I wonder if we would "foolishness" would be a better translation than "stupidity"? Foolishness as in a lack of wisdom.
Bonhoeffer on Stupidity
81–90 of 138 posts
Re: Bonhoeffer on Stupidity
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there a pattern of thought that makes one immune to this? Like, if I reject every tribe, I become part of the 'everyone is dumb tribe', if I accept the views of every authority, I become part of the 'sheep' tribe, but maybe if one were to employ some pattern of acceptance and contrarianism in the face of other's arguments, then, on average, one's own tribalism would dissolve.
The partial solution to this is what _used_ to be called "open-mindedness". But it's not a pattern for "immunity" but in analogue, practices to keep you "fit" and prepared. I think CGP grey summarized the pattern nicely, and I quote: (timestamped)[0] "The trick is to keep your identity separate from your opinions - they are objects in a box you carry with you and should be easily replaceable if it turns out they're n…
I would say that this binding of identity with opinions is the outstanding feature of the "stupidest" and most destructive people I know.
Re: Bonhoeffer on Stupidity
#83Similar thoughts from Orwell from around the same time: https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel... It's curious how these both name a phenomenon with words that seem off-target, "stupidity" or "nationalism"; they seem to mean something like reducing yourself to a soldier for an egregore. Anyone have a better word for the general pattern?
> nationalism
Tribal is my best guess at his meaning, but ingroup is related, or perhaps partisanship when applied to American politics. Nationalism feels incorrect, especially when he chooses examples of beliefs that are against their own nation (skip to the heading “negative nationalism”), or examples that are not much to do with nationality (political Catholicism, Antisemitism, Pacifism).
Another theme is blind loyalty (authority figures) versus freethinking. As a geek I try to avoid succumbing to geek groupthink, although HN doesn’t always help that goal.
Re: Bonhoeffer on Stupidity
#84[deleted]
Re: Bonhoeffer on Stupidity
#85> 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. Do you agree?
I think understanding/explaining what "fear of God" means is kind of hard to explain in the postmodern world. It's partly recognizing that to know God is to fear God, but that also is not that great of an explanation. There's another verse about walking humbly with thy God. That may be a better more modern verse to pick I'd say.
Micah 6:8? He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Re: Bonhoeffer on Stupidity
#86"The responsible life before God" -- I don't think any modern person is capable of understanding what that meant in the 1940s. We just don't think that way anymore. However, none of the comments so far have really grasped his point, which is that stupidity is a group phenomenon. Maybe a modern equivalent would be "tribe." Of course you can't convince someone of the other tribe to come over and join yours on any one p…
Yes I was taken by his idea that the idiot has an armour made of a potentially massive social network. It gives you perspective of what you’re really dealing with and the difficulty of the job ahead
Re: Bonhoeffer on Stupidity
#87There is individual stupidity but there is also species stupidity. I’ve always felt that humans, living according to culture instead of nature (to oversimplify), are intelligent as individuals but moronic as a society. Ants and bees, etc, just the opposite
Re: Bonhoeffer on Stupidity
#88[deleted]
Re: Bonhoeffer on Stupidity
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
People who belive malicious lies aren't necessarily stupid. Tens of millions of people today will turn on their TV in America. They're not all stupid.
Yes they are. By the definition of "stupid" in this article, they are. Like Bonhoeffer says, "there are people of remarkably agile intellect yet stupid".
Can't argue with that
Re: Bonhoeffer on Stupidity
#90He is just describing mass psychosis: