Anyone of a certain age will remember the classic line of Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks in the 1994 movie by that name: “Stupid is as stupid does.” Well, there is a lot to unpack in that classic statement, more it seems than meets the eye. I’ve been reading a bit of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s powerful writing in Letters and Papers from Prison recently, and his take on stupidity is stunningly applicable to the craziness we see around us today.
Many smart people can’t figure out, for example, why otherwise intelligent and even highly educated people, as well as the less informed, fall for conspiracy theories and seem blind to the autocratic attempt of the MAGA maniac in the White House. Well, Bonhoeffer explained it clearly in relation to the popular acceptance of the Nazi regime in Germany, which led to World War II and the Holocaust. Bonhoeffer was a German member of the resistance to the Nazis, was imprisoned and eventually executed. But before he died he wrote some of the most enlightening work on human consciousness and morality.
Stupid is…
The puzzlement over stupidity results from a confusion over rationality and morality. The stupid person, particularly in the political context, but in others too, is not without access to information. He refuses to accept facts that don’t comport with his prejudices, which are more comfortable than the truth. Bonhoeffer considered stupidity to be more dangerous to society than plain malice or evil.
For the stupid person, facts are not allowed to interfere with his beliefs. Sound familiar? As Bonhoeffer put it, “…when facts are irrefutable they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental.” The stupid person “…is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.” Think January 6 insurrection.
Importantly, Bonhoeffer pointed out that stupid people are not independent. Their stupidity is a product of the influence certain others have over them. That is, “…under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or…they allow this to happen to them.” Typically, they are victims of their own subservience to the manipulations of a charismatic person or to the relief from anxiety that the certainty of a conspiracy theory allows them.
In the case of Trumpery, the manipulation of susceptible people by all the classic tactics of fascists and autocratic pretenders, did the trick for many Americans. Stupidity became the ‘comfort zone’ for many whose place in society had become tenuous, either economically, culturally, or socially. To be a victim of a confidence game, a grift, you do not have to be ignorant or unintelligent; you just have to be the victim of status anxiety or emotional insecurity. Trump may be uninformed and entirely without a moral compass, but he has the classic skills of a narcissistic sociopath, which are powerful tools in the seeking of power.
Stupidity is in many ways the willingness to let what one wants to believe override one’s ability to determine what is a fact and what is not. It is in Bonhoeffer’s words, “less a psychological than a sociological problem.” I would add the idea that a certain amount of contagion is involved. Fads, fashion, and mob violence are all forms of contagion, as is the surge of popularity of a charismatic political persona.
It is remarkable how easily Christian fundamentalists were able to convert their strong moral principles to irrelevancies when faced with the facts of Donald Trump’s diverse ethical and moral, as well as legal transgressions, and his relentless lies. Yet, a lot of apparently not so stupid Americans also accepted Trump’s promise to “drain the swamp” without a lick of critical thinking. They even carried that feckless hope into his second term as president. But for many, facts eventually creep into consciousness and overrode the claims of the grifter. The evidence of fraud, lies, and manipulation eventually overcomes the imaginary hope of the deceived, especially in light of the blatantly open corruption.
What Happened?
Apparently, stupidity is a matter of degree. Some of us are just a little stupid or temporarily so; others embrace full-on hyper-stupidity. Many rely on hope more than on reality. But when reality hits one at the gas pump or grocery store, and with stagnant wages facing accelerating costs, lucidity begins to return.
Many Americans have fretted over the threat that the MAGA autocratic attempt might succeed. Until most felt the impact of ever more tax breaks for the ultra-rich, the direct tax on almost everyone that are the tariffs, the loss of already mediocre health insurance, the continued suppression of wages in concert with major increases in the cost of living, these crises seemed to have no potential resolution. But gradually increasing awareness of where our suffering comes from has awakened a genuine anger at the blatant betrayal of the voters’ trust. Anger breeds action.
Hence, the realization of the “Blue Wave” of Democratic candidates winning control of the House and Senate. Whatever their party, most voters operate on their gut instincts as to who is or is not operating in their core interests in living without constant fear of economic failure due to political policies that not only favor the rich, but explicitly persecute everyone else. The wave of victories by Democrats signals the fundamental fact of democracy: however imperfect the electoral democratic process (eg. gerrymandering, voter suppression, intimidation, or disruption) when the chips are down and obvious, the people will act in their own interests.
The question of whether and to what extent the support for a wannabe dictator would fade or rapidly reverse, remained open right up to the election. So many Democrats, particularly the progressive ones, were either slightly behind or slightly ahead of their opponents in the polls. The hope for a widespread victory such as happened last night, was tenuous at best. Yet, even Susan Collins, the seemingly undefeatable senate corrupt incumbent, lost to a relatively unknown last-minute candidate.
One might argue that the MAGA contagion is over. It has certainly been cut back a few notches. But the tech-multi-billionaire coalition to rule American and the world is not about to roll over and quit. We must not forget that the whole movement was driven by the billions of dollars put into political influence over decades. And the will to power is not about to subside among fascist multi-billionaires like Peter Thiel or Elon Musk. That fight between the forces of tech-authoritarianism and what we might call ecological humanism will continue. But we need a political party that will really represent the interests of the people and the planet—full speed ahead.
What Will Happen?
That is why we must also consider the dilemma of the Democratic Party. While the Democrats have staunchly opposed MAGA Republicanism (or is it Republican MAGA-ism?), the party’s ‘centrists’ also (mistakenly I think) called “moderates,” remain in fealty to the mega-rich billionaire donor class. Those who control the party, particularly its funding (and candidate vetting, of which they have lost some control with the rise of the new batch of progressive candidates), remain in debt to the major donors and PACs (which also donate to the republicans, but in much larger amounts). Regardless of their rhetoric, they shape policies that always protect their donors—the political billionaire class—at the expense of the rest of us. The new progressive politicians rising in the wake of AOC and the revolt against Trumpery, are committed to programs in service to the American population, not the ultra-rich. That is the source of the Democratic dilemma.
The Democrats are, as a party, not all that much favored by the people, primarily because of the decades of grand plans with little action, always constrained by the interests of the billionaire-donor class. The centrists try to control candidate vetting to keep policy within the bounds of service to their donors, but this new class of progressives will not go along with that. It is time for the Democratic Party to become true democratic.
The intransigence of the corporate-centrists who still run the party may be considered a majorform of political stupidity, particularly in Bonhoeffer’s sense—rigid adherence to an ideology and political practices that are at odds with the ideals and reality of becoming truly democratic in service to the nation’s people instead of the billionaire class. They keep thinking that the only way to win is to engage in “bi-partisan” compromise with the forces of tech-bro-autocracy.
Watch out, Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer! No deals with the corporatists. That will always result in the immiseration of the people. If a political party, or a government for that matter, refuses to abandon and/or reject elitist policies and practices, then in the long run it is truly stupid, since in the long run it will truly fail. The ecological civilization we must form now has to be democratic or it will not work.
