There is only one good, knowledge, and one evil, ignorance. Socrates
Trump, Russia, MAGA, the GOP, and Cipolla’s 5 laws of human stupidity
“Action springs not from thought but from a readiness of responsibility the ultimate test of a moral society is the world that it leaves behind to its children.” Bonhoeffer
I will be honest with you. The past couple of months have been painful. For a supporter of Ukraine and for a supporter of a free, tolerant, and democratic society.
However, it was not Russia, which was causing me pain. They are our enemies, and they act accordingly
Malice is less hard to deal with than stupidity and moral bankruptcy. The stupidity of MAGA and their “dictator, but only on day one” Donald Trump. The blindness of those who follow him is painful to watch even from afar.
This situation is also incredibly dangerous. Ivanka Trump says her husband had Hitler speeches beside his bed. That might explain his disgusting “poisoning our blood” statement.
His lackeys in Congress block Ukraine aid and support Russia’s genocidal war
Trump’s cultists applaud him for most of his utterances. Trump talks like a fascist because it works. That begs the question: Why does this work so well? How could we end up here?
The ideas on human stupidity by Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Carlo Cipolla offer an explanation why Trump supporters believe the lies of this hate filled orange con man. Spoiler alert: You won’t like the answer.
The word “courage” should be reserved to characterize the man or woman, who is leaving the infantile sanctuary of the mass mind. Sam Keen Fire in the Belly
Cipolla’s book describes four broad categories of people: We can represent them on a y and x on a graph
- Helpless stupid people (naive)
These are easily exploitable for the benefit of others. Helpless people suffer individual losses, which they readily accept. (lose-win )
2. Intelligent people
These people aim for reciprocity. With this behavior, two people or groups of people give each other help and advantages. (win — win)
That means there are benefits to others and individual benefits. One side usually benefits a bit more than the other.
3. Stupid people (the worst kind of stupid individuals)
These people or groups of people take individual losses, and they also cause losses to others. (lose — lose)
4. Bandits (They can but don’t have to be highly intelligent. Bandits lack high ethics and moral vigor)
Bandits will reap individual benefits, and they will cause losses for others to maximize their own profits. (win-lose)
To summarize this first part, the two broad categories of human behavior are:
- Behavior that affects one self either positively or negatively .
- Behavior that affects others either positively or negatively.
There is a zero line in the middle of the graph : Ineffective people.
This means these people achieve no effect. Neither benefits or damage themselves or for others.
The range of these actions and their effects can vary widely across categories. Let’s have a look at the five laws of human stupidity.
Law 1
It is a sad fact that, always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
Statistically, 15 percent of the human population has an IQ of 87 or less, and half of them have an IQ of 100 or less, but IQ is not at the root of the problem.
Stupidity is a moral and not an intellectual defect
Stupid people surface in all shapes and forms. You can have an IQ of 200 and act stupid. Elon Musk and his X messages on Ukraine would be a perfect example.
“Never confuse education with intelligence. You can have a PHD and still be an idiot.” Richard Feynmann
Cipolla states that any numerical assumption would be underestimating how many stupid people are out there.
Law 2
The probability that a certain person is stupid is completely independent of any other characteristic in that person.
Cipolla considered stupidity to be a trait. Like green eyes or brown hair. Your words and actions can be stupid regardless of your profession or your education. These other factors don’t matter. Stupid people are everywhere, so you better get used to it.
"Whether one frequents elegant circles or takes refuge among cannibals whether they lock themselves up in a Monastery or decides to spend his life with a beautiful partner they will always have to deal with the same percentage of stupid people." Carlo Cipolla
In his pessimistic view, reasonable people are doomed to deal with stupidity. There is no escape. Reasonable men have to live with this. I am an optimist, but the older I get, the more I agree with Carlo.
Law 3 (the golden law)
Stupid people will inevitably make decisions that will confuse us. Their reasoning behind their decisions often escapes us. They will make decisions that are bad for themselves and bad for others.
These stupid people belong to the genus of the super stupid.
One such super stupid thing was going on a 3 week holiday recess instead of finding a compromise on Ukraine aid. The decision to not support Ukraine is both bad for Ukraine and for others. This recess is another questionable decision.
Law 4
Non stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. This means stupid people are deadly dangerous. Reasonable people find it difficult to imagine and understand their behavior.
Stupid people's attacks catch reasonable people by surprise. This makes it difficult to mount a defense. Their attacks are unpredictable
That makes all of us vulnerable. The non stupid people are always at the mercy of the stupid people. Intelligent people think the stupid can only hurt themselves. This makes the intelligent people open to taking severe damage by their erratic actions.
These illogical, unreasonable actions can not be predicted. This puts you at their mercy.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” Albert Einstein
Law 5
Stupid people are the most dangerous type of people.
Intelligent people, no matter how intelligent they may be, are predictable. This makes the bandit less dangerous than the stupid person. Stupid people are completely unpredictable.
Bandits will do things that benefit them at your expense. The stupid person might hurt himself in the process of causing you a massive loss.
One great example of bandit behavior is the case of Maria Butina
Maria Butina is a current member of the Russian parliament who was jailed in the US for a brief period for acting as an unregistered foreign agent (spy). While she was in the US, she was funneling Russian money to the NRA who would then give it to Republican lawmakers.
She got an incredibly generous plea deal, went to jail for 6 months, went back to Russia and is now a member of the Russian parliament. Her husband went to jail and was then pardoned by Trump.
Ms. Butina cooperated with several other bandits to maximize her own profit. Well played, well played.
These 5 laws can be combined with Bonhoeffer’s theory of stupidity and with the Dunning Krueger effect
Their cognitive bias leads to people overestimating their own abilities. That’s why stupid people often think they are smart.
The Dunning Krueger effect states that stupid people overestimate their skills. Intelligent people underestimate their skills. They think a specific problem was easy to solve for them. Therefore, it must be easy to solve for others.
The two areas are:
Confidence (low to high)
Knowledge in the field (low and high)
Individuals with no knowledge and a lot of confidence, of which stupid people usually have a lot, think they know everything (for a lack of knowledge about the complexity of any issue).
- Once their knowledge increases, people tend to realize that there is more to this complex issue than they thought. (knowledge goes up, confidence goes down)
- “I am never going to understand this.” (confidence goes down)
- It starts to make sense. (confidence recovers)
- Trust me, this is complicated. (confidence goes up, and knowledge in the field has massively increased)
“I know that I know nothing.” Sokrates
Trump says something about any subject. He is convinced that he is right. Another example is Marjorie “traitor” Greene. She often reposts Russian propaganda talking points.
True ignorance is not the lack of knowledge but the refusal to acquire it. Popper
“With Zelenskyy in town and Ukraine money running dry, why doesn’t anyone in Washington talk about a peace treaty with Russia?? A deal with Putin promising he will not continue any further invasions. Answer: Washington wants war, not peace. Isn’t that awful?! I’m still a NO.” Marjorie Greene on X
This appeasement talk is 1:1 in line with the position of the Kremlin.
Another great example of super stupid behavior comes to us from the frontlines in Ukraine
Russian troops are being blown up there by their own minefields. My theory is that most of those who physically laid the mines and those directly overseeing the process are all dead.
In my opinion, it’s doubtful that they did any documentation at all. If Russia did, then it is likely largely incomplete, completely incoherent drunken markings on scattered soviet maps, or maybe the notes were completely incinerated along with the personnel.
In the past month, the 810th Marine Infantry Brigade of the Russian Federation has lost approximately 50 soldiers due to detonations on their own mines.
The documents were either classified or never written down in the first place
This action was super stupid. The failure in documentation causes damage to them and others.
Lastly, let’s have a look at Bonhoeffer’s theory on morality and stupidity.
“As soon as fear, hatred, jealousy and power worship are involved, the sense of reality becomes unhinged” George Orwell, “Notes on Nationalism,” 1945
Bonhoeffer was a German pastor. He got killed by the Nazis. In prison, he wondered about how the German people could be turned into a collective of cowards, crooks, and criminals.
He saw the root of the problem not in malice but in stupidity. He says that stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice.
Malice and evil can be exposed, protested against and prevented by the use of force. We cannot fight stupidity. Both Bonhoeffer and Cipolla say that we are defenseless against it.
We can neither protest against stupidity nor will the use of force accomplish anything. Our appeal to reason will fall on deaf ears
Facts that don’t fit into the stupid person’s world view and their pre judgement are simply not believed. When these facts are irrefutable, then they are pushed aside as either inconsequential, incidental, or irrelevant.
The stupid person is easily irritated and self-satisfied. When confronted with his words and actions, the stupid person goes on the attack. This makes them more dangerous than a malicious one.
Stupidity is not an intellectual defect but a moral one
There are people who are remarkably intellectually agile and yet stupid. Then there are those who are intellectually dull and anything but stupid.
From these observations, stupidity isn’t a congenital defect. Under specific circumstances, people are made stupid. Or rather, they let it happen to them
Bonhoeffer states that it appears almost as a sociopsychological law. Any major upsurge in religious or political power seems to infect a large part of the world’s population with stupidity.
Therefore, stupidity is less of a psychological than a sociological problem.
Stupidity affects groups more than people in solitude. Nietzsche once said. “the clever are not so much looking for loneliness, as for avoiding the fuss that fools make.”
The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other
Stupidity massively impacts human beings. It deprives them of their inner independence. They give up their autonomous position. The stupid person is often stubborn, which shouldn’t blind us from the fact that he is not independent.
In a conversation, one gets the feeling that we aren’t dealing with him as a person. Rather with slogans and catch words that took possession of the person.
“The individual must not merely wait and criticize, he must defend the cause the best he can. The fate of the world will be such as the world deserves.” Einstein
These people are under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused for the purposes of someone else
In this state of being a mindless tool, stupid people are very capable of doing evil themselves while being incapable of understanding the evil that they commit.
Only an active liberation, not instruction, can overcome this state. Genuine internal liberation can only work after external liberation has preceded it. Until then, we must abandon all attempts to convince the stupid person.
Individuals confirm the system, fulfill the system, make the system, and are the system. Havel
This moral depravity gets people of the MAGA faction to mindlessly agree with Trump who’s parroting Hitler. Havel once said, “in the totalitarian system everyone, in his or her own way, is both a victim and a supporter of the system.” All MAGA politicians are co-responsible and guilty by association. They enable and confirm Trump’s fascist behavior.
Summary and conclusion
Solzenitsin once said that “a single individual speaking the truth can bring down a tyranny. Sadly, this won’t be enough. We suffer from an overproduction of truth.
The wall of ignorance is thicker than ever before. Dictators control the masses through ignorance, stupidity, malice, apathy, and fear.
Throughout history, there has always only been a small group of forward-looking innovators responsible for human progress as opposed to the backward looking masses
These masses display hyper-conformity. They manipulated by MAGA’s lies and their fear peddlers. These people want to be part of something larger than themselves, but that larger thing is evil.
Trumps' followers are incapable of realizing “the big lie” told to them by the man who has Hitler’s speeches on his night shelf
The MAGA politicians are a bunch of crooks, cowards, criminals, liars, and traitors. However, they won’t stop their treason without being confronted.
The rules based system and its organs (legislative, executive, judicative) must put an end to this madness
For me Popper’s paradox of tolerance is a call to action. The tolerant must protect the free democratic society and its minority groups from the intolerant and the dictatorship of the minority view.
The situation is dire. Please do not despair
There are billions of people out there who don’t want such a world. Sadly, the silent majority doesn’t make itself heard. The enemies of democracy must hear our voice loud and clear. NO. That’s what we must tell to these cowards.
We can’t give up striving for a moral open society. A society that gives the old security, the young a future, and their parents a place to work
By promising these things, brutes have risen to power. We must strive for a green future without war.
Dictators lie. They can’t fulfill these promises, and they never will
We won’t let them succeed. Hope is kindled. We will fight for that glorious future. It belongs to you and me to all of us. Life will triumph over death. Love will triumph over hate. Martin Luther King said: “The moral arc of the universe slowly tilts towards justice.”
Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people!
“The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people.
And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work that will give youth a future and old age a security. In the name of democracy, let us all unite! Charlie Chaplin
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Take care and be well.
Russiae Imperium delendum est.
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