William Davies in The Guardian draws upon Hannah Arendt to criticise the epidemic of “stupidity” that is spreading across Western society (previously discussed on this site in GOLDEN AGE OF STUPIDITY – BBC). I certainly see an epidemic of irrationality; there’s always been hidden irrationality in Western culture, but it’s now becoming more overt. However I’d explain this in terms of many people’s growing sense of powerlessness and lack of hope, which is causes them to reach towards magical thinking and apparent saviours. Driving the irrationality is a tide of emotion, primarily rage, which the algorithms of the social media platforms depend upon to sustain engagement. In fact, the Internet is fast becoming a rage engine, a machine that feeds on human emotion.
Stupidity and irrationality
5 responses to “Stupidity and irrationality”
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good continuation on this important subject
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Another question is why the powers that be encourage us to be irrational and emotional. I suppose it is marketable. In this time where created erratic feelings can be channelled and directed towards concerted results. Real feelings and thoughts are suppressed as they might be dangerous to the system. Imagine if we have full expression of our relationship to other living creatures and all of nature. It is about maintaining a controllable domination. If not there might be an industrial standstill, profits for the few lost.
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I think that the fear and rage that many people are feeling are genuine, but it is magnified and channeled by social media and those leaders who seek to manipulate it. Powerlessness can find an outlet in sadism, directed for example at immigrants.
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Some writers about this current situation are optimistic that once these irrational fantasies collide with reality (William Davies cites the example of the inflationary consequences of Trump’s tariffs) then they will be checked. I’m not so sure. QAnon made repeated predictions (such as “Hillary Clinton will be arrested tomorrow”) that didn’t come true, but people continued to believe. Human irrationality can be remarkably persistent.
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On a related theme, Claire Wilmot in a recent post to the LRB blog (https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2025/september/fascistic-dream-machines) argues that fact-checking isn’t an effective response to the AI-generated videos going the rounds of the far-right social media channels, that give visual form to the far-right’s fantasies. These videos express the emotional landscape of the far right, and require a whole alternative vision of change to counter them.
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