Rachel, wearing a checked hoodie, stands on a mowed lawn explaining, “Stupidity isn’t just a lack of intelligence. It’s the refusal to think critically, and it’s everywhere.” She then foreshadows her online video “exploring why people ignore facts, how social media fuels misinformation and why Dietrich Bonhoeffer believed stupidity is more dangerous than evil,” thanks to “blind groupthink to misplaced confidence” (YouTube, The Stupidity Epidemic, 3/25/2025).
Stupidity, Rachel stresses, is not a lack of knowledge. Stupidity refuses to think critically, ignores or decries factual information and rebuffs opportunities to change intellectual positions when offered valid, scientific evidence. Stupidity will not stray from “cognitive biasness and social conditioning.”
Referring to Bonhoeffer, Rachel contends he saw “stupidity as a moral failure,” including an unwillingness, or inability, to see beyond one’s self-interests.
Stupidity, therefore, lacks empathy and is plagued with a dearth of understanding and appreciation for the “other,” for “different” people, customs and practices.
Having read rigorous research showing the reading of fiction promotes empathy, I’m left with the notion that Stupidity reads mostly nonfiction (history, biography, etc.) – or few books at all. Although Stupidity might brag leading imposing careers, making boatloads of money and enjoying a prodigious rank and status, Stupidity seems stupid about humanity.
Stupidity reminds me of the very smart dog that will sit or roll over on command but not comprehend that a shih tzu may have a hard time jumping up on a couch or defending herself against a Malamute. Stupidity might even chuckle at the shih tzu’s dilemma.
Take my friend who never reads novels or short stories. In arguing against the concept of gender preference/identification, he posits that people with nonconformist gender inclinations have merely been duped into believing they fit more comfortably into a nonbirth gender role, conned by society, peers, social media, etc.
“So,” I press him, “you believe that a trans person, who feels more autonomous and happier living a different or variant gender than he/she/they was born with, is living with a feeling as false and inane as believing in a broken wishbone wish?”
He assented. Apparently, content as a male – and born a male – my friend cannot, or will not, empathize with the emotional complexities a transgender person experiences.
Fiction might help cure him of his prejudice.
Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” gets “closer to the truth than what surrounds us” (UKEssays.com 5/18/2017). The novel’s first person point of view contributes to ‘a more personal aspect of the war stories to … give the reader a perspective of someone who was actually there.’ ”
Anyone who’s read “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee knows its power to mold “discussions about bigotry and equity in the U.S., leaving an enduring effect on perusers” (Globiora360.com 12/2/24). “Studies have shown that drawing in with fictional stories, particularly those wealthy in character advancement, can increment sympathy.”
Writer Keshav Rana reports, “Humans are hardwired for stories. Neuroscientific research shows that our brains engage deeply when we hear or read a story, often responding as though we are experiencing the events ourselves. This phenomenon, known as narrative transportation, explains why fiction feels so real … challenging our preconceived notions” (medium.com 9/15/24).
John Steinbeck’s “The Grapes of Wrath” ignited compassion for industrious farmers when drought drove them west and impoverished them. Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle” identified horrific working conditions in the early meat packing industry by focusing on one Swedish immigrant family. Paul Lynch’s novel “Prophecy Song” illustrates the dissolution of one family when society abandons its democratic principles for those of fascism.
If asked, I have a few novel ideas for Stupidity.
• Rick Holinger’s new chapbook of poetry, “Down from the Sycamores,” is available for presale at http://finishinglinepress.com. A multiple Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, Best Microfiction and Best Small Fictions 2025 nominee, his work has been published in Hobart, Chautauqua, Southern Indiana Review and elsewhere. His book of poetry, “North of Crivitz,” and collection of essays, “Kangaroo Rabbits and Galvanized Fences,” are available at local bookstores and Amazon. Contact him at editorial@kcchronicle.com