A Pre-Collapse Cure for Stupidity
Media, Politics, Philosophy
Summary
a straightforward, blunt instrument intended to jar us out of our collective stupor
in the face of catastrophe. Squarely taking on critical, timely issues such as climate
change, democracy, populism, and the state of journalism, Dabala deploys a provocative,
untimely language intended to persuasively argue that our present world is
the outcome of a mass stupefaction of our own making.
Professor Richard Baxstrom, University of Edinburgh
“Do we need an informed public and knowledgeable narrators making sense of
things at a time of great complexity and uncertainty? We do. But as Jacek Dabala
points out in his engaging new book, the globe is facing endangered democracies,
empowered politicians drawn to totalitarianism and journalists lacking the skills to
respond. Chief among Dabala’s necessary conclusions: We need better education
teaching “the meaning and real value of democracy and freedom.” And we need it
now. Before it’s too late.”
Professor Steven Beschloss, Arizona State University
“Born of frustration and an awareness of impending climate disaster, in this short
book Jacek Dabala sets out his sense of the whole problem. Dabala reveals a vicious
and self-reinforcing cycle of propaganda and stupidity built of short-sighted, selfserving
or outright malevolent voices in politics and the media.”
Professor Nicholas J. Cull, University of Southern California
“In these provocative and timely essays, Jacek Dabala issues a clarion call to educators,
journalists, and politicians to address the major crises facing the world today
by ending the “circle of stupidity” that perpetuates bad governance and misinformation
with devastating consequences.”
Professor Diana Owen, Georgetown University
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- Contents
- Foreward
- The Stupidity of Politicians and What It Means in the Time of Climate Change
- The Climate and the Paradox of Freedom Without Freedom
- Real Democracy: No Other Way
- Who Is to Blame for the Climate Catastrophe?
- Over Population and Poverty
- Consumption and Pragmatism
- Homework for Politicians: Delivery from Utopia
- Why Is Democracy Struggling and Why Is War a Real Threat?
- Political and Journalistic Content Is Not a Tool
- An Effective Maintenance Tool for Democracy
- The Imagination of Politicians and Journalists Continues to Be Tested
- The Death of Democracy in Seventeen Steps
- Liberalism Versus Conservatism: The Antagonism That Is But Is Not
- The Political Hoodlum
- The Antagonism That Is
- The Antagonism That Is, But It Is Artificial
- Antagonism That Is Not
- The ABC of the Media
- Fact 1
- Fact 2
- Fact 3
- Fact 4
- Fact 5
- Fact 6
- Fact 7
- Fact 8
- Fact 9
- Fact 10
- Fact 11
- Fact 12
- Fact 13
- Fact 14
- Fact 15
- How Do I Vote?
- The “Silly Buggers”
- Be Aware of Propaganda
- The Dumb Masses Will Buy Into That
- The Lie of Foreign Capital
- Do Not Persecute Journalists
- How To Tell a Propagandist from a Journalist?
- Language Stigmatizes Propagandists
- Propaganda Is the Necessary Evil of Politics
- Conscious or “Put(…)nised” Propagandists
- Standards
- How to Tell a Propagandist from a Journalist?
- Journalistic Impartiality Is Not a Myth
- The Birth of a Propagandist
- Perils
- What Went Wrong?
- Corruptions of Political Freedom
- The Source of Hostility
- Political Banditry
- Blatant Incompetence in Practice
- Two Paths Towards Corruption
- Intellectual Overestimation
- The Tail Wagging the Dog
- The Self-Evidence of Conservatism
- The Beauty of Faith and Religion
- The Problem with “Umbrella” Mentality
- Perfect Journalism: Is It Really That Simple?
- Strong Democracy First
- Independence Means Money
- How to Secure Private Media and Journalism
- The Simple Truth
- Three Questions to Test the Quality of Any Government
- Is the Tax System Overly Complicated?
- Should I Start and Run a Business in Your Country?
- What Matters More in Your Country, the Economy or Politics?
- How Dictators Are Bred
- The Invisible Foundations of Dictatorships
- The Denial
- Mistakes Made by Politicians and Journalists
- Dictatorial Methods of Subjugation and Stupefaction
- A Cure for the Global Political Stupidity
- Who Is Stupid and Why?
- Why Do Politicians Not Change the Sorry State of Governance?
- What Is the Tool: Or How Do We Fix This Prevalence of Stupidity?
- Cruelty of the World’s Political Future
- The Determinism of “Lack”
- Rational Democracy Is a Necessity
- Supranational Political System
- New Law
- New Values
- New Religion
- Media Minimalism
- New Education
- Sources of Political Stupidity
- Tribality and Hostility
- Lack of Self-Criticism or Capacity for Radical Change
- Deformations of Democracy
- Ambivalence in the Affirmation of Secularity
- Can Religion and Faith Still Be Saved in the Contemporary World
- About the Author
- Bibliography
- Index of Names and Notions
Foreword
Yes, this book is presumptuous. It aims to formulate a concrete, concise, and comprehensive recipe for a better world. It ventures to explain the possible ways of limiting human stupidity. After all, no-one has ever managed that, so why not give it a go? Thousands of politicians and journalists have long been busy constructing a reality wherein misery clearly outweighs happiness. Scientists and teachers have struggled to find a remedy for this evil and failed. Meanwhile, philosophers have become hopelessly mired in the complexity of their own discourse. Even if they do come up with viable solutions, their sheer convolutedness makes them unfit for any but the most advanced curricula. For instance, who among our fellow citizens, politicians or journalists is even aware of one of the first cures for stupidity proposed by Immanuel Kant in his treatise “On Perpetual Peace”? Sadly, hundreds of years have gone by without much progress in this regard, as people continue to struggle with rational thinking. In other words—it all looks great on paper, but when it comes to practical application, politics and the media fail to use the solution or use it incorrectly. This is exactly what I am trying to change and why the book was written. I comfort myself that as long as things are heading in the right direction, I can shoulder the envy and criticism that is bound to follow. After all, people smarter than me might soon decide to become even more presumptuous. To them I say: well done, but I beat you to it.
The recipe for stupidity is rooted in media content, for it is there that the actual reflection of the world is found. Including all of its lies. It is an image shaped in a myriad of ways. And even though it is inescapably incomplete, it is enough to peel off the masks and peek into the reality of things. It all comes down to governance and information—those foundations of human development. To a certain degree, we are all, without exception, dependent on information and subject to someone else’s power.
The purpose of this book is to serve as a tool that will allow readers to better understand political and journalistic content. If you cannot understand its gist or accept the opinions it contains because you prefer your own, you surrender yourself to the world as it exists today and its inherent evil. The book is a suggestion, a lodestar pointing towards universal wellbeing, which, at this stage, means an optimally managed state: one that is internally and externally benevolent. It outlines the simplest strategy for attaining and maintaining power by securing sufficient majority support. The respective essays propose a strictly rational approach informed by common sense, logic, and simplicity of argumentation. Indeed, herein lies the difference between an honest scientific perspective and a strictly political, journalistic, or artistic one, whose alleged rationality is inherently susceptible to self-interest and bias.
The decision to formulate my deliberations is the style of separate essays, to boil difficult problems down to their most barebones essentials, follows the approach adopted by e.g. Leonardo da Vinci, who wrote that “simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” Albert Einstein: “everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler,” or Steve Jobs: “that’s been one of my mantras—focus and simplicity.” For my part, I too went out of my way to express exceedingly complex matters in as simple a way as possible.
It is my belief that, should these essays be carefully studied and, above all, properly understood, they may provide a foundation for an entirely new understanding of politics and the media. This, in turn, should provide guidance for education, so that human stupidity is prevented from further thwarting mankind’s development in the centuries to come. A radical change is needed if humanity is to survive. The initial step has to be taken by the wisest politicians. They are the ones who ought to set an example and be the first to educate themselves. Here, perhaps, lies the greatest hurdle that may block any future progress.
Since politicians are confident enough to presume to lead others, they must also accept the responsibility for understanding and disseminating the message of this book. A similar obligation applies to journalists. The content that both these groups have been putting out for years has clearly failed to secure worldwide wellbeing, hence—to put it bluntly—they are hardly in a position to reject this new knowledge and its implications.
If readers make the effort to carefully study and understand these essays, they are bound to see the plain truth that the path outlined here is the only viable direction. A new approach to education, social interaction, and governance must be adopted. I expect that this message, even though seemingly self-evident, may be difficult for many to digest and therefore difficult to accept. After all, something that seems unimaginable will also be perceived as untenable, which is exactly how the circle of stupidity becomes complete. In this context, any attempt to argue that the world is fine as it is, to undermine the facts and deny the need for an entirely new, global approach to education, will be a sure sign of a clinically weak mind. One that needs urgent therapy in fact, for rejection of the self-evident truth is the very definition of insanity that leads to willingness to sacrifice everything, one’s own life included, in defence of misguided stupidity.
One has to understand that every political decision, every action and communication of those in power, weighs heavily on the quality of every other sphere of both personal and professional life, including education, law, business, medicine, religion, entertainment, and art. Actual lives may hang in the balance whenever even a minute policy change is introduced. We should not forget that dissemination of vital information, originally through the songs and tales of “travelling storytellers,” bards and troubadours, or officially—in the Greek Agora or Forum Romanum, in “Acta Diurna” that were not unlike modern mass media, in the writings of Herodotus and Tacitus—even if not directly identified as journalism, has been a part of politics for millennia, ever since the earliest forms of human governance began to crop up. Even in those ancient times, such endeavours walked the tenuous line between information and propaganda—a dichotomy deeply familiar to all individuals ever to have aspired to ruling their fellow men, be it by force or reason. In other words, thirst for power or dire circumstances have always inspired the strongest to seek control over their fellow men.
The “physical” rulers—let us call them the first dictators, were sometimes counterbalanced by individuals electing to follow reason. The latter perceived governance not as a goal in itself, but rather a necessary tool facilitating their communities’ survival, safety, and development. Unfortunately, this eternal disparity of attitudes remains unresolved. Individuals capable of either will emerge in societies worldwide whenever particular conditions make it possible. Aspiring despots or party-centric dictatorships mentally and physically assault their fellow citizens, for that is the word that most aptly describes their behaviour, and clash with democratic governments in an effort to impose their authority.
Details
- Pages
- 134
- Publication Year
- 2024
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9783631920992
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9783631925010
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9783631920985
- DOI
- 10.3726/b22220
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2024 (September)
- Keywords
- Media politics philosophy education journalism propaganda religion liberalism conservatism
- Published
- Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, New York, Oxford, 2024. 134 pp., 1 fig. b/w.
- Product Safety
- Peter Lang Group AG
