Wednesday, April 22, 2020 Game Recap and Discussion (SPOILERS)

[garypatent]

Those are the things you’re prepared to discuss, so when Alex curveballed me with who my favorite “dramatic author” was, my brain short circuited. Also, having never heard the phrase “dramatic author,” my brain took a few seconds to catch up to my mouth as I understood what he was asking. Meanwhile I'd named a novelist and somehow managed to stump Alex, which made the entire thing weirder. It was better on TV than I remembered it being, however, at the time, I was SCREAMING inside.

I didn't know what Alex meant by that either, so I understood and shared your confusion as I was watching. What the heck is a "dramatic author," anyway?

As others have said, I greatly appreciate your sharing your experiences here. You were a very good contestant and your logic behind choosing a "non-obvious" answer when you need your opponents to miss, which has been mooted on this board before, has some merit.

Thanks very much!

I confirmation biased myself into fixating on the “democracy” part of the question (which Russia technically is) and thus managed to give myself a huge blind spot for the actual quantity of votes.

In what sense is Russia "technically" a democracy? Because it has elections? Almost every country in the world has elections of some kind. And nearly as many call themselves "democratic." China's constitution calls it a "democratic dictatorship." One of the most repressive countries in the world calls itself the "Democratic Republic of the Congo." Neither the Democracy Index, nor the Democracy-Dictatorship Index, nor the Freedom in the World survey list Russia as a democracy. I submit that if the Jeopardy! writers would refer to Russia as "democratic," then the qualifier is meaningless.

At the risk of arguing semantics...

In modern parlance, when we say "democracy," we mean "democratic republic." Pure democracy doesn't exist in the modern world (yes, I'm sure there's an enclave somewhere that's an exception, but you know what I mean). Is the US a democracy? That depends on whom you ask. I'd bet Elbridge Gerry's ghost thinks so. I'm not sure I always agree. The reality is that democracy exists on a sliding scale.

Though, your semantic gripe lies more with "technically" than "democracy." I said that Russia is technically a democracy because its founding document declares it a democratic republic. Is it a democracy in practice? I think you've answered that already. What's more of a democracy? A democracy that fails as a democracy? Or a republic that succeeds as one? That's a rhetorical question, which I implore you not to answer.

Is a nut technically a fruit? Sure. Am I going to be the most popular person at the bar if I insist on calling the "bowl of peanuts" a "bowl of fruit?" Depends on the bar.