The greatest threat to humanity might be the ability to believe anything?

This is because a nation can recover from a bad leader.

We can fight a war and take down a Hitler.

Tax rates can be changed. Buildings can be rebuilt.

Most nations can vote incompetent and miserable people out of office.

But what can be done when the entire population of a nation, or dozens of nations, or – heaven forbid – all nation, follows a lie?

Forget an evil leader, what recourse is there when all of the people are evil too?

I am resisting an urge to point out an example of this.

But you can fill in the holes with what you will…

WITH ALL WE now know, does anyone believe that telling the truth will solve all a nation’s problems? Of course not. But it is a beginning. In fact, speaking truth should be the least we require of our elected leaders! After all, what are our standards for being led? You see, the danger to America is not a single politician with ill intent. Or even a group of them. The most dangerous thing any nation faces is a citizenry capable of trusting a liar to lead them. In the long run, it is much easier to undo the policies of crooked leadership than to restore common sense and wisdom to a deceived population willing to elect such a leader in the first place. Any country can survive having chosen a fool as their leader. But history has shown time and again that a nation of fools is surely doomed.

-Andy Andrews, How Do You Kill 11 Million People?

As ridiculous as that title looks and sounds, I found out, in the book below, how to kill a couple million people.

This takes the point of view of the Nazis in WWII, and simply asks the obvious question:

How were so relatively few people able to kill so many?

In reality, this same question could be applied to Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot.

The answer is to lie.

Don’t be fooled though – nothing is done all at once.

It is a gentle push, closer and closer to the point of no return.

• Do X, because it will be better for you.
• Do Y, so we can protect you.
• Do Z, so that we can fix all of this.
• And now you are exactly where you need to be for us to finish.

This point has implications for people who live everywhere.

For you are being lied to right now.

The tactic is the same, the goal is just a little bit more pernicious.

The answer is breathtakingly simple. And it is a method still being used by some elected leaders to achieve various goals today. How do you kill eleven million people? Lie to them.

-Andy Andrews, How Do You Kill 11 Million People?