Greece only SEE country listed as "full democracy" in Economist index

[Observer]

Economist Intelligence? Ha! The Fools !
"Functioning of Government": 0 Points (Corruption at it's best. Fakellaki & Rousfeti will never die!).
"Political Culture": 0 Points (School History Book still full of misinformation).
"Civil Liberties": 0 Points (Remember Zardiniera? Just don't tell me it was a single incident! And Otsalan? Forgoten..).
"Political Participation": 0 Points (Most people think that all politicians are the same shit).
Come on Economist.....be serious, even if you can not be intelligent.

[Draco]

From your examples it is clear that you don't understand what the Economist criteria mean.

[Observer]

Originally Posted by Draco

From your examples it is clear that you don't understand what the Economist criteria mean.

If that is the case, I do apologize. Care to enlighten me, as to what they mean? Anyway, in such a highly ranking "full democracy", shouldn't personal privacy be taken more seriously by the government? Vodafone heads haven't rolled. Government officials haven't resigned. Also, democracy inherently contains real freedom of speach. Yet, in Greek songs and even church psalms, censorship has been applied to the lyrics regarding royalty. Seems to me that the Economist criteria are turninng a blind eye to too many discrepancies.
If anyone thinks that Greece is a really democratic country, I am open to persuation, with valid arguments, not pulling the wool over my eyes with half-truths.
I, for one, can not forget what a great Greek hero said: "With such a state, God help the Nation". And, naturally, he was imprisoned.....

[Tsontos]

In regards to personal liberties, Observer:

Originally Posted by Tsontos

Greece ranked #1 for protecting civil liberties and personal privacy.



http://duggmirror.com/world_news/U_S...lance_society/

[Tsontos]

Yet, in Greek songs and even church psalms, censorship has been applied to the lyrics regarding royalty.

Loyalty to what? I dont know what instance you're talking about but if the church censors something it's its own perogative, not the state's. As for the songs it sounds like garbage to me. After 1974 that would not happen. Before then yes, after no.

[Observer]

The word was "Royalty" not "Loyalty".
I'm referring to the passage "doksa tis Vasilefsi" which was changed to "Efsevefsi" (after political pressure).
As to the songs, last week I heard some kids on TV, singing the well known old song "Sto zapio mia mera".
The lyrics in the chorus were replaced by a series of "la la la la", instead of "Elia-elia kai kotso vasilia".
I am NOT a royalist, but, nevertheless, I find it pathetic, lamentable and certainly seudo-patriotic to deny one's own History, however shameful that history may be.
I love and respect Hellas with all her shortcomings. The above examples are typical greek, not Hellenic. Hellenes are proud of their past. Greeks pretend it didn't happen.
P.S. I noticed that my reply to Draco's claim that I didn't understand the criteria was censored out entirely (not shown at all).
What's the matter guys? Too truthful for comfort?

[Tsontos]

We have some different sources on the comparative democratic credentials of countries brought together on wikipedia:

According to this map Greece is free and FYROM is "partly free". According to this source FYROM is in the same category as Turkey, Zimbabwe, Bolivia, Afghanistan (click to enlarge).

The above map reflects the findings of Freedom House's survey Freedom in the World 2007, which reports the state of world freedom in 2006. It is one of the most widely used measures of democracy by researchers. Green indicates free countries, yellow partly free and red, not free

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According to this map FYROM is once again in the same category as Kenya, Indonesia and other third world countries while Greece is among the world's most democratic polities (click to enlarge):

Democracy Index as published in January, 2007. The palest blue countries get a score above 9.5 out of 10 (with Sweden being the most democratic country at 9.88), while the black countries score below 2 (with North Korea being the least democratic at 1.03).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy