Sci.Physics.Foundations

Bonhoeffer was a German theologian and dissident anti-Nazi. He was hanged in 1945 by the Nazis.

“Against stupidity we have no defense. Neither protests nor force can touch it. Reasoning is of no use. Facts that contradict personal prejudices can simply be disbelieved — indeed, the fool can counter by criticizing them, and if they are undeniable, they can just be pushed aside as trivial exceptions. So the fool, as distinct from the scoundrel, is completely self-satisfied. In fact, they can easily become dangerous, as it does not take much to make them aggressive. For that reason, greater caution is called for than with a malicious one. Never again will we try to persuade the stupid person with reasons, for it is senseless and dangerous.” — Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Ignorance can be cured; stupid is forever.
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Great quote. I read Bonhoeffer as a teenager. His theology left quite an impression on me. Whether or not it is dangerous to argue with a stupid person depends on their power and that depends on whether or not they have supporters. Hence Bonhoeffer advised caution. When fighting a more powerful enemy one should look at the methods of great resistance fighters and revolutionaries like Ghandi. An important tool is “divide and rule”. Another tool is to make them angry so they lose their cool and resort to ad hominem arguments or crude abuse. This will discredit them in the eyes of their smarter supporters. So arguing with not too powerful stupid people can be effective in an indirect way. I learnt a lot from fighting to correct some terrible miscarriages of justice. The main tool then is simply revealing the truth, and revealing the un-truth of the opposition’s facts or arguments, That way the societal pressure can grow. It takes a long time, a lot of work, a lot of patience.

It describes our current Republican Party to a tee. It is actually quite unbelievable but true and only takes one stupid moron to cause it.
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