Never underestimate the power of STUPID people in large groups...

Here is a fantastic little letter from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German philosopher hanged for sedition by Adolf Hitler in 1945, just two weeks before his concentration camp was liberated by American troops. I wanted to quote the text in full in the OP as some people prefer reading to watching videos - ATS user INCOSERV did the OP from which I've extracted the link which provides the text. It's highly relevant, so I hope INCOSERV doesn't think I'm trying to pilfer stars & flags, sincerely I'm not bothered about that, except for the sake of promoting the material itself, which is important for us to understand when it comes to an analysis of how we're to address the problem of STUPID in the context of ENLIGHTENING the people who are trapped in STUPID.

Original thread by INCOSERV, who gets full credit for the share: Bonhoeffer‘s Theory of Stupidity & The Five Laws of Stupidity. He follows up with 'The Five Laws of Stupidity, for which I highly recommend you should head on over to that thread to have a read.

Please see my other thread from tonight, Free E-Book PSEUDOPANDEMIC - New Normal Technocracy by Iain Davis - a most enlightening read which is under Creative Commons Licence, hence can be quoted, copy/pasted at leisure for the furtherment of empowering knowledge to benefit Mankind in these dark times.

If only we can break through the STUPID beforehand.


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Here's the letter BONHOEFFER wrote from prison in its entirety, in which he cautions us to be aware that stupidity is a greater enemy than malice:

Taken from a circular letter, addressing many topics, written to three friends and co-workers in the conspiracy against Hitler, on the tenth anniversary of Hitler’s accession to the chancellorship of Germany…


‘Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears; facts that contradict one’s prejudgment simply need not be believed- in such moments the stupid person even becomes critical – and when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack. For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.

‘If we want to know how to get the better of stupidity, we must seek to understand its nature. This much is certain, that it is in essence not an intellectual defect but a human one. There are human beings who are of remarkably agile intellect yet stupid, and others who are intellectually quite dull yet anything but stupid. We discover this to our surprise in particular situations. The impression one gains is not so much that stupidity is a congenital defect, but that, under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or that they allow this to happen to them. We note further that people who have isolated themselves from others or who live in solitude manifest this defect less frequently than individuals or groups of people inclined or condemned to sociability. And so it would seem that stupidity is perhaps less a psychological than a sociological problem. It is a particular form of the impact of historical circumstances on human beings, a psychological concomitant of certain external conditions. Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or of a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity. It would even seem that this is virtually a sociological-psychological law. The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other. The process at work here is not that particular human capacities, for instance, the intellect, suddenly atrophy or fail. Instead, it seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence, and, more or less consciously, give up establishing an autonomous position toward the emerging circumstances. The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.

‘Yet at this very point it becomes quite clear that only an act of liberation, not instruction, can overcome stupidity. Here we must come to terms with the fact that in most cases a genuine internal liberation becomes possible only when external liberation has preceded it. Until then we must abandon all attempts to convince the stupid person. This state of affairs explains why in such circumstances our attempts to know what ‘the people’ really think are in vain and why, under these circumstances, this question is so irrelevant for the person who is thinking and acting responsibly. The word of the Bible that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom declares that the internal liberation of human beings to live the responsible life before God is the only genuine way to overcome stupidity.

‘But these thoughts about stupidity also offer consolation in that they utterly forbid us to consider the majority of people to be stupid in every circumstance. It really will depend on whether those in power expect more from people’s stupidity than from their inner independence and wisdom.’

-Dietrich Bonhoeffer, from ‘After Ten Years’ in Letters and Papers from Prison (Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works/English, vol. 8) Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2010.

ATS, as you all are aware, Idiocracy was a prophetic apocalypse prepared for us in times past by a Hollywood-based sage fulfilling the works of the Almighty on Earth, preparing us for the madness which would grip the world in the 2020's. It is upon us, and it is imperative that we recognise our enemy as being primarily stupid, blinkered, unthinking, idiotic people. Until we can find a way to break through the crystal sphere of STUPID which surrounds each one of them, we will not be able to enlighten them as to the MALICE of the higher-ups, those who are informed co-conspirators in the PseudoPandemic which many of us have been writing about intensely for some time.

Cheers,


FITO.

Excellent quote & the most important takeaway from INCOSERV's excellent thread, as follows (quoting INCOSERV, not Bonhoeffer) ~

"The conclusion is that stupid people are more dangerous than bandits. Bandits have a goal and are following incentives and you might be able to figure out what they are doing and why and work against it. Stupid people have not incentive, no pattern that you can follow. You cannot figure out where they are going so cannot counter them."

Sterling work.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

President Obama's Chief advisor was recorded saying that stupidity makes Americans easy to control and manipulate.

Does that fit in with the belief system postulated in this thread?

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

I do not know who said it but the quote " You can't fix stupid " is very true . I suppose with all the bitching about voter ID that an IQ test would be out of the question

Ever watch the movie Men in Black? Tommy Lee Jones' character says a line that I've always found interesting.
"A person is smart. People are stupid."

I blame it on all the lead that the gasoline had in it and was blown in the air. Now its falling down all around the world and making people think the way a retarded mind would think. Yes means no and no means yes. Really, we are living in a " too fast " paced society to even be connected with reality today. The planners of society having people being mentally distorted is not going to end well for all. Just look at the shipping industry now.

Do you know that in Japan all packages are invoiced with the senders name, address, tele number and bar coded. ( when sending out of Japan ) We can no longer hand write out anything on the parcel, must all be printed out at the post office. An account of what is in the package and its value must be stated also. Is it that way in your country also.

Wizard's First Rule:
People are stupid. Richard and Kahlan frowned even more. People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.

The Wizard Zed explaining how most magic works.
Wizard's First Rule - Terry Goodkind

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

This letter is indeed an inspiring work of thought and is one which all might be wiser for considering.

There is an awful lot of meat on the bones of this letter making a choice of where to bite in and discuss difficult, especially as it is all so interwoven in his presentation. What might one say about any portion of it that does not lead to all ready presented observations. With that, I can only offer one suggestion, one observation in which I think that Bonhoeffer was either incorrect, off the mark, or fell short of reaching a full potential in his observations.

This simply is in his use of the term ''stupid''.

Yet even here, questioning his use of ''stupid'' could be the simple fact that about 75 years have past since the penning of this letter and the general interpretation of that word might have very different contextual sense from what it does now. Interpretation of ''stupid'' by todays standards cast any to whom this adjective is used into a realm of just plain ignorant, foolish, obtuse and generally not worthy of consideration other than as a whipping post upon which to sling the reproach ''you're STUPID''. In these cases lumping people into this category is just laziness and not worthy of elevating those who would call others stupid from that level of being which in their own eyes consider themselves to have accomplished.

It is difficult for me to think that Bonhoeffer was using the word in today's context.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

I'm sure " stupid " meant back then a more harsh meaning in its expression. Like today calling someone " retarded ", can mean the actions taken can be of a foolish person.

a reply to: 10uoutlaw

The author does sound intelligent and I get the feeling that he is actually making observations about the communist left. The debauchery and insurrectionists that Germany was dealing with at that time are the same woke mob cultists that have indoctrinated through our education camps.

originally posted by: starshift
The author does sound intelligent and I get the feeling that he is actually making observations about the communist left. The debauchery and insurrectionists that Germany was dealing with at that time are the same woke mob cultists that have indoctrinated through our education camps.

In Japan, we live with the communist party, but they dare make a move to put their anti- Japanese wishes upon the public here. Its more inline with the communist soft toning of the culture to follow the group thinking what is best for society. And that is individual thinking was actually looked down upon 40 years ago. People then who thought for themselves opened up their own businesses. Its the way to go in modern society.

This describes lefties to a tee.
See my signature
You also can't reason with insanity , of which lefties have quite a dose.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Wow! That letter almost perfectly describes the idiots who took part in the January 6th capitol riots.

I guess the world wasn't too different back in the 1930s.

Thanks for posting this

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment



Yes, Stupid People is certainly a thing, a very big thing!
FlyInTheOintment replied just below your excellent OP with a touch on the old phrase You Cant Fix Stupid so I thought I’d share a photo of my workbench in the garage.



PS: Since this pic also touches on some earlier OP’s on Commercial Fishing I’d like to also
point out the claw from a 50lb lobster we hauled up back in during the summer 1981.
Since this slides the OP please don’t reply to this PS!

originally posted by: jamespond
a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

Wow! That letter almost perfectly describes the idiots who took part in the January 6th capitol riots.

I guess the world wasn't too different back in the 1930s.

Thanks for posting this

Describes TF out of Antifart and BLM fools, too, much better than the DC Tour WITH Happy, Laughing Government Guides does.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

With that, I can only offer one suggestion, one observation in which I think that Bonhoeffer was either incorrect, off the mark, or fell short of reaching a full potential in his observations.

This simply is in his use of the term ''stupid''.

What term do you think Bonhoeffer should have used? Would it be more politically correct to say that these people are unreasonable, lack the ability to reason logically, or lack sense?

a reply to: Deetermined

I think that the term 'stupid' probably was used in the sense of 'ignorant' today - not only incapable of achieving due to inherent lack of intellect, but incapable of understanding what is there to be achieved, and as a side issue, also perhaps possessing a bad attitude towards those who are intelligent/productive.

The matrix of 'the five laws of stupidity' from the Italian philosopher Cipola (I think that's his name) is a very helpful tool in understanding that 'stupid people' are the most dangerous & destructive group of like-minded souls on the planet today.

Check out the following video, bearing in mind that unfortunately the Y axis is not labelled owing to a poor crop by whomever prepared the video. The Y axis should be labelled as 'losses or gains for others' incurred by the actions of the person who is being assessed. The x axis refers to 'losses or gains for themselves' in respect of the person who is being assessed.