𝕀𝕥'𝕤 𝕒 𝕟𝕖𝕨 𝕕𝕒𝕨𝕟, 𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔸𝕘𝕖 𝕆𝕗 𝕊𝕥𝕦𝕡𝕚𝕕

𝔽𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕕𝕖𝕞𝕒𝕘𝕠𝕘𝕦𝕖𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕞𝕡 𝕥𝕠 𝕞𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕤 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 ℚ𝔸𝕟𝕠𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕚𝕧𝕒𝕩𝕩 𝕞𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕞𝕖𝕟𝕥 𝕨𝕖 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕨𝕖𝕒𝕜 𝕞𝕚𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕕 𝕡𝕖𝕠𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝕗𝕝𝕠𝕔𝕜𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕖𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕖𝕒𝕘𝕖𝕣 𝕖𝕟𝕠𝕦𝕘𝕙 𝕥𝕠 𝕗𝕠𝕝𝕝𝕠𝕨 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞.

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eak-minded people follow strong leaders. The trouble is many strong leaders are also stupid, and have been down the ages. When those leaders are charismatic, malign, misguided, or just plain evil, their stupidity becomes dangerously contagious.

I used to think stupidity was a mark of low intelligence, but on the contrary, stupidity is demonstrated by people both smart and dumb, rich and poor, and by all cultures and creeds. It’s got very little to do with intelligence and everything to do with bone-headed behaviour.

I don’t know about you, but I agree with the Cambridge Dictionary: Stupidity is defined as activity that is silly, unwise or shows poor judgment – and looking around the world today all the indications are that we are on the verge of the Stupid Age.

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We see it every day with the growth of bigoted religious movements, be they fundamentalist Christian, Islamic, Hindu or Buddhist – or ideologically based political groups like QAnon and Anti Vaxx, who all seem to believe their individual rights trump collective rights.

Democracy is now in a precarious position, with demagogues and strongmen – Trump, Putin, Bolsonaro, Duterte, Mohdi, and Kim Jong Il among them – all itching to lead their followers into authoritarian dystopias.

Over the years mankind is supposed to have advanced, at least on a technical level, from the Stone Age through the Bronze Age, the Iron Age, the Industrial Age, the Electronic Age and the Information Age, but I reckon we’re now falling backwards into a Stupid Age.

 The notion that collective stupidity can quickly turn to mindless mass movements has come into sharp focus during the Covid pandemic.

Sadly, in context of history this is not a new thing, but there are a few books worth reading if you want to know the whys and wherefores of social epidemics, the growth of cults or boom-and-bust investment cycles.

The first book is Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds written about 180 years ago by Rev Charles Mackay​. It’s as relevant as the day it was published. If you think mass hysteria is a new phenomenon, this book will dissuade you.

The author points to the South Sea Bubble, where in investors were asked to put their money in to a scheme so fabulously lucrative, they weren’t allowed to know what it was or how it worked. Thousands lost their fortunes. I think it’s been reincarnated as bitcoin. Mackay also debunked medieval witch mania, fallacious prophecies, phony fortune-tellers and astrologers, including the questionable predictions of Nostradamus.

The second book is The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell, that examines why changes in our society can happen suddenly and unexpectedly.

Trends, fads and the popularity of products can spread like outbreaks of infectious disease. Just as a single sick person can start an epidemic of the flu (let alone spread Covid variants) so too can a satisfied customer fill the tables of a new restaurant.

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These are social epidemics, and the moment they take off, when they reach their critical mass, is what Gladwell calls the tipping point.

The third book I found to be equally intriguing. It’s called Critical Mass – How One Thing Leads to Another, by Philip Ball.

The author’s insight is that laws of sociology and laws of physics are closely linked. Random crowd behaviour and the behaviour of atomic particles can be mapped and predicted – even when there is no ‘guiding hand’ or pre-determined objective.

Some of these things are inevitable; it’s just the way life is – and this reinforces the idea that while good things can occur spontaneously, they can go bad just as quickly. It seems that for many, the global pandemic is no longer a health issue, they’ve been persuaded that it’s a human-rights or ‘freedom’ issue.

Welcome to the Stupid Age!

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