As I look around and see what's going on in the world, but especially, my country, I can't help but to think of Diedrich Bonhoeffer and some of his books I've read.
His Theory on Stupidity has really stuck with me.
I believe that theory and Gad Sad's book on Suicidal Empathy may be the most important writings that "we" can have if we want to maintain our "way of life".
I say this in being all for inclusivity and diversity, but when that diverse group is squarely different in its ideals than what "our" ideals are, it's a problem.
And yet, I see many of my friends that are on The Left, who are empathizing with groups of people who are directly against them.
The "useful idiots" is a real thing, alluded to by George Orwell in his book 1984, but it's not who "they" think it is.
It isn't the people they think because they are usefully idiotic empathizing suicidally for groups that want them...dead.
And as a Christian who believes in loving your neighbor, at what point did Bonhoeffer, as a pastor, go from loving his Nazi neighbors, to trying to assassinated Adolph Hitler?
How could he justify that?
Below is the ideas of the Theory of Stupidity taken straight off the Internet.
- Evil can be fought: Society can recognize evil, expose it, and stop it with force.
- Stupidity is defenseless: Logic and facts do not work against a stupid person. Facts that do not fit their view are ignored or dismissed.
- Stupidity becomes violent: When cornered by facts, the stupid person feels irritated and becomes dangerous, often going on the attack.
- Smart people can be stupid: Bonhoeffer noted that people with high intelligence can still fall into stupidity.
- It is a choice to surrender freedom: Stupidity happens when a person gives up their inner independence and critical thinking.
- People speak in slogans: When you talk to a stupid person, you do not feel like you are talking to a real individual. You feel like you are listening to slogans, catchwords, and scripts that have taken over their mind.
- Groups create stupidity: People alone in solitude are rarely stupid. Stupidity happens in groups.
- Power needs stupidity: Bonhoeffer stated that the rise of overwhelming political or religious power requires the stupidity of the crowd. As he wrote: "The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other."
- Responsibility fades: When people join a crowd or obey power, they stop feeling responsible for their own actions.
- Arguments do not work: Trying to use reasons to change a stupid person’s mind is useless and dangerous.
- Only liberation helps: Bonhoeffer believed that instruction cannot cure stupidity. It requires an act of real liberation.
- External freedom must come first: Internal liberation usually only happens after the external system of power or peer pressure is broken.
.jpeg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
