History and Politics

 

Bonhoeffer's Warnings

About the 'Dangers of Stupidity'

Spark Comparisons

By Steve Rensberry 

------ RP News ------

    EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- 11/30/2024 - A recent piece published on Daily Kos about the current political dynamic carried the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who every student of WW II history has probably heard of, and who paid with his life for his beliefs and opposition to the Nazis during WW II in Germany.

    "Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran theologian and pastor who was an active opponent of Nazism and involved in the German resistance movement. He was arrested and sent to Buchenwald in 1943 and on April 9, 1945 he was executed at Flossenbürg concentration camp just two weeks before it was liberated by U.S.forces," the article states.

    The writer draws numerous parallels between now and then, citing in part the theologian's comments about human stupidity, and how it poses a greater barrior to the common good than does a person or group with obvious malicious intent. Why? Because, in part, the stupid person is both too easily satisfied AND too easily irritated, and too often goes on the attack against those who try to reason with him or her, making even the attempt to seek common ground a dangerous game. They will hate you just the same.

    Bonhoeffer: 

    “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; (however) 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 when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. Never again will (should) we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous”

     It's a sobering quote, and the DailyKos piece asks a difficult and sobering question: Is America worth saving? If you define America primarily as "it's people" rather than merely the land -- maybe so, maybe not -- given how far we've fallen, that's the fear. "Party loyalty has morphed from fanaticism into cultism, and finally blossomed into mass cultural stupidity, as Bonhoeffer observed and described," the writer states. "Bonhoeffer correctly observed that attempting to approach stupidity with reason is dangerous — and mostly results in the exact opposite of the desired outcome. This particular passion play will have to run out of steam on it’s own volition."