FM> KK> Back when Iran had some hostage of ours, I talked to some perfectly
FM> KK> sane, reasonable people who felt that we should reply by dropping an
FM> KK> atom bomb on Iran.
FM> KK> I would like to imagine that if the average American actually got his
FM> KK> hands on the big machine, he would quickly grasp the incredible
FM> KK> difficulties and responsibilities, and would quickly get over ideas 
like
FM> KK> At some level I prefer [politicians] to philospher-kings; after all, 
Pla
FM> KK> _Republic_ is essentially a fascist system.  How romantic to get
FM>   No question but that the sending of the current "corrupt" society into
FM>oblivion to make way for the training of the philosopher-kings resembles 
our
FM>moderm fascistic ideologies and I guess it shouldn't be sugar-coated but 
the
FM>apologists for Plato say that he was only demonstrating that the desired
FM>platform COULD be erected and was not impossible.  Moreover, Keith, it 
should
FM>always be kept in mind that Plato was NOT a modern ideologist.  Even when
FM>democracy ran rampant the lot of the masses wasn't THAT wonderful and if 
one
FM>sees as clearly as Plato saw the coming destruction of the polis either by
FM>some future Xerxes or Alexander the Great then drastic measures might be
FM>called for even though Plato himself had made the decision not to be 
involved
FM>in the actually affairs of State.
My reading of the 'democracy' in Athens is pretty superficial, but
several times I got the impression that it was the people who kept
pushing Athens into one disastrous war after another.  If this
is so, I dunno if it was out of an obsession with honor or glory
or tribal hatred or whatever.  But someone like Plato could have
made himself handy by getting up and saying "Look, you idiots,
this isn't the goddam Super Bowl, and it may involve the killing of
a lot of people, like Athenian people for example, and might I encourage
you all to meditate upon that ancient Greek word Hubris, etc."  
"The people" are prone to making horrible mistakes, but these are
of the preprogrammed mammalian kind, so their masters are just as
prone to making those mistakes.  And in many ways the people are
smarter than their masters want them to be.  You cannot rule
people without presupposing that they are incapable of ruling
themselves.  Any modern Platonic Republic would instantly become
an aristocracy/oligarchy of the privileged, with the additional
advantage of a seeming historical justification.
 * SLMR 2.1a *  Did that gesture mean your team is number one?
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