Bonhoeffer – stupidity is greater than evil
Two X posts on stupidity were made in January 2026 – on consecutive days. The first by Wayne Mathison on 25 January and the other by TonyS. on the 26th, both cover Bonhoeffer in detail. These discuss the state of Germany during WWII and how Dietrich Bonhoeffer sought to analyse why the country was becoming stupid. Basically it was Bonhoeffer thought the problem was one could not ‘reason with someone who has handed their thinking over to a system.’
Mathison says:
We live in a world that rewards certainty, not thought. Algorithms don’t care whether you are right. They care whether you are predictable. Over time, that pressure nudges people to outsource judgment to tribes, narratives, and approved opinions. Once that happens, facts stop functioning as evidence and start feeling like attacks. The mind locks. The person isn’t ignorant. They’re occupied.
Why Smart Societies Do Dumb Things
— L. Wayne Mathison (@WayneMathison) January 25, 2026
Most people think stupidity is about IQ. It isn’t. That’s the comforting myth. The harder truth, one Dietrich Bonhoeffer worked out while watching Germany lose its mind, is that stupidity is a social condition, not an intellectual one. And it… pic.twitter.com/4wQjIvQV4n
TonyS says
Stupidity is not an intellectual defect but a moral and social one It is not innate low intelligence. Intelligent, well-educated people can become profoundly stupid. Stupidity arises when a person surrenders their independent thinking—often under social pressure, power structures, group conformity, or propaganda.
— Tony S. (@IBelieveUS_250) January 26, 2026
