this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
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Rest In Power, Michael Brooks.
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There probably is a reasonable argument to be made about it being very difficult to make reasonable democratic decisions if a person can't read and therefore can't seek information and views outside their immediate social circle.
Of course, also not surprising that some people would interpret that as "Afghans stupid."
Yeah, there are ways to mitigate the problem but widespread illiteracy is probably one of the factors that contribute to liberal democracy along the American model being an absolute shitshow when imposed in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.
Not that American style democracy isn't also a shitshow in America, of course.
But then you'd have to elect one of the 30% of people who can read.
Not the case. I worked a while ago with a couple of comrades who weren't able to comprehend the texts we had to tackle in our union work and what they do might interest you. They did speak with people about it and were often better informed than those who read the texts but thought they understood them.
you see that with foreign workers the ones who can speak english have outsised status and influence among the others