Drawing upon the insights of historian Carlo M. Cipolla, Harry Hopkins delves into the five basic laws of human stupidity in TCW, revealing their prevalence and the harm they have caused in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than evil,” said the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was hanged in Flossenbürg concentration camp in April 1945. His words reflected the bloody experience of a man dedicated to resisting Nazi tyranny.
What prompted me to write about stupidity has been my Covid experience of the last three years. I never imagined in my wildest dreams that people could behave in such a way as to leave me completely baffled. I’m sure you feel the same and it is still not over. While Covid may be on the back burner, we are facing the attempted Great Reset. I wanted to try to understand what drives people to behave in such an inhuman way, and how do those in power get so many on board with their diabolical plans?
Stupidity is a complex and fascinating topic. One of the acknowledged experts is Carlo M Cipolla, an Italian economic historian who died in 2000 at the age of 78. He was a member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society. He wrote a book entitled The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity, published in 1976 and now recognised as a milestone. He lists five basic laws:
1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.
If you doubt this, think about all the people you had judged intelligent before you realised that they were behaving stupidly, idiotically and dangerously over the Covid narrative. Following its directives to the letter although it appeared incomprehensible to a sizeable minority must rank as the biggest example of mass stupidity in recent times. The fact that so many fell in line with this proves the first basic law.
2. The probability that a certain person is stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.
This is a fascinating observation and one that explains a lot. Like other human characteristics, stupidity is distributed roughly equally across all human beings regardless of their level of education.This goes some way to explain why, when subjected to the same levels of propaganda and nudge messaging, some individuals automatically recognised the falsehoods inherent in their government’s behaviours and others did not; why the most highly educated could fall for it, whilst the apparently less educated realised right off that it was nonsense.
3. A stupid person is one who causes losses to another person or a group of people while they gain nothing or may even suffer losses themselves.
This is the most important law and should be branded on the soul of those who try to understand stupidity. It is not a matter of IQ, but rather a lack of interpersonal relationship skills. Cipolla believes it is possible to classify people based on their behaviour. It seems to be self-evident that stupid people harm others and often themselves, whilst the behaviour of truly intelligent people is aimed not only at helping themselves but also helping others. Covid has seen a glaring example of narrative adherents behaving in a self-centred and ultimately self-destructive way by going along completely with what they were told and in so doing have seen their businesses, their jobs, their health, their relationships and in some cases their own lives destroyed in the process. Cipolla summed this up neatly when he said: “There are people who, by their illogic actions, not only cause harm to other people, but also to themselves. Such people belong to the genus of the super stupids.”
4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that in any time and place and circumstance dealing and/ or hanging out with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.
When the ‘three weeks to flatten the curve’ was introduced in March 2020, non-stupid people, although not buying into the Covid madness from the start, probably thought naively that this would see an end to it. They had not reckoned on the destructive and deadly dangerous nature that those who were super stupid possessed. They did not imagine this because rank stupidity at this level was beyond their understanding and comprehension and besides, stupid people’s attacks always catch intelligent folk by surprise. Stupidity is a characteristic of a person just like hair colour and is therefore not open to rational argument and persuasion. As if to bolster this truth, how many of you have tried to argue the anti-Covid case with logic, facts and common sense only to be met with derision and ridicule? Illogical actions cannot be understood using logic, which of course comes as a big disappointment when attempted by sensible, intelligent people.
5. Stupid people are the most dangerous type.
Intelligent people, however much they may disagree with you and however hostile they may be, are generally predictable. In contrast stupid people are entirely unpredictable. Which makes stupid people far more dangerous than intelligent people.
Worth reading in full.
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I have stated more than once on DS that as far as I am concerned once cash goes it is game over. I see no evidence suggesting I am wrong.
I agree with you HP. We are few though and they are many. Unless we have an Ace up our sleeve, we’re goonered. I continue to use cash when I can and luckily most places down where I live take it but go to London and you might as well be handing them flapjacks. The arguments against cash continue to proliferate and the main thrust of these arguments seems to be about the bother of cash, the inconvenience of it in some sort of Orwellian double-take because if the internet is down or the card machine not connecting then cash is the only convenient exchange for goods etc!! Although stamps now appear with Chuckles on them, I haven’t seen any coins with his head on them – this should tell us all we need to know!
Thanks Aethelred. I must admit that I have heard that Chuckles does not have his head on our coinage so that tells a tale.
(I know where I’d like to see his head.)
I always use cash. Fortunately, up here amongst the dark, satanic mills nobody is currently refusing cash. That I know of.
Good to know that cash is still alive out in the sticks.
The less I see Chuckles’ head the better I think! Better not think too much about his head actually, especially in view of his ancestral namesake!
Sorry to disabuse you both – King Chuck’s head is now on coinage, I got some from the post office the other day. Although both the PO chap & me said that after so many decades of Queenie, somehow it was just wrong….
Chuckles on a coin with a WEF background!
100% agree that it’s massively important.
“ask whether a libertarian approach could help”
I’ve got strong libertarian tendencies, but expecting a large powerful state to have such tendencies is pie in the sky and historically hasn’t been the case. Recent events suggest to me that liberty is most effectively preserved by making tyrannical measures logistically hard to enforce, and by the mass of citizens simply refusing to comply.
I think we’re well aware here on this forum, because we are not stupid (which “anonymous IT reporter” seems to think we are), that cash facilitates crime. Lots of things that make liberty safer also make criminals life easier, but I am more worried about the government committing crimes than I am about small increases in crime. Perhaps improving detection and much longer, punitive prison sentences might be a better approach.
My view on cash crimes, which after all tend to centre on tax avoidance, have certainly become more liberalised shall we say, these last four years.
Crimes with biggest financial impact all done by corporates and governments without cash.
Facilitates crime is a red herring. All so-called human or basic rights limit what government is allowed to do. As they’re universal, this necessarily means all criminals have them, too. And because they’re criminals, they might end up using them for criminal purposes. But since nobody, including the government, has a priori knowledge of which people are criminals and which actions will turn out to be criminal, this simply can’t be helped. Either people have rights. Then, criminals will have them, too. Or people have no rights. Then, everything becomes a lot easier for government, including dealing with criminals. Says the government, at least. Honi soit qui mal y pense.
Minority Report!
What is your evidence you are right?
CBDC’s will be part one of…
‘You will own nothing…’
Once the kinks and bumps are ironed out slavery is inevitable. It doesn’t take any intellectual prowess to work that out.
Yes the removal of cash per se doesn’t perhaps lead to disaster – it’s what comes after which is the replacement of money handled by private banks with a CDBC where all transactions go through (eventually) World Government. It’s another “utopian” solution that will lead to the opposite of utopia. I’m rather afraid that “Anonymous IT Reporter” is a closet utopianist who still has some misplaced faith in human nature.
Maybe we will end up trading in other items, out of ‘the system’ if you like. I am just being optimistic, it is Friday after all.
Yup check out Redacted on Rumble, look for the WEF video where they interview Whitney Webb on CBDCs for the latest on their push to eliminate cash. Whitney is a proper journalist, you wouldn’t get Peston or any BBC journalist asking the real questions that she does.
Thanks Ron.
Thanks for the link, Ron. I’ve watched it now & it is truly disturbing. We are certainly heading for the precipice like lemmings but we are being kept in the dark by the MSM except for forums like this.
Completely pointless article.
As I wrote in a past comment, most so-called ‘crimes’ involving cash transactions are more properly described as financial transactions the government doesn’t agree with, either because of tax evasion or because of violations of government rules on trades of goods, eg, buying illegal drugs. The government has an obvious interest in making such transactions impossible by assuming that every transaction is principally meant to violate some law unless proven otherwise, ie, forcing all economical transactions under blanket government surveillance and enabling the government to deny those it doesn’t like.
When everybody has the right and the ability to engage in economic activity without prior government approval, ‘criminals’ will obviously have it, too. But that’s similar to approaching people in the street: Absent Corona rules, that’s usually allowed. Hence, criminals can do it, too. Corona measures must thus urgently be reintroduced to fight crime. Says an anonymous IT reporter. And the answer is “Get stuffed!”. Emphatically.
Brilliant demolition of nonsense arguments.
I think the people who can get a bank account but don’t want one, should get together with those who can’t and want one.
Maybe betwixt the two groups something can be worked out?
The problem in Britain – and it is a problem – is thanks to welfare statism, many believe services are free. But every activity has a cost and that includes banking.
The banks made a rod for their own backs by offering free banking, the concept being the cash-float the bank would have in current accounts could be invested, cover operating costs and yield a return.
As so many expenses have increased over the years, this model doesn’t work anymore. Instead of introducing bank charges – the way it used to be – they have reduced services.
The answer is to introduce charges, so non-profitable accounts aren’t a loss, and those who prefer cash, which is expensive to handle, can pay an extra fee for this with banks and retailers.
There is plenty of shoplifting going on and it ain’t just cash. food, jewellery etc. I bought a car for cash yesterday, just over 2k….The first I’ve ever had delivered before viewing because Billy no mates has nobody to drive him to the garage! Because I don’t do online banking and the trader didn’t have a card machine, I just said I’d pay extra for the delivery providing the car is the condition that was claimed. So I had to drive 20 miles to my nearest Bank branch and because I know the girl who counted my money she asked “buying anything nice”….So I told her. Come to think of it, I wonder if she was obliged to ask because you hear a lot of stories of Banks asking what you’re doing with your own money.
CASH IS KING USE IT OR LOSE IT!
When I first started working I was paid weekly in cash. It was only since the 1980s that employers started insisting employees have bank accounts. And of course there’s been no non cash financial crime committed since that happened has there!
I am Treasurer of a small Not For Profit which, for very old legal reasons which we can’t change, is a Limited Company.
I recently tried to switch our bank account to Lloyds for various very legitimate reasons but without success. The application can only be made online and if you cannot comply with their requirements/enter data TO THE LETTER the application will be automatically rejected.
We can’t comply TO THE LETTER – not least because they require exactly 100% of Shares to be allocated and the Shareholder identified – and we have 19 Shares. 19 into 100 works out at 5.26 and about 8 other decimal places% each …… and they only permit 2 decimal places ….. so we will never be able to honestly comply with their requirements!
Another problem which couldn’t be overcome was their requirement for every Shareholder’s email address and mobile phone number to be entered. A number of Shareholders are very elderly and have neither …. so they couldn’t be entered.
Despite several conversations with several “the-computer-says-no” so-called customer service personnel the impasse could not be overcome.
In my personal life, I am using cash as much as I possibly can. I am part of the “awkward squad” which is doing its level best to prevent the imposition of CBDCs and a social credit system. I ditched my Nectar card several years ago, the only store card I’ve ever had: my data is not for sale for a penny or two off my shopping.