The Regime That Killed Anyone Who Wore Glasses

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:00]Did you know that in Cambodia, wearing glasses could get you killed? In 1975, Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge took control. Their mission? Create a perfect farming society. But first, they had to eliminate the educated. Doctors, teachers, anyone who spoke a foreign language. Even wearing glasses marked you as an intellectual, an enemy of the state. Children were turned into executioners. Neighbors reported neighbors. Entire families vanished overnight. Nearly 2 million people died in 4 years. One quarter of Cambodia's population. The killing fields stretched across the countryside. Mass graves filled with skulls that you can still see today. Entire ethnic groups were wiped out. The Vietnamese, the Chinese, anyone deemed impure. And the world, they watched. Cold War politics meant turning a blind eye. Pol Pot's regime fell in 1979, but he never faced justice. He died peacefully in his bed in 1998. No trial. No punishment. Just the ghosts of 2 million victims in a country that still hasn't recovered.