A Short History of Stupidity

This book doesn't read like a short history until you reach the last page, and realize how much has been written about stupidity by the greatest thinkers of their time. I bought this book because I had long felt that people often labeled others , children in particular, as stupid when they …

This book doesn't read like a short history until you reach the last page, and realize how much has been written about stupidity by the greatest thinkers of their time. I bought this book because I had long felt that people often labeled others , children in particular, as stupid when they weren't. I was of the view that not knowing something did not make you stupid ,nor did making a mistake and nor did looking at something in a different way from others. I really do not like it when I hear someone say " Are you stupid or what ? It crushes them. So I thought I should buttress my feelings with some good evidence and this book has supplied it in abundance. The chapters on Ancient Stupidity and Eastern Stupidity are the most challenging and thought provoking. They provide the foundation for understanding that what is stupid has to be viewed in a societal/cultural context. The authors consideration of Ancient Stupidity ,which starts with the ideas of Plato and Socrates ,seems to me to be the basis for our Western view of Stupidity. His chapter on Eastern Stupidity shows how it is based on the ideas of Confucius and Buddhism and this leads to a very different view of what stupidity is. After reading these I started to think about events which may be viewed as stupid in the west but not so in the east and vice-versa. A revealing exercise! The remaining chapters are rather like case studies, they look at stupidity within a context such as eugenics, intelligence, mass, and digital. These all contain illustrations of stupidity albeit mainly within the western context. This is where the impact stupidity has on peoples lives is revealed and it made me pretty angry. It is a thought provoking book and not surprisingly it does not provide a definition of stupidity . What it has done for me is to put the word into perspective. It does not sit alongside words like silly or daft nor is it about a little thing like tripping over because you have not tied a shoe lace. The author shows how the word has its origins in profound thoughts about the qualities required by leaders and if certain ones are lacking then stupid decisions are made which impact on people. The stupidity which seems to me to be exemplified by the book is that which occurs among powerful and influential people with dire consequences for society. The book is littered with the names of these people. A book to re-read and hang on to. John Evans