Why don't they pass a constitutional amendment prohibiting anybody from learning anything? If it works as well as prohibition did, in five years Americans would be the smartest race of people on Earth.

Summary

This quote seems to employ irony to criticize the ineffectiveness of prohibition. By suggesting an absurd idea of banning learning, the quote juxtaposes it with the failure of prohibition in the past. The underlying sarcasm implies that if such a prohibition were implemented, people would rebel against it and actually become more knowledgeable. Essentially, the quote satirizes the notion that prohibiting something can actually lead to the opposite effect, as it did with the prohibition of alcohol in the United States during the 1920s.

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