I don't think I quite see how involving the community as a whole in the moral and ethical education of individuals is any sort of averaging out. The entire aim of such an exercise is to advance the morality of the entire group. There is no disadvantage. What's to average? The discomfort of the punished, I suppose, but that's a practical consideration, not really a moral one. It's unquestionably justified. We do have an obligation to oversee the moral growth of all of our people. We have an obligation to do so with the best interests of the whole at heart. That role can be performed badly, of course, by the corrupt or self-interested or misguided etc. etc. But I hardly see it as a question.
Yes, of course. I'm a benign dictator by trade. Hello.