Stupidity Is an Equal Opportunity Affliction

It affects people on both sides of the political aisle.

I really don’t know if it is stupidity or just a failure to think or the effect of being brainwashed so that one’s responses to every other person and every situation is pre-programed for them.  Regardless of what we call it, it is frightening.

I am no fan of socialists, or of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but, assuming for the sake of argument that she is not terribly bright or is not taking time to think before opening her mouth, she is not the only one.  Some of her opponents on the other side of the political spectrum are just as negligent when it comes to using their brains.

Here is what brought this to mind.  Recently on Facebook someone shared an article with the headline, “Ocasio-Cortez announces bill to make electoral college tuition free.”  Now, the source was stated as “Genesius Times” and if anyone would have bothered to click on the information icon on the posing they would have seen that this is a satirical fake news web site.  Beyond that, even those who are of the opinion that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is pretty dumb based on many of her (in the opinion of this author often quite idiotic) statements, even those who dislike AOC and all that she stands for would have to realize that based on some of her past statements she knows what the Electoral College is.

No matter.  The majority of commenters were willing to react without thinking, because that is the default reaction that they have for Ms. Ocasio-Cortez.  Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a socialist.  The majority of comments appeared to come from people who are clearly anti-socialist.  The majority of comments suggested that this headline was proof of AOC’s continuing dumbness.   That is their default position and everything they look at will prove it without need for thought.

The irony is that in simply accepting the headline as a true statement when so much pointed to its falsity, they proved their own dumbness, at least in this instance.  They did not think.  Moreover, some of the comments revealed that the commenter did not even take time to think or learn what the Electoral College is as they argued against free tuition for all, or that it should give out tuition based on merit, etc. This is not that different from jumping to conclusions against the Right in the recent Smollett case, something that these same anti-AOC commenters probably condemned as reprehensible.

Yes, there is stupidity on all sides of the aisle, it abounds everywhere and in every aspect of our lives today, and that is how we end up with the government that we have.  These same people who can’t take one second to think, who just respond with a knee-jerk and prefabricated condemnation of someone who holds a different perspective – these are the same people who go to the polls and elect those who create our laws and govern us.  Frightening isn’t it?!

We seem to be living in a No-Think era.  I don’t really believe that people are as dumb as much behavior makes them seem.  What I do believe is that we are not teaching children to think, that we are not ourselves taking the time to think and that we are simply accepting conclusions that may or may not have any reasonable basis in fact.  This is dangerous.  This is how people become susceptible to a dictatorship.  This is how people lose their freedom and their individuality. 

Those of us who care about this can demand more of ourselves and of others.  We can ask questions about assertions that we and others make.  We can think before we speak and certainly before we act.  We can choose not to accept or reject statements just because of who made them (or whom they are about), but instead examine their substance and make our own evaluations and conclusions based on that substance, rather than on the conclusion that we have been told to reach based on whatever group we happen to affiliate with.

This is basic critical thinking, something we seem to have forgotten.  We need to resurrect it and move from this no-think era to one in which we use our brains to guide our behavior; where we listen and think before we act, where we are less self-righteous and more open to hearing what is actually being said, and where we take time to consider each individual person and situation rather than judge based on generic and identity characterizations. 

Yes, we are all susceptible to the affliction of stupidity, but we also all have the built in antidote.  It is called our brain.  It’s time we all used it.