# Is Smapti Serious?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [January 16, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666 "2012-01-16T04:20:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/1 "2012-01-16T04:20:43Z")
I haven’t known Smapti until this post in IMHO, but it literally had my eyeballs popping out of my sockets:
> [@](#):
>
> All children should be confiscated from their parents at birth and raised in group homes as wards of the state until 16. No child should ever be permitted to know who their biological relatives are.
>
> The inheritance tax should be set at 100%.
>
> All churches and religious organizations should be made illegal and shut down. (Since the state homes for children will not teach religion, this should be accomplished easily.)
>
> Elected officials shall be sworn at the beginning of their term to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and should be charged with perjury if they are dishonest. The penalties for perjury, bribery, or malfeasance of office shall be death. Executions shall be bloody and held in public and on live TV.
>
> Private ownership of land or buildings should be illegal.
If this guy is actually serious, Smapti advocated an insane totalitarian society paralleled only by certain insane theorists and Pol Pot in the complete regimenting of society and the destruction of the family, the oldest human collective. This is an already liberal forum and even here Der Trihs, and posters of his type (ie Condesending Robot, Naxos etc.) are considered extreme. But such a post as above can come only from someone who is a mental alien to human civilization and all standards of normalcy and decency.
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### Author:  [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/2 "2012-01-16T04:22:16Z")
I fully believe he is serious. I think what he is advocating is a _highly emotional_ response to the problems he perceives with conventional government, and not a logical and thought-out ideology.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/3 "2012-01-16T04:24:02Z")
[Thread in question](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=638634). Post #28
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/4 "2012-01-16T05:11:00Z")
Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, except for the impractical and unrealistic aspects of it.
I would reword it as follows to be less offending:
> [@](#):
>
> All children should be from their parents at birth and raised in homes until 16.
>
> The inheritance tax should be set.
>
> All churches and religious organizations should be made.
>
> Elected officials shall be sworn at the beginning of their term. The penalties for perjury, bribery, or malfeasance of office shall be public and on live TV.
>
> Private ownership of land or buildings.
See? It’s not so bad after a little editing.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/5 "2012-01-16T05:13:20Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Elected officials shall be sworn at.
Or even a little more.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/6 "2012-01-16T05:14:53Z")
So, your eyeballs _literally_ popped out of your sockets, eh? Did you have to shove them back in there? That would be extremely painful, I imagine - my sympathies.
There is a place in the world for people advocating extreme philosophies - it gets people thinking and discussing, and maybe shaken out of their complacency at status quo.
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### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/7 "2012-01-16T05:24:21Z")
Actually, far from being extreme, the idea of 100% inheritance tax and raising all children in state homes with no knowledge of their parents is probably the only way to create a society with an absolute level playing field of equal opportunity for everyone. Baring extraterrestial conquest, I don’t see it happening however.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/8 "2012-01-16T06:32:52Z")
Actually, that’s not true: children raised in group homes will simply transfer all of their love and loyalty to their homes. That loyalty will not end when they reach 16, either - alumni will continue to provide their homes with financial support, job opportunities, and if needed, armed fighters. Invariably, the graduates of some homes will become more successful than the graduates of others, and a child’s opportunities in life will be largely determined according to the identity of the home they were randomly assigned to at birth.
You can’t suppress human tribalism. It’s hardwired at the genetic level.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/9 "2012-01-16T06:34:21Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#):
>
> Is Smapti Serious?
Then there is the possibility that he’s fucking with you. I didn’t need to click the link. I immediately assumed he was either fucking with us or insane. The latter is to be ignored, like everybody else will. The former is to be encouraged for our own entertainment. Honestly, has nobody tried the “Lighten up, Francis,” line on you?
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### Author:  [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/10 "2012-01-16T06:35:31Z")
For some reason Alessan’s post is making me want to read _Diamond Age_…
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/11 "2012-01-16T06:41:00Z")
Damn. I knew I stole that from somewhere.
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### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/12 "2012-01-16T06:58:46Z")
> [@Alessan](#):
>
> Actually, that’s not true: children raised in group homes will simply transfer all of their love and loyalty to their homes. That loyalty will not end when they reach 16, either - alumni will continue to provide their homes with financial support, job opportunities, and if needed, armed fighters. Invariably, the graduates of some homes will become more successful than the graduates of others, and a child’s opportunities in life will be largely determined according to the identity of the home they were randomly assigned to at birth.
>
> You can’t suppress human tribalism. It’s hardwired at the genetic level.
If the children changed homes often enough and no group of children were allowed to have the same group of peers for more than a few months, it would be rather difficult for them to form bonds to any particular group. And the type of group homes I am imagining would be more like large, institutional orphanages. Furthermore, alumni could be legally barred to from providing financial support, job opportuntiies, etc. to their institution. at the rate I see people defying the mores of their families and cutting off or abandoning their relatives to achieve their own happiness, I am far from agreeing that tribalism is hardwired into us.
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### Author:  [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/13 "2012-01-16T07:00:01Z")
It’s hard to definitely say tribalism is hardwired into us - have we ever really tried anything else?
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### Author:  [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/14 "2012-01-16T07:05:56Z")
All children should be confiscated from their parents at birth and raised in group homes as wards of the state until 16. No child should ever be permitted to know who their biological relatives are
In other words, treat all children like adoptees.
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/15 "2012-01-16T07:08:17Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#):
>
> Or even a little more.
😛
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/16 "2012-01-16T07:10:57Z")
But he left out the part where we all wear loinclothes and yell _ **"SPARTA!"** _
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/17 "2012-01-16T07:20:13Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#):
>
> I am far from agreeing that tribalism is hardwired into us.
Of course you don’t. You’re a sociopath.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/18 "2012-01-16T07:22:40Z")
> [@ZPG\_Zealot](#):
>
> Actually, far from being extreme, the idea of 100% inheritance tax and raising all children in state homes with no knowledge of their parents is probably the only way to create a society with an absolute level playing field of equal opportunity for everyone.
I doubt that, since it would also be a society with a large perhaps a majority percentage of emotionally stunted or traumatized people, people whose childhood involved massive ongoing neglect & abuse; predators, psychopaths & victims. You’d end up with a society composed of people who have never known any kindness or compassion, who think entirely in terms of predator and prey.
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### Author:  [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/19 "2012-01-16T07:27:03Z")
Well, “kinda crazy” might be the American interpretation, but we stopped locking up our sociopaths during the Reagan years.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [January 16, 2012, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-smapti-serious/609666/20 "2012-01-16T08:23:30Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> I doubt that, since it would also be a society with a large perhaps a majority percentage of emotionally stunted or traumatized people, people whose childhood involved massive ongoing neglect & abuse; predators, psychopaths & victims. You’d end up with a society composed of people who have never known any kindness or compassion, who think entirely in terms of predator and prey.
So… a society of **ZPG Zealot** s then?
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