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Bonhoeffer's "Theory of Stupidity".

Bonhoeffer's "Theory of Stupidity".
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Stupidity is more dangerous than evil. Evil is easy to identify and fight, stupidity not so much. The expression "arguing with a fool is like playing chess with a pigeon" implies that trying to use logic and reason in an argument with someone who is not willing to listen or consider different perspectives and possibilities is futile. useless, exhausting and hurtful. In analogy, the pigeon will knock down and try to eat the chess pieces, strut around and declare itself the winner, no matter how well you play. The moral of the story is to save your energy for more productive and meaningful debates. Mark Twain has an epitaph of his own, where he writes about arguing with fools: "Never argue with a fool. He will bring you down to his level and beat you with experience." All of the above highlight an important truth: not everything and not always is worth debating, especially when faced with stubbornness and lack of reasoning.

When something or someone is bad, we can take steps to fight it. But with stupidity, this is much more difficult. Dietrich Bonhoeffer argues that stupidity is more dangerous than evil because it can be manipulated and used by evil. He also says that stupidity often goes hand in hand with power – so being in power means surrendering individual critical faculties. The metaphor of arguing with a fool as playing chess with a pigeon is a humorous but also disturbing metaphor. Although we don't always admit it, we all have people in our lives who we consider "a little clumsy" - not about everything, but about some things for sure. Most of the time, we take this with sportsmanship. After all, being silly can be fun. When a friend of ours seriously asks "What was Hitler's last name?", we laugh. When my little one realized just last month that Santa's reindeer are real animals, it was just hilarious. Such things become part of everyday humor. But stupidity also has its dark side. For the theologian and philosopher Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the stupid person is often more dangerous than the wicked.

In comic books or action movies, evil is clearly recognized. Evil characters are those who dress in dark clothes, kill for no apparent reason, and laugh madly at their evil plans. Even in real life, we know how to identify the bad guys – dictators who violate human rights, serial killers, or violent criminals. But, according to Bonhoeffer, they are not the biggest threat because they are known and recognizable. Once an evil is known, the world of good can unite to fight it. As Bonhoeffer explains: “Evil can be protested, it can be exposed and, if necessary, stopped by force. Evil always carries within itself the seed of self-destruction." But stupidity is a whole other problem. We cannot easily combat stupidity for two main reasons. First, as a society, we are much more tolerant of him. Unlike evil, stupidity is not seen as a vice to be punished. We do not harshly criticize others for their ignorance. Second, the stupid person is a "slippery" opponent. You cannot defeat him with arguments or logic. On the contrary, when confronted with incontrovertible facts, they explode and react aggressively.


Bonhoeffer puts it this way: "Neither protests nor the use of force have any effect, reasons fall on deaf ears, facts that contradict their prejudices are simply not accepted - at those moments the stupid person becomes critical." And when the facts are irrefutable, they are simply dismissed as irrelevant, as incidental. In all this, the stupid person, unlike the wicked one, is completely complacent and because he is easily irritated, he becomes dangerous by going on the offensive. With great power comes great stupidity. Like evil, stupidity is not a threat as long as it does not have power. We laugh at harmless things, like a small child's ignorance of deer. This does me no harm. That's why it's funny. The real problem with stupidity is that it often goes hand in hand with power. Bonhoeffer writes: "On closer observation, it becomes clear that every great explosion of power in the public sphere, whether political or religious, infects a large part of humanity with stupidity." This happens in two ways. First, stupidity does not prevent you from holding power.

History and politics are replete with examples where ignorant or unqualified people have reached the top (and where the wise have been excluded or eliminated). Second, the nature of power requires individuals to surrender some of their most important skills for intelligent thought—skills such as independence, critical thinking, and reflection. Bonhoeffer argues that the more a person becomes part of the power structure, the less individual he remains. A charismatic and smart outsider, full of sensible ideas, turns into an idiot as soon as he takes office. It is as if "slogans, slogans and the like... have taken over the soul. He is under a spell, blinded, manipulated and abused in his most essential being." Power turns people into automatons. Smart and critical thinkers turn into individuals who recite set phrases. They choose to smile instead of thinking. When people join a political party, it seems that most prefer to follow the crowd rather than think independently. Power absorbs the intelligence from the individual, turning him into an animated mannequin.

Bonhoeffer argues that stupidity should be seen as worse than evil. Stupidity has much greater potential to damage our lives. More damage is done by one powerful idiot than by a group of unscrupulous schemers. When it's bad, we know where we stand. The most corrupt, oppressive and sadistic, we know how to take a stand. But stupidity is much harder to root out. That is why it is such a dangerous weapon. Because bad people have a hard time getting power, they need stupid people to do their jobs. Like sheep in a pasture, a foolish person can be led, manipulated and used for anything. Evil is a puppet master, and nothing pleases it more than the mindless puppets that enable it—whether these are individuals from the people, or within the corridors of power. The lesson from Bonhoeffer is this: Laugh at the awkward and harmless moments when you're among friends, but turn around angry and worried when stupidity takes the reins. /Newspaper "Panorama"/