Reassigned to Antarctica: Difference between revisions
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* A special version of that in the ancient Athenian constitution was ''Ostracism''. Unlike the modern word it did not imply social disgrace but was a utilitarian political tool. A politician who grew so powerful that it was feared he might overbalance the state was ordered by vote to move out for an indefinite amount of time. His possessions in the city were not seized; they were simply kept on hold until such time as he was allowed to return.
** Themistocles' famous rival Aristides "the Just", suffered this. According to stories, one voter who was illiterate asked him to spell out his name. Aristides proceeded to do so then asked why he was voting thus, to receive the reply,"I don't know him, I just get tired of hearing him called 'the Just' all the time."
* Deliberately subverted by Dan Gallery (author of one of the works above) during his own real-life US Navy service. When he was a captain commanding an antisubmarine seaplane base in southern Iceland during World War II, he took shameless advantage of the fact that most people in the supply chain didn't know Iceland's actual climate (hint: the name 'Iceland' is an antonym, its actually quite pleasant) and ''thought'' that anybody stationed there had been Reassigned To Antarctica. So he quite cheerfully submitted the most absurd requisitions imaginable for furniture, luxuries, and recreational equipment, things that would normally be laughed right out of the office (just try to imagine the usual reaction to a military base putting in a supply request for a commercial-grade ice cream machine in ''1942'') -- but since the Pentagon bureaucrats thought it was a hardship outpost, he actually got many of them approved. By the end of his tour there Captain Gallery had managed to upgrade the facilities to the point that the only disciplinary measure he needed to keep his men in
* The Caribbean was a zig-zag for the British in the eighteenth century. For the army, it was the most sadistic post anyone in the service could think of because the yellow fever made the casualty rate even greater than going on campaign without the fun of having bragging rights and promotions once all was said and done. The Royal Navy meanwhile, instead of sitting in garrison being bored and rotting to death, got to go to sea on plundering expeditions amid the fattest prizes including Spain's famous treasure ships should they be lucky enough to be at war with the Spanish at the moment.
* Diplomat Loy W. Henderson embarrassed US President Harry Truman by confusing policies on Israeli independence. As a result he ended up Ambassador to India(which apparently was not a particularly prestigious post for Americans at the time)
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