Over the past several years, we have been subjected to one crisis after another, justifying calls for actions and policies that could be categorized as being ‘ just too stupid for words,’ especially given the growing tyranny that is a consequence of such thinking.
People have been instructed to get vaccinated for a non-existent pandemic, to de-industrialize in an effort to cut carbon dioxide emissions, to limit the First Amendment to prevent the polarization of disagreement, to open borders to hordes of ‘undocumented’ immigrants, to attack ICE agents during the performance of their duties, to wear face masks and social distance to prevent the spread of unidentified viruses, to fight climate change in order to protect the environment, and to support the surgical mutilation of those suffering from gender dysphoria. Just to mention a few.
Wide public support for these irrational actions has been referred to as the result of an ’emotional plague’ by Wilhelm Reich, or as ‘mass formation’ by Mattias Desmet, or as ‘suicidal empathy’ and a ‘mind virus’ by Gad Saad, while the growing wave of stupidity dominating today’s zeitgeist has drawn the attention of a similarly growing number of analysts.
But the condition of stupidity is nothing new. In addition to those mentioned thus far, others who have identified and analyzed its presence throughout history and well into modern times also included Deitrich Bonhoeffer, Arthur Schopenhauer, Isabel Paterson, Ayn Rand, and most recently, Bret Weinstein.
What all of them agree on is that the condition of stupidity is not possible to cure through debate or reasoned argument. As it has often been phrased: “You just can’t fix stupid.”
Thus the challenge facing Western culture is how intelligent and rational people should deal with entrenched stupidity. Most importantly, all of these voices have suggested what intelligent people should ‘not’ do when faced with stupidity.
To challenge stupidity in a way that is Just Right would involve focusing more on what fosters intelligence and rationality rather than dwelling on how to avoid the stupidity that so many have chosen in order to avoid thinking.
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