra is ancient mythology that is centered on divine intervention. If a child asks why nobody believed her and you tell "because God made it so", or Serstan forbid go into the rabbit hole of institutionalized sexism (and try to apply a modern Western perspective to an ancient Greek story), how do they draw a morale from that? That's why it isn't told as frequently.

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  • [–] 10 points 4 months ago (10 children)

    Or maybe it's because Peter's tale has a clear lesson about lying too much while Cassandras tale has no clear lesson. Because what's the lesson that even a 5 year old would understand? That telling the truth is useless if nobody listens? That's a bad lesson.

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  • [–] -1 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    The lesson that men won’t believe women is a powerful one and one that we still teach our daughters.

    At least other women do.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    The story doesn't say men don't believe her, the story says nobody believes her which includes other women. You're applying a different lesson to the story.

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  • [–] -2 points 4 months ago (4 children)

    How many times have rape victims been disbelieved? Women not believed by larger society?

    This is a cautionary tale of patriarchy and going against men.

    Cassandra is cursed to never be believed because she refuses to have sex with Apollo.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (3 children)

    How many times have rape victims been disbelieved?

    Maybe you're not aware but male rape victims are not only believed less than female rape victims but are also usually more stigmatized and blamed for getting raped.

    This is a cautionary tale of patriarchy and going against men.

    Cassandra is cursed to never be believed because she refuses to have sex with Apollo.

    Sounds to me like the moral of the story is to submit to men who lust for you or you will get cursed.

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  • [–] -2 points 4 months ago* (2 children)

    The patriarchy harms both men and women, boys and girls.

    Men have the power to punish those that go against them because of patriarchy. This includes people of all genders that do so.

    We agree, this is just squabbling about phrasing.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    And now it's far from a lesson you could explain to a five year old which was my original point.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago*

    No, children should be taught, age appropriately, that not all authority figures are trustworthy. That there are scenarios they won’t be believed and what to do about it. They should be taught about the inequalities in our society and that includes how the patriarchy punishes everyone.

    I won’t send my child blind into the world.

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  • [+] 0 points 4 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Except the lesson is that regardless of what you do you won't be listened to. In fact if we go exactly by the tale she isn't telling the truth, she's telling truthful prophecies so she literally couldn't prove the statements she knew were true.

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  • [+] 0 points 4 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    So the lesson you mentioned is not the one in the story.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    If both stories are gender neutral, it’s more or less the same meaning. Why are you even focusing on the genders?

    You’re making irrelevant details important so you can be mad.

    It’s a made up story about gods, I’m sure most of the world can relate to that situation eh?

    The person is literally cursed, it’s not because they’re female, it’s because they are cursed. There’s always ways to interpret stories differently I guess.

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  • [–] -1 points 4 months ago* (9 children)

    No, non invented stories with non god or mythology creatures always have a more meaningful and relatable message.

    It’s nothing to do with misogyny lmfao. It’s a hardly believable story, its gods. Come on.

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  • [+] [S] 1 point 4 months ago (6 children)
  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    Why did you edit my quote?

    I said they are MORE, that’s an important distinction.

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  • [+] [S] -4 points 4 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago*

    No you removed a chunk of it and changed the meaning.

    The parenthesis I don’t care about, but you are changing the entire meaning by doing that as well.

    So if you’re doing that a comment, no wonder you’re having issues comprehending the meaning of other stories.

    Fucking yikes buddy.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago* (3 children)

    Are many people cursed by gods in real life that you know of?

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  • [+] [S] -1 points 4 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    You sure about that?

    And another

    Try living near wildlife? It’s a constant concern.

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  • [+] [S] -1 points 4 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago* (1 child)

    Man I live in a city of almost 1.5 million and we have wildlife in the middle of our city.

    Sounds like you’re the one with a backwards world view. Most places have wildlife, so of course I would assume that way.

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  • [–] -1 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    The story of Cassandra is retold pretty often. Ripley from Alien is a perfect example.

    And yes it does have to do with misogyny.

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    [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    To be fair, "the boy that cried wolf" has never been a more important story than it is today. There is an epidemic of lying for attention, and it presents as a false victim (its most pathetic form).

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago

    Message of the boy who cried wolf is basically: your problems are probably not real and just made up for attention, so shut up and don’t bother the people in charge unless their property is in danger.

    I can’t imagine why that would resonate with fascists Western Thought Leaders™.

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  • [–] 0 points 4 months ago

    Cassandra said she would give herself to Apollo if he gave her the gift of prophecies. After he did she refused him and he cursed her with never being believed. Sounds like poetic justice.

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