system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Why did Plato despise Democracy?

I understand he thought it would always regress into mob rule, and he held the people of Athens responsible for the death of Socrates. But surely, it was not the fault of Democracy itself, but a poorly educated mass and the rich privileged demagogues who excercised immense power through manipulating them.
gpt
Plato does use the ship / captain analogy in the *Republic* - a criticism of mob rule, wherein all the more aspirational crew members 

>spend all their time milling round the captain and doing all they can to get him to give them the helm.

\- Plato, *Republic*

Another way of considering his distaste for democracy is through his craft analogy, which goes a little something like this:

>Ruling, like medicine, navigation, or even farming, is a skill. A special training is necessary, and not everyone is naturally capable of even acquiring the skill. Just as medicine should be left to the experts, and a medical training given to those most suited, so should ruling, and a training to rule. Any other arrangement will lead to worse results, and consulting the populace will lead to disaster.

\- Jonathan Wolff, *An Introduction to Political Philosophy*, when discussing Plato's views on who should rule.

Plato also lays down where he believes these rulers will come from. He proposes a system of education for 'guardians': people that are trained their entire life to eventually rule. Educated in literacy, music, maths, military and physical education. Philosophy is taught at the age of 30 for five years, followed by 15 years of military service, before a permanent return to the study of philosophy, a repose interrupted only by taking one's turn in the 'weary business of politics'.