Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Hypothetically speaking, if one had access to a time machine and were to kill some of the most evil pieces of **** know to man such as Hitler, Stalin, Muhammad, Mao, Pol Pot, etc. as infants, would it be better overall for humanity, or do you think it is quite possible someone even worse than the aforementioned could eventually take power and be even more evil/destructive/megalomaniac than they were?
It would probably make no difference in most cases. Brutal people rise to the top because either (1) there is an actual threat to the society that makes brutality attractive or expedient, or (2) there is an appetite for brutality in that society. Neither scenario would be solved by offing individuals who fate tosses onto the top of the heap.
It's a little more complicated when the person is both brutal and crazy, such as Hitler. Someone who didn't mind violence but didn't have his psychological make-up might have made better choices than he did. But that's not at all clear.
The world would definitely be a better place had Muhammad been murdered as an infant. The others were brutal dictator types and it's difficult to say whether another equally brutal person would fill their voids or not in their absence.
It would probably make no difference in most cases. Brutal people rise to the top because either (1) there is an actual threat to the society that makes brutality attractive or expedient, or (2) there is an appetite for brutality in that society. Neither scenario would be solved by offing individuals who fate tosses onto the top of the heap.
It's a little more complicated when the person is both brutal and crazy, such as Hitler. Someone who didn't mind violence but didn't have his psychological make-up might have made better choices than he did. But that's not at all clear.
You beat me to it. Someone just as brutal would have risen to power in their place. You'd have to keep going back and killing the new brutal monarch.
Hypothetically speaking, if one had access to a time machine and were to kill some of the most evil pieces of **** know to man such as Hitler, Stalin, Muhammad, Mao, Pol Pot, etc. as infants, would it be better overall for humanity, or do you think it is quite possible someone even worse than the aforementioned could eventually take power and be even more evil/destructive/megalomaniac than they were?
To answer your scenario one must ask themself if we no longer have people like this because history existed and people learn from the damage that was allowed to ahve done.
Say for example we got rid of Hitler and Stalin.. Would this simply mean that some other individual would have been able to do similar acts say in the 1970's?
People learn from history, get rid of history and there isnt anything to learn from and what did happen, might happen again.
The fact that evil tyrants have existed since the dawn of known history means that killing one will not stop evil.
The problem is evil itself, not the body of the person we attach to it. The world has myriad people in it who are as evil as those people. You cannot kill evil by killing famous evil people.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Someone just as brutal would have risen to power in their place. You'd have to keep going back and killing the new brutal monarch.
