The Petty Chaos Brought About by Diminished Men
As I write this, we are but a day or two away from a possible shutdown of the US government. The reason we are flirting with this stupidity is because of a few people in Congress who still do not play well with others. They simply refuse to share toys. These few really are behaving childishly. The problem is they are definitely not children. They are Congressional Representatives and grown-ass adults.
The problem is not ideological. It is more like an induced stupidity. There have been a couple of different individuals who have addressed the problem of stupidity. The first was a man named Bonhoeffer who was a pastor in pre-war Germany. He lived during the mid 20th century. He was put to death two weeks before the US soldiers liberated Flossenbürg concentration camp. He had been involved with a plot to kill Hitler. His observations concerning stupidity are particularly pertinent in today’s wanna be fascist political dabblings¹.
Perhaps the most profound observation Bonhoeffer made was the following. “This much is certain, stupidity is in essence not an intellectual defect but a moral one. There are human beings who are remarkably agile intellectually, yet stupid, and others who are intellectually dull, yet anything but stupid.”
He went on to say that there is evidence that stupidity is not congenital but rather something we allow to be done to us. He posited that stupidity is hardly a psychological malfunction, but more like a sociological reaction to an increase of power in one sector or another which becomes viral in its effects on swaths of people. It even appears as though the power of the strong man requires energy to be given or surrendered from his followers thus rendering them stupid. It’s as though folks just lose their independent thinking abilities to the imbalance of power. The end effect is that people seem to quasi-consciously surrender their autonomy. Bonhoeffer suggests that someone under the spell of power is trapped until he is liberated, in the real world, of that power. Until that happens, there is no use in poking that bear. You can only frustrate him and he will respond with anger to assuage his frustration. Even common sense is frustrating to him because he knows what common sense is but is powerless, literally, to stop his stupid behavior.
His mental liberation seems to coincide with his physical liberation. Perhaps there’s hope that the MAGA contingent among us will return to something akin to normal should the Great Orange Pumpkin of Mar Lardo be forced into retirement? Hope does spring eternal in us humans, huh?
“Action springs not from thought, but from a readiness for responsibility. The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” — Bonhoeffer
Carlo M. Cipolla wrote Laws of Stupidity in 1976. It is not a long read. In it he divides we humans into four basic categories: stupid people, bandits, helpless people and intelligent people. He defines stupid people as folks who destroy things with a loss and at best no gain for themselves. He defines bandits as people who destroy things at a gain for only themselves. He defines helpless people who don’t destroy things but what they do gains nothing for themselves or anyone else. He defines intelligent people as people who look for situations where the intelligent person wins and those around him win as well.
What got me going on this subject was an interview I saw the other day on The Reidout with Joy Reid. She was talking to John Fetterman² and he said something about the “Freedom Caucus” in the House of Representatives. He said, “This is petty chaos brought about by diminished men.” That triggered the reality of how stupid this dramatic farce really is. The excuse is always about how we can not leave such a huge debt for our children. So someone grandstands to force cuts in things that would harm regular people but not corporate America and certainly not the rich.
This threatened and probably by now threatening government shutdown is not going to win anything for anyone and will be highly destructive. If I think about that for a moment I come to the conclusion that those few Congressmen who are fomenting the shut down are Stupid People. Nothing more and nothing less. I’m not saying they are not educated. I’m saying they are by definition, stupid. They are committed to doing something that will not benefit them in any way and will cause hardship on other people. Why? Because they have surrendered autonomy to the Orange One. And until they are liberated from him they will continue as they are.
There are always many more stupid people that you can ever imagine.
“Facts that contradict a stupid person’s prejudgment simply need not be believed and when they are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this, the stupid person is self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.” — Bonhoeffer
Pre-World War II Germany was somehow comparable to post-World War II New York. During the beatnik phase of The Village musicians, poets, novelists, artists, actors and numerous other versions of autonomous thought thrived. During the Nazi epoch of German history those same musicians, poets, novelists, artists, actors and such became criminals just to survive. They apparently did not have the sufficient moral fortitude to remove the surge in power that the Nazis brought about. It should be noted here that as much power as the Nazis appeared to energize from their devotees it burned all of them in the end because their objective was to destroy. They didn’t notice they could not gain anything with that wonton level of destruction.
That’s one of the most dangerous aspects of stupidity. Stupid people do not realize they are stupid. It isn’t possible to apply critical thinking to a mind that has surrendered autonomy to a powerful rise in power. The crazy part is the fifth element is duty bound to focus on the car wreck of stupidity because people will buy drama.
This would all be something we could simply ignore if it were not for the fact that stupidity explains the actions of the “Freedom Caucus Boys” working to shut down the government and shamelessly surrendering their autonomy to some flim-flam man from the big city who has committed a massive fraud in that very city. No wonder he ran off to Florida.
At long last I can get to the point. Does anyone think that Matt Gaetz or Marjory or Lauren have any idea they are stupid or that they have surrendered their autonomy to a power mad who never developed his own autonomy and mindlessly pursues the dictates of a father which no longer exists? I don’t know if folks like Matt and Marjory and Lauren can live with autonomy. I know that Lauren is challenged with autonomy and I know that Matt has not always chosen his wing men judiciously. I know that Marjory is challenged by reality itself. She does have a rich inner experience, no doubt but that apparently does not support autonomy for the poor thing.
I can’t speak for anyone else but for me the world that anti-autonomy forces aligned in the “Freedom Caucus” and Republican Liars Club propose do not seem appealing to me. Therefore I’m willing to demonstrate that I am ready for the responsibility of liberating people to leave a world of value for all our children.
References
1. Maddow, R. (2022, October 27). Fetterman post-debate exclusive: I will be much, much better in Jan. but Oz will still be a fraud. Retrieved September 29, 2023, from https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/john-fetterman-says-he-will-be-much-better-in-january-but-dr-oz-will-still-be-a-fraud-in-post-debate-exclusive-151759941518
2. Thomson, J. (2023, January 26). Bonhoeffer’s “theory of stupidity”: We have more to fear from stupid people than evil ones. Big Think. Retrieved September 29, 2023, from https://bigthink.com/thinking/bonhoeffers-theory-stupidity-evil/
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