Was Plato an asshat?

What kind of philosopher banishes poets and artists.

Plato declared that his ideal republic was to have no poets and no artists because they can move people through emotion and passion without a skerrick of logic. Plato considered them dangerous beyond words.

Except those who could extol the virtues of courage in battle, honor in war. Poets and artists as propagandists for the city-state were just fine in Plato’s mind.

It was those freewheeling poets and artists who defied reason that were the problem.

Freewheeling poets and artists like you.