The Era of Stupid

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.

We’ve always been surrounded by those who are, shall we say, a few sandwiches short of a picnic. It’s nothing new to run into someone who claims the moon landing was faked or that JFK is alive. But where once they lived on the fringes (or at the end of a bar), social media has freed them to roam among us.

And ever since Donald Trump came down that escalator in Trump Tower nearly 10 (!) years ago, he’s created a permission structure to be Unrelentingly Stupid. He’s told thousands of documented lies and made outrageous claims. Any attempt at fact-checking has been met with screams of “fake news. Among his followers, and the right-wing media that supports him, his proclamations simply cannot be challenged. The less informed are encouraged to stay that way and dismiss/shame/threaten those with any kind of expertise.

Trump routinely brags about having an uncle who worked at M.I.T. and claims to be “really smart.” But in the past, he’s threatened to sue any school who releases his grades or transcripts. His sister claimed he paid some kid to take his SATs. Cabinet members routinely noted how ignorant he was about, well, pretty much everything. Production staff on The Apprentice have said the same. Bottom line: Trump is not smart, hence why he sneers at the genuinely intelligent, like a bully tormenting the class valedictorian.

Is it any wonder he’s claimed that he “loves the poorly educated”?

A particular target in the Expertise Wars has been Dr. Anthony Fauci, who struggled mightily to lead the country through the mysteries of the pandemic. A deeply experienced immunologist who’d helped the country get through AIDS, Ebola, and other serious contagious viruses, he became both an object of derision and death threats by members of Congress and unhinged MAGA types. After all, he’s just one of those smarty-pants “elites.” Now, let’s go drink some bleach.

The dismissal of expertise soothes Dear Leader in his own howling, incurious stupidity. It’s the same mindset you’ll find in Pyongyang, Moscow, or Jonestown: maintain the illusion that the leader is infallible and has all the answers, despite evidence to the contrary. Otherwise, suffer the consequences. It’s easier to just stay in the bubble floating along like a Stepford Wife in the pink haze of willful ignorance.

Experts bring uncomfortable truths: the climate is changing, racism still exists, an economic structure that benefits only the wealthy is unsustainable. We don’t need to dive to the depths that they do, but at least consider what they share. Some baseline facts are crucial in making informed decisions. To ignore them, well – ultimately, you end up a victim. From a bunker in Berlin to a jungle compound in Guyana, history is littered with them.

After nearly a decade of fully embracing Stupid, the journey back to a better-informed society will be a long one. It starts with dampening rightwing propaganda (hello, Fox News) that feeds the misinformation cycle. It requires fact-based rebuttals to the ignorance that shows up online or in our personal lives. It also requires patience, since admitting they’ve been snookered is a tough pill for anyone to swallow. But one day, the Stupid will be back at the end of the bar where it belongs.

Cindy Grogan is a writer, lover of history and "Star Trek" (TOS), and hardcore politics junkie. There was that one time she campaigned for Gerald Ford (yikes), but ever since, she's been devoted to Democratic and progressive policies.