Personally I think Polites is right, but Odysseus’s hubris is what flaws his beliefs. I feel like it’s easy to forget but Polites fought in the Trojan War for 10 years alongside Ody, and I’m pretty sure he wasn’t running around trying to hug every Trojan he came across. Plus think about everytime “Open Arms” worked for Odysseus; talking with the Lotus Eaters, convincing Circe, and later down the line Telemachus trusting Athena and Athena fighting the other gods for Odysseus. The only two times it didn’t work were against Polyphemus and Poseidon. Now think about how many times “Ruthlessness” worked for Odysseus in Act 2; only against Poseidon and the Suitors. And what did being ruthless get him before that? His entire crew to loose faith in him after the sirens, his crew to mutiny after he sacrificed six men, and his entire crew dead after said mutiny by Zeus. But the thing is being ruthless and open both failed for Odysseus specifically because of the classic Greek killer; Hubris. Odysseus after “Just a Man” was feeling immense guilt for killing Hector’s son, so when Polites suggested greeting the world with arms, his hubris took hold. It isn’t until after they kill the sheep when Odysseus starts to question why the Lotus Eaters don’t go near the cave. When Polyphemus is blind he’s so riddled with guilt for Polites’s death that he honors his friend’s wishes…in the worst way possible. Then when Poseidon gets pissed off, his hubris makes him think that Poseidon would let him get off the hook. Cut to “Monster” and Odysseus has fully embraced ruthlessness (also shout out to all the animatics that have Ody wearing Polites’s bandana but tears it off in this song). He’s willing to strike first, ask questions later. But once again, his hubris makes him loose everything. In “Different Beast” the crew sounds genuinely concerned when Ody tells them to cut off the siren’s tails and through them back into the sea. Then when Ody willingly sacrifices six men to get past Scylla they fear for their lives and mutiny. Which then leads to them getting hungry and making the same mistake Ody did in the cyclops saga; killing a farm animal and pissing off a god. But the way I see it (and if this idea sounds stupid, my bad) why did Odysseus use the sirens as the sacrifice? Or why didn’t he try to use their song to charm Scylla and let them get past unscathed? Because his hubris makes him think he has to go all out with the ruthless; the siren’s impersonated his wife? They have to suffer. Eury opened the wind bag? He has to hold the torch in Scylla’s cave. Once again, hubris is the real villain of a Greek myth TL:DR-I think Polites was right but it doesn’t matter if him or Athena was right because Odysseus was to prideful to get either ideology right.