On the Dangers of Stupidity

 

O, stupid Galatians! Who has bewitched you?
(Galatians 3:1)

…humanity has defied the Creator
and walks in spiritual blindness.
—Our Lady to Pedro Regis, November 7, 2026

 

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Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German Lutheran pastor and anti-Nazi dissident. He was eventually hanged at Flossenbürg concentration camp for his role in saving the lives of several Jews.^[1]Other accounts place Bonhoeffer within a conspiracy to assassinate Hitler; cf. Wikipedia.org During his captivity, Bonhoeffer wrote several reflections in the form of letters that were smuggled out of Tegel Prison. In one of his missives, he reflected on the dangers of collective “stupidity” that ultimately permitted the holocaust itself.

The word “stupid” today is considered harsh and demeaning, an insult to another’s intellect. But for Bonhoeffer, stupidity had little to do with a lack of intelligence or low IQ. Rather, it could be a willful, reckless, or stubborn disposition that could infect anyone. “There are human beings who are of remarkably agile intellect, yet stupid,” he observed, “and others who are intellectually quite dull, yet anything but stupid… The impression one gains is not so much that stupidity is a congenital defect but that, under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or that they allow this to happen to them.”^[2]Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 9-10

So, in this consideration of Bonhoeffer’s reflections, based on what he witnessed in German society during those dark years, the word “stupid” or “stupidity” is used not as an insult, but to categorize a type of psychosis. 

 

On Stupidity

Indeed, many were able to convince themselves that there was nothing wrong with the obvious totalitarian bent of Hitler and his National Socialist party^[3]National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP) while others, such as Bonhoeffer, clearly saw the evil at play, as well as the futility of trying to convince people otherwise. 

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… 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 we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous. —Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 9

Bonhoeffer concluded that stupidity of this kind resulted less from psychological than from sociological factors. “Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity.”^[4]Ibid. p. 10 It’s not that people’s intellect necessarily atrophies or fails, he says; rather, people give up their “autonomous position”, their independent thinking. 

 

On Critical Thinking vs Slogans

I had this very discussion with researcher and author Ted Flynn, who has studied and written extensively on Freemasonry and secret societies (which many recklessly dismiss as “conspiracy theory”). We pondered why many good, well-intentioned people failed to see through the COVID pandemic narrative and veritable junk science pushed by the mainstream media;^[5]cf. Top Ten Pandemic Fables it didn’t seem to matter whether you were a devout Christian or an atheist, whether you had university degrees or not. Flynn concluded that those who had already developed the ability to think critically and question mainstream narratives could immediately recognize the patterns of propaganda. Others, however, readily adopted the groupthink and mainstream narrative while sometimes aggressively, if not violently, opposing those who disagreed with them. Said Bonhoeffer:

The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil. This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings. —Ibid. p. 10

Indeed, during COVID, slogans like “safe and effective”, “Nobody is safe until everybody is safe,” just “follow the science,” or “it’s a pandemic of the unvaccinated” were powerful sociological weapons that had no basis in science and observable facts. But they nonetheless served to advance the ‘danger of a diabolical’ misuse of science — one that literally destroyed human lives.^[6]Utilizing 14 different estimation methods from official public data, a new conservative analysis estimates that 1 in 1000 people died from the shot. That’s over 5 million killed worldwide with countless millions more injured, many permanently. Rancourt et al.’s study shows over 17 million killed by the COVID “vaccines,” and 31 million deaths in total through government interventions, such as lockdowns and other interventions.

The late Dr. Vladimir Zelenko lost many extended family members at the hands of the Nazis. He warned during COVID that there were emerging similar signs of…

…a mass psychosis. It’s akin to what happened in German society before and during World War II where normal, decent people were turned into aides and “just following orders” type of mentality that led to genocide. I see now that same paradigm happening. –Dr. Vladimir Zelenko, MD, August 14th, 2021; 35:53, Video

Indeed: spying on neighbors, calling the police on non-conformists, banning people from stores, restaurants, and transportation, segregation in churches and auditoriums, mass layoffs of healthcare workers refusing to take or administer the experimental “vaccine,”^[7]cf. Trudeau is Wrong, Dead Wrong public ridicule and censorship… all this happened with shameful and breathtaking ease during the “pandemic.” Thus, concluded Bonhoeffer:

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. —ibid. p. 9

For “one may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force.” But trying to reason with “stupidity” is futile; the only way to break this dangerous spell, he said, is through an “act of liberation.” For example, it wasn’t until photos and film flowed to the rest of the world that people finally believed the warnings of those who had witnessed the Nazi nightmare. Likewise, it wasn’t until many people or their loved ones took the jab and fell ill, were permanently injured, or even died — or heard such testimonies in the public hearings that ensued^[8]see the U.S. House of Representatives Panel on Injuries Caused by COVID-19 Vaccines in the USA, or the Allison Inquiry in Canada. — that they were liberated from the mass delusion that, sadly, continues to this day.^[9]cf. Our 1942

 

A Word on the Present Danger

Other examples of Bonhoeffer’s theory of stupidity continue to abound, dangerously so.

As I wrote in Suicide of the West, a rampant form of stupidity is “suicidal empathy” — misplaced compassion that ignores long-term consequences. Hence, we see how opening female bathrooms and sports to biological men have endangered women and ruined competitions; how misguided compassion toward gender-confused children has encouraged them to permanently mutilate their genitals, depriving them of natural families;^[10]eg. here, here, and here how slogans like “pro-choice” and “reproductive freedom” have led to a demographic winter in the West; and how a geuine refugee crisis has been abused by globalist elite to flood Western nations with some ideological cultures that refuse to inculturate, or who even seek to subvert Western civilization.^[11]cf. A Catholic Answer to the Refugee Crisis And what can be said of the coordinated hype over UFO’s and aliens?^[12]cf. The UFO Delusion – Part I and Part II

All of the above can be traced to a singular agenda cleverly propagated by the United Nations: Agenda 2030. Its success has depended almost entirely on the collective stupidity of the West to uncritically embrace slogans like: “It takes a village to raise a child,” “Equality and justice,” “climate emergency,” “Leave no one behind,” or “we will build back better.” None of this would be possible without the collusion of the media, mass censorship, and manipulation of internet algorithms that help mold the stupidity overtaking vast portions of the global populace. 

There is another explanation for the rapid diffusion of the Communistic ideas now seeping into every nation, great and small, advanced and backward, so that no corner of the earth is free from them. This explanation is to be found in a propaganda so truly diabolical that the world has perhaps never witnessed its like before. It is directed from one common center. —POPE PIUS XI, Divini Redemptoris: On Atheistic Communism, Encyclical Letter, March 19th, 1937; n. 17

As Bonhoeffer witnessed firsthand: “The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.”^[13]Ibid. p. 10 

Given the above, is it any surprise that the Muslim Brotherhood, a transnational movement that seeks the establishment of political Islam across the world, opposes Western culture? In documents revealed in a Texas court, a section in the Brotherhood’s “Explanatory Memorandum” titled “Understanding the role of the Muslim Brother in North America,” states:

…the work… is “a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and sabotaging its miserable house by their hands and the hands of the believers so that it is eliminated and God’s religion is made victorious over all other religions.” —”Memorandum Opinion Order“, July 1, 2009; cf. meforum.org

This was echoed in a widely publicized speech by Imam Sheik Muhammad Ayed, who mocked Europe’s suicidal trajectory through plummeting birth rates. 

They have lost their fertility, so they look for fertility in our midst. We will give them fertility! We will breed children with them, because we shall conquer their countries. Whether you like it or not, oh Germans, oh Americans, oh French, Oh Italians, and all those like you. Take the refugees! We shall soon collect them in the name of the coming Caliphate... —The Christian Post, September 22, 2015; cf. Memri TV, Daily Mail, and The Times of Israel

 

The Strong Delusion

The Scriptures also speak of a mass stupidity to be revealed in the last times. 

God is sending them a deceiving power so that they may believe the lie, that all who have not believed the truth but have approved wrongdoing may be condemned. (2 Thess 2:11-12)

In this case, a strong delusion will result in the final sifting of the “weeds from the wheat.”^[14] (Matt 13:24-30); cf. It Will be Too Late

Still, according to many Catholic saints and mystics, God is going to grant an “act of liberation” in order to shake souls from the collective stupidity that is putting the entire world in peril. As Our Lady said to Servant of God Fr. Stefano Gobbi of the coming “Warning” or “Illumination of Conscience”:

With His divine love, He will open the doors of hearts and illuminate all consciences. Every person will see himself in the burning fire of divine truth. It will be like a judgment in miniature. —from the “Blue Book”, May 22nd, 1988

Servant of God Maria Esperanza said:

The consciences of this beloved people must be violently shaken so that they may “put their house in order”… A great moment is approaching, a great day of light… it is the hour of decision for mankind. —featured article from www.sign.org, Volume 15-n.2 

Before I come as the just Judge, I am coming first as the King of Mercy. Before the Day of Justice arrives, there will be given to people a sign in the heavens of this sort: All light in the heavens will be extinguished, and there will be great darkness over the whole earth. Then the sign of the cross will be seen in the sky, and from the openings where the hands and the feet of the Savior were nailed will come forth great lights which will light up the earth for a period of time. —Jesus to St. Faustina, Diary of Divine Mercy, Diary, n. 83

Sadly, not all will accept this singular grace intended to liberate souls from spiritually lethal stupidity: 

To overcome the tremendous effects of generations of sin, I must send the power to break through and transform the world. But this surge of power will be uncomfortable, even painful for some. This will cause the contrast between darkness and light to become even greater. —God the Father to Barbara Centelli, from the four volumes Seeing With the Eyes of the Soul, November 15th, 1996; as quoted in The Miracle of the Illumination of Conscience by Dr. Thomas W. Petrisko, p. 53

 

What About Me?

The question we must all ask ourselves is: “To what degree am I caught up” in Bonhoeffer’s theory of stupidity? Certainly, to the degree any of us allows sin in our lives, we are being deceived.

But one of the most subtle ways to get caught up in mass delusion is to be driven by the innate social desire to belong—to not be rejected. Thus, we need to examine ourselves frequently with St. Paul’s question:

Am I now currying favor with human beings or God? Or am I seeking to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ. (Galatians 1:10)

As history teaches, the desire to preserve one’s life at the price of denying the truth can literally lead entire nations into ideological slavery like Nazism, Fascism, Socialism, Communism, and so on. The surest way to avoid the pitfall of mass stupidity, of becoming one of the “sheeple,” is, first and foremost, to seek divine Wisdom. 

The word of the Bible that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom ^[15]cf. Ps 111:10; Prov 9:10 declares that the internal liberation of human beings to live the responsible life before God is the only genuine way to overcome stupidity. —Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison, p. 11

In this past Sunday’s Mass readings, we heard how Wisdom “is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her.”^[16]Wisdom 6:12 And it is critical that we do. As St. John Paul II would say:

…the future of the world stands in peril unless wiser people are forthcoming. —Familiaris Consortio, n. 8

The second means to avoid collective stupidity is to maintain critical thinking and personal autonomy, mindful of groupthink or mass hysteria, without becoming cynical. After all, the very genius and safeguard of the Catholic Church lies, not in fostering subjectivity, but in staying loyal to the objective teachings of Christ and the Magisterium He established.^[17]cf. Matt 16:18; 28:19-10 

Finally, Bonhoeffer warns to never allow oneself to be driven to contempt for humanity. Yes, it’s frustrating if not horrifying to watch the kind of collective stupidity on display on social and mass media. A temptation is to belittle or condescend toward others, to retaliate — an “eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” But Bonhoeffer, who had to forgive his Nazi captors, advises:

The only fruitful relation to human beings — particularly to the weak among them — is love, that is, the will to enter into and to keep community with them. God did not hold human beings in contempt but became human for their sake. —Ibid. p. 11-12; cf. Phil 2:7

As St. Paul said, 

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head.” Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good. (Romans 12:20-21)

 

 

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