re: #459 LudwigVanQuixote

A democracy is only as good as its electorate.

If that’s the case, then (from a utilitarian perspective) the best thing you could do for a nation is to go all the way and rip the band-aid off. In a single generation, kill all the stupid people. Have all of the smart people who are committed to the nation’s future build death camps for those who are stuck in entrenched, outmoded thinking. Take their kids and educate them extensively.

Yes, it would be horrible - I’m basically talking about self-genocide here - but in say, 40 years the benefits to society of no longer having a bunch of morons running around would be incredible. And once your generation passed, there’d be nobody left to blame. In the long run, if your thesis is correct, then such an act would lead to a massively more enlightened society, which could then continue to reap the benefits of that unfortunate episode for the foreseeable future.

Thing is, Pol Pot already tried that. He put exactly that theory to a critical test in practice. Didn’t work.