@annatar1914
annatar1914 wrote:If I remember correctly, Plato's Socrates was speaking about the story of King Gyges of Lydia and his magic ring of invisibility, how Gyges became worse as he went on, with a ring that gave him absolute impunity to do whatever he wished, when invisible.
That's interesting and an analogy can be drawn to the Standford Prison Experiment and what you mentioned above in your post given how the guards became worse as they went on. It's amazing how insightful the ancient philosophers were in their time and how much of what they taught then still very much applies today. Another thing was that Plato was wary of democracy. So, the birth place of democracy, namely Greece, was also very wary of democracy. The reason is because an uneducated mob could easily be manipulated by a demagogue and tyranny and oppression can come from democracy (case in point, Trump again).
Plato felt that only well educated and well informed people should be allowed to vote and not just any Tom, Dick or Harry off the street who might not be well educated and informed. It would be like taking a brick layer who only knew how to lay a brick and suddenly making him a surgeon conducting the surgery of somebody in great medical need. The brick layer is not qualified to be a medical surgeon and would probably end up killing the poor fellow he is operating on given he is not qualified to be a surgeon. Same concept with just taking any Tom, Dick or Harry off the street and allowing them to vote without making sure they meet the qualifications to be a wise voter who will choose the best person to govern for the greatest benefit for the common good of society.
So, the case can be made, that in order for democracy to succeed we MUST HAVE A VERY WELL EDUCATED POPULACE. If only a small segment of the population is well educated, it does no good, because then it makes the rest of the population who are not well educated susceptible to manipulation and to not vote for the person best qualified to govern. So, I think Plato was right. For democracy to succeed, ALL the population must be well educated (and not just a small portion of the population). So, part of fixing our democracy here in the U.S. is strengthening our education system to ensure that ALL members of the public are very well educated and can make better decisions in choosing who is qualified to govern for the common good. The problem, is that we only have a small segment of the population that is well educated here in the U.S. A key component to safeguarding democracy is ensure access to a top notch education to the poorest segments of society and ensuring everybody is well educated so they can vote more responsibly.
You have to consider, Nazi Germany came from the ashes of a democracy. I also think economics can play a role in the rise of tyranny and the destruction of democracy as well as an ill informed and not well educated populace. Another thing to consider in the context of the Stanford Prison Experiment is the Abu Grahib Prison Scandal that took place during the Iraq War. You can see the parallels between the Abu Grahib Prison Scandal and the Stanford Prison Experiment as if the Stanford Prison Experiment of the 1970s had predicted the result of what happened in the Abu Grahib Prison Scandal during the Iraq War.
"I need ammunition, not a ride!" -Volodymyr Zelenskyy