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

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

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.

While stupid people are the most dangerous, the problem is that bandits will almost always end up devolving into the stupid category. People who hurt others to gain for themselves almost always end up hurting themselves in the long run. Greed always ends up being a self destructive behavior in the end. I've seen people hurt and rob everyone around them for the purpose of trying to save themselves, only to end up worse off than everyone else involved when they get caught, and they will. Extremely greedy people don't know when to stop. It's an addiction and they refuse to seriously consider the long term affect of such behavior because they're too wrapped up in what's currently happening to them and they can't stand it, so they behave irrationally.

Likewise, I think "helpless people" can also be more destructive to everyone around them than what's being considered here. Bandits feed off of helpless people. Until the helpless stop allowing themselves to be so helpless, the bandits will become more arrogant, fall deeper into the greedy stupid bandit category, until it eventually ends up affecting a much larger group of people. We see this with our current government administration. They started with the helpless people and then just decided to steamroll over the non-stupid people without CARING or CONSIDERING the long term consequence of such a stupid move. They won't stop until the non-stupid people physically stop them. They can't help themselves at this point. It's an evil addiction.

originally posted by: Deetermined
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?

I don't know if political correctness applies here. As I understand it, ''PC'' is a manner in which people couch their words and actions to assuage the tender senses of others. His use here of the word ''stupid'' in my opinion does not come close to that description.

What little I know of Bonhoeffer, he wrote these letters from a Nazi prison after he decided to leave the US and return to Germany under the fascist dictatorship. He made that move as guided by his opinion that evil cannot be fought against from '' over here'' but rather must be faced head on. So instead of speaking out against the German Fascists from US soil, he returned home to speak about against them in Germany. This is not the action of a person concerned with political correctness.

Myself, I question the use of the word ''stupid'' because it can so easily be a blanketing word, hence blanketing concept, that can used to explain away the actions and thoughts of any large group of people. And while this itself might be taken as political correctness, I don not see it that way. I see it as a very limiting categorical distinction,one that allows the user of the word a lazy way to dismiss the thoughts of large swaths of people from further understanding. As in'' their stupid so never mind them''.

You suggest this as well I think when you offered a fuller sense of how we might look into ''stupid people''. Unreasonable, lack the ability to reason logically or to lack sense.

What little thought I have offered this, I think that a person can act stupidly. This may not mean that the are stupid but that in any specific action they might have acted stupidly. I suppose that a person who acts stupidly to often may eventually become a stupid person.

However in the case of large groups of people, I don't know as '' stupid'' as in the sense of an individual being stupid, applies. I think that in the case of larger groups of people such as American Republicans and Democrats, the actions and group consciousness is much more complex than just being ''stupid'' implies.

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

As the narrator suggests, this article offers some insightful considerations into the nature of stupidity. I would immediately change the title from '' The Five Laws'' to ''The Six Laws''. I would make that additional law the ''First Law of Stupidity''.
That law being a stupid person will believe anyone, and indeed everyone else stupid before considering that it is they who are stupid.

Also, near the end of the video, in the narrators summations at about marker 13.00 he suggests that intelligent people should not allow themselves to act as stupid people and should continue their ethical actions. He suggests that bandits, people who seek beneficent to themselves can lead stupid people in a bad way and unleash the forces of stupidity on society. And as he touches on earlier in the video, these people cross all boundary lines of social and political expression.

Now that's a cautionary comment if ever there was one.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

So, stupidity is a behavior that can be exhibited at any time from anyone, but isn't a permanent mindset? Some just exhibit such behavior more often than others allowing us to dismiss any of their thoughts altogether?

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

However in the case of large groups of people, I don't know as '' stupid'' as in the sense of an individual being stupid, applies. I think that in the case of larger groups of people such as American Republicans and Democrats, the actions and group consciousness is much more complex than just being ''stupid'' implies.

When it comes to groups of people, should we consider the words "manipulative" or "manipulated"? Have studies been done on how easy or hard it is to manipulate other people? What causes people to give in to manipulation by others? If you tell someone they are wrong enough times, does it emotionally drain them until they change their way of thinking or their behaviors? What personality types are easily manipulated? I'm just thinking out loud here.

originally posted by: Deetermined
a reply to: TerryMcGuire

So, stupidity is a behavior that can be exhibited at any time from anyone, but isn't a permanent mindset? Some just exhibit such behavior more often than others allowing us to dismiss any of their thoughts altogether?

Some may consider it a permanent mindset but I hold that the permanent mindset is not stupidity but rather more in line with the idea of ''helpless'' people as laid out in that last video of our OPs. But even that description of ''helpless'' I think does not describe this state of being that so manly appear to be part of.

My contention is that we all are part of this state of being to one degree or another. This state of being suggests that to a very large degree, all people are not so much ''conscious'' but rather much of what we consider to be ''ourselves'' to be is simply unconscious awareness. That is we run on looped programs running thought our synapses with little question as to whether or not they are valid to any degree other than our own sense of being. We fool ourselves into believing that we act from conscious decisions when indeed most of those decisions are merely products of our established programming.

So rather than using the term,'' stupid'' I see this ''state'' as being our ''default'' state of being, a state of unconscious awareness believing itself to be conscious. A course example of this would be a person's choice between Coke or Pepsi. Choosing one over the other is not really an example of conscious choice or even of free will It is merely a switch flipped in our brains to go with one. Here a thought to go to 7up may be a true act of conscious decision or at least a move toward one. A choice to stop drinking carbonated sugar water entirely could be a choice along this spectrum that verges on a free will choice.

Along the way some people who drink Coke think is is stupid to drink Pepsi. You know, because Coke is better and here are the reasons why. Likewise those who prefer Pepsi might think Coke drinkers are stupid because you know, Pepsi is better. And those who do not drink carbonated sugar water might think that both are stupid.

I told you it was a course example.

And all of this presupposes that there really is something in the nature of free will at all. I see free will as a fleeting state of being. Limited by the very nature of our neurologically programmed existence any real opportunities that might come our way to exhibit it are not as plentiful as many have traditionally imagined.

So in line with Bonnhoeffer above, attempts to deal with what he calls ''stupid people'' is near to useless because from my understanding, attempts to deal with people mired in unconscious thought processes overlaid with the false assumption that they are really cogent is useless.

a reply to: Deetermined

Have studies been done on how easy or hard it is to manipulate other people? What causes people to give in to manipulation by others? If you tell someone they are wrong enough times, does it emotionally drain them until they change their way of thinking or their behaviors?

What you describe here, isn't this a very good description of how children are raised? Manipulated first by parents? In most cases of course this is with good will toward the baby though in some few cases I suspect not. As a child doesn't this go on and on as piers and other authorities come into play? Teachers priests ext? All along the line of our lives we are manipulated into being who we eventually become.

And sure there have been studies. Freud and on. In some cases these studies were intent upon discovering the nature of human nature. And building upon those results, others, like Bernays, learned how to manipulate people more throughly. Advertising as a prime example.

As an example take me. Yes I am besieged with people attempting to manipulate my thinking. And that thinking comes on the heals of previous years of people attempting to manipulate my thinking and back and back and back until we reach my parents. And where was ""I"" when my parents started this process.

''I'', wasn't there. I had not become ''me'' yet. All that programming eventually resulted in what I came to believe was me,
So at this point in my life I recognize this. So what really is ''me''? Ain't that a very good question. Or has my programming only been lead to believe it is.........

a reply to: FlyInTheOintment

you can take a group of GOOD kids,
JOKINGLY, one says: "lets burn this old barn down..."
ahhh too late,.. cant take it back, will get pummeled by insults

and since ALL the kids want to be accepted in the group,
they feel if they dont go along they will be frowned upon...
and not accepted by the rest, or especially , be made fun of, and picked on
,
so 2 more say yeah lets.. and even though just joking,
EVERYONE dont want to be left out, so they ALL say yeah, lets
even though NONE OF THEM REALLY WANTED TO DO IT

same works with adults, especially if drinking, or they get riled up first..
like after winning sporting events
we do all kinds of DUMB THINGS, including KILLING PEOPLE..

give them POWER over others, and they become sadists too

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

You kind of lost me on your explanation of this one.

As for the differences between Coke & Pepsi, I could definitely tell you why I prefer one over the other. I just wouldn't be able to tell you why I prefer the fuller syrupy flavor of Coke versus the watered down diet cola taste of Pepsi. In other words, I'm not sure why we have the preferences that we do, but I do have a choice based on preference.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

While we all are constantly manipulated throughout life, as adults we still get to choose what we're manipulated by. I don't feel that this is based on some kind of programming, but choices in which we choose to believe or not believe. I choose to make my choices based on personal experiences as well as logical reasoning from others based on the way they present their arguments. I have a good understanding of who I am as well as why I make the choices that I do.

a reply to: Deetermined

Yes, you do have a preference, as do I. I will drink a Pepsi if that is what is available, but if given the choice, it's Coke for me. Why? Because I was raised on coke. That was the preference in our neighborhood and my mothers as well. My father had been raised on the opposite side of the country where there was a decided preference for Pepsi so that is what he preferred. But he drank beer and not soda so he didn't buy soda for the house and left that up to my mother, who bought Coke.

And likely those different preferences in different locales were the product of localized advertising. Manipulative advertising. Both products were first sold as medicine for things like upset stomach and indigestion. Billboards, and newspaper adverts. Radio and then television. Drink coke and be happy. Drink Pepsi and be free. A dime for an effervescent high. And no real difference between them other than just a few portions of this or that.

a reply to: TerryMcGuire

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one too. When I was a kid, my mother always bought Pepsi, but as I got older and realized that there really was a difference between Pepsi and Coke, I chose Coke. Advertising was never a factor. For me it was all about preference based on personal tastes. I actually find it odd that marketing firms think that adding catchy slogans like "be happy" or "be free" has any kind of impact. I don't even remember either one of those.

The success of the PLandemic has all been based on enforced stupidity through repeated use of contradictions and irrational rules. The risk of punishment has been seemingly greater than the cost of accepting these dictates irrespective of their merit so most cave in. Reason is abandoned as It's better than jail or some absurdly heavy fine, for the time being that is. Ultimately the true cost is everything in that we allow the line to be moved farther and farther well past a point we would have agreed to in the first place. We increasingly feel resistance is futile and ever more dangerous. Logical thinking has been so long ignored it isn't even considered. It becomes a large circle of outrageous demands composed on many smaller ones; a ride going too fast now for anyone to get off of.

originally posted by: musicismagic
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.

You have described the stupid group known as the U.S. Mainstream Media.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

We increasingly feel resistance is futile and ever more dangerous. Logical thinking has been so long ignored it isn't even considered. It becomes a large circle of outrageous demands composed on many smaller ones; a ride going too fast now for anyone to get off of.

And here Ask, is our conundrum, your statement sets it out clearly.

We increasingly feel resistance is futile. I think it is more than that, more than that we just ''feel'' resistance is futile. I think it is that we ''recognize'' that resistance is futile. Which then leads to your next observation.

a ride going too fast now for anyone to get off of.

And there is your nutshell. It's not just the pandemic and the mandates, it's the whole magilla .

There was a rock group out of England back in the late sixties called Soft Machine. The did a lot of underground progressive rock jazz fusion kind of stuff that caught my attention at the time. One of their tunes that stuck with me was a piece called ''Why Are We Sleeping''.

It begins with a blessing
And it ends with a curse;

Making life easy,
By making it worse;

My mask is my Master,
The trumpeter weeps,

But his voice is so weak
As he speaks from his sleep, saying

Why, why, why, why are we sleeping!

People are watching,
People who stare;
Waiting for something
That's already there.

Tomorrow I'll find it ,
The trumpeter screams,
And remembers he's hungry
And drowns in his dreams, saying

Why, why, why, why are we sleeping!

My head is a nightclub
With glasses and wine;
The customers dancing
Or just making time;

While David is cursing
The customers scream!

Now everyone's shouting,
"Get out of my dreams!


This has stuck with me and is likely part of the reason that I do not see what can be interpreted as ignorance or stupidity in other people in that way. The way these lyrics suggest that not only ''you, meaning others'' are sleeping but that ''WE'' are sleeping and even in that sleep believe that that sleep is reality.

This point of view presents it's own questions such as when and if we DO wake up, whose reality is it we wake up to. Is' it reality or is it just someone elses dream, or just another form of our own dreaming.

If it weren't for stupid people, or slaves, or wives, the smart ones wouldn't get anything done!

Free Tickets For Multi Trillion Dollar Private ICO In Exchange For Media Introduction Marketing

We are going to do a special multi trillion dollar ICO very soon, but at the moment we are lacking in “introduction marketing” and the investors and public are not yet aware of us and this godlike cryptocurrency.

We can reveal to you this:
– This coin is going to bring peace for all the people.
– This coin will be loved by all national governments and the people as well.
– The USA will erase the economic sanctions on North Korea and Iran immediately for sure.

We are offering all the media outlets, social media influencers, youtubers, etc. a chance to receive free tickets to join the private ICO.
The number of tickets depends on how big, how powerful your organization is, it can range from 1 to 100 tickets.

The conditions to receive a free ticket are simple: A minumun of 7 days before the private ICO date: you must post/share out this new cryptocurrency coin project and our official website on all of your media channels from television, newspapers, to websites, social media account, etc.

The benefits you will receive:
– 1 free interview with the team about anything related to the project. (with time limited)
– With the ticket(s) you will have access to the private ICO for your members.
– Potentially receive free coins for your organization (worth at minimum 1 million USD to 1 billion dollars), all will be revealed on the private ICO.

You will not be allowed to sell/share the ticket for any others since it will be designed only for you.

If you are interested in this offer then you can contact us by email: [email protected]
or any of our communication platforms on our website.

Best Regard,
Saviors From Cyber Group

Source: saviorscyber.com