Intellectuals Are Fucking Idiots

Malcolm Caldwell, a renowned London professor and committed Marxist, traveled to Cambodia in 1978 to meet Pol Pot, whom he believed was finally implementing true communist ideals. However, Caldwell was killed during the trip—three days after arriving—despite being blind to the Khmer Rouge regime's genocide that was claiming roughly 20% of Cambodia's population. The article uses Caldwell's tragic case to illustrate how intellectual conviction and ideological rigidity can cause even highly educated people to ignore obvious reality and make catastrophically poor judgments.