In the two trading days since Donald John Trump’s announcement of the stupidest and most unnecessary set of near-global (404 – Russia Not Found) tariffs since The Great Depression, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 9.2%, the S&P 500 fell 10.5%, and the Nasdaq plummeted 11.4%. Literal trillions of value were wiped out of corporations’, shareholders’, and retirement accounts in an uncontrolled freefall that was utterly avoidable. The premise of “We buy more from the world than they buy from us so we should try to impose tariffs until it all levels out” is catastrophically dumb.
One cannot reason with stupidity. Stupidity does not question; it does not waver; it does not feel shame for its actions. Malice knows it is wrong. Sean Hannity is fully aware his riches come from telling people lies, but he’s apparently fine with enriching himself. Those comforted by his lies choose not to question because they like how they feel. When people choose to stop thinking – as we clearly see at such a scale today – it is challenging to come up with an effective solution without actually addressing the root causes of why people choose to turn off.
The embracing and celebration of stupidity isn’t necessarily new, but its consequences may have reached a tipping point. Issac Asimov, prolific science-fiction author, pointed out, “Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'” It wasn’t that long ago we were celebrating putting people on the moon, harnessing the power of the atom, and other feats of knowledge seemingly impossible to ascertain or achieve a few years prior. We were unlocking the secrets of the universe, advancing medicine, and making life just that much better for the everyperson.
So, why have we potentially reached a tipping point? Because malice knows it is wrong, it eventually fails. At some point, malice can no longer sustain itself because people are not born evil; it is a learned behavior needing fuel to sustain itself. Evil is selfish by nature, whereas good prioritizes the many. Stupidity, believing without questioning charges without fear of consequence and the consequence of Trump and his voters, is a loss of faith and trust in The United States of America by the rest of the world. As anyone who has lived long enough knows, trust, once lost, is not easy to regain.
How did we get here? Here is one example: Barry Goldwater, a prominent conservative of his time, tried to warn us, “Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.” This is the same Barry Goldwater who was partly responsible for the Southern Strategy – the Republican idea to court the dissatisfied white people who were unhappy with The Civil Rights Movement undoing Jim Crow laws and making racial progress.
Another example is the resurfacing of the idea of “American Exceptionalism” in the 1980s. The idea somehow we are uniquely different from the rest of the world took hold and was such a ‘common sense’ idea one may be viewed as ‘unamerican’ if you disagreed. The common thread here is an ‘Us’ vs ‘Them’ mentality. In the former, it is Whites vs Blacks (et al.), and in the latter, it is The USA vs Everyone Who Dares Disagree. Add in the scars of McCarthyism, Watergate, and a list too long for a piece this short, and the trend that emerges was dubbed “Rugged Individualism.”
Gone was the idea of “It takes a village to raise a child,” and its replacement is “@#$% you, I got mine!” Rugged Individualism is prime ground for stupidity to flourish, as individuals are easier to divide with fear and anger than communities. More than that, by the time the Cold War was over, 9/11 and the War on Terror reignited people’s hatred and paranoia; the 2008 Financial Crisis allowed the already wealthy to swoop in and buy the average citizen’s lost assets for pennies on the dollar, COVID, and Social Media further compartmentalizing people – our low trust society became a post-fact low trust society. We now no longer all live in the same reality, and that stupidity wherein people have allowed others to think for them has cost us lives, stability, and our place and relationships in the world.
I’ve been saying for some time now that the resolution to guilt is forgiveness. The resolution to stupidity isn’t knowledge; it is connection. Ignorance can be cured with knowledge; stupidity is a choice, an attitude, an abdication of our responsibilities. I try to teach ‘you and the environment are one.’ It is a simple mantra with significant implications. Those who felt privileged enough to vote against the rights and interests of others because they would not be impacted now have consequences anyway. Trying to say, “I didn’t vote for that,” well, yes, you did. The tariffs, in particular, were a keystone part of the campaign, and ‘When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time’ (Maya Angelou). The warning signs were shouted in plain language from Kamala herself on the debate stage to countless people from round table discussions to dinner table struggles.
Assuming we emerge from the other side, where do we go from here? We have to treat people like people. We have to restore the historical record the Trump Regime is censoring full of achievements made by Women, People of Color, and the Pride Community (etc). We have to apologize to the Global Community and demonstrate in real terms we are not trying to go it alone. Carl Sagan, when reflecting on a picture taken of the Earth in space, summed it up well, “Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering…”
‘The aggregate of our joy and suffering.’ We’re all in this together, and while the racists, sexists, war profiteers, insurance companies, yada yada – they make profit not from the cure but from the disease; not in peace but from the war; not in collaboration but in the division. At the protest I was at today, I saw just the opposite. I didn’t see stupidity but community. I saw signs standing with Ukraine and Canada, Trans Rights and Women’s Rights, Social Security and Veteran’s Benefits, Pro-Democracy, Pro-Education, Pro-Library, Pro-Environment, and more. I saw smiles, hugs, and new friends being made.
Most importantly, I saw Hope. All of these issues pooled together in one place and shouted, ‘We can do all of these things and more.’ Stupidity demands we stop thinking for ourselves, and I hope more people understand real connection doesn’t come from mindlessly following someone but by understanding on this ‘Pale Blue Dot’ of ours, helping someone is helping ourselves.
We and the Environment are One.
reBLUEvinate.