Why Stupidity Is More Dangerous Than Evil—Bonhoeffer

Описание: Why Stupidity Is More Dangerous Than Evil — Bonhoeffer explains why stupidity doesn’t need malice to destroy lives. It doesn’t plot. It doesn’t calculate. It simply operates on autopilot, immune to reason and convinced it’s right.

Stupidity doesn’t announce itself. It shows up in meetings, in leadership, in systems that reward conformity over independent judgement. Evil can be anticipated and countered because it requires intention. Stupidity requires nothing. It deflects, retreats into clichés, appeals to authority, and becomes hostile the moment it’s questioned.

This video breaks down how stupidity becomes structural: how organizations select for agreeableness, how systems promote people who don’t challenge assumptions, and how leadership becomes incapable of adaptation. It explores why intelligence becomes a liability inside environments designed around comfort, pace, and compliance.

Using Neville Chamberlain as an example, it shows how “good intentions” can still lead to irreversible damage when judgement fails. It also contrasts this with George Marshall, who built systems that rewarded performance over likeability and refused to tolerate yes-men.

Bonhoeffer called stupidity sociological, not psychological: the surrender of independent thought to propaganda, peer pressure, and authority. And once stupidity is embedded in power, the only correction is collapse.

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