Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian and pastor, wrote shortly before his death at the hand of the Nazis, 

“Upon closer observation, it becomes apparent that every strong upsurge of power in the public sphere, be it of a political or of a religious nature, infects a large part of humankind with stupidity. It would even seem that this is virtually a sociological-psychological law. The power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.

The process at work here is not that particular human capacities, for instance, the intellect, suddenly atrophy or fail. Instead, it seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence, and, more or less consciously, give up establishing an autonomous position toward the emerging circumstances.

The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with a person, but with slogans, catchwords and the like that have taken possession of him.”

Remember that he is writing about his own Germany during World War II, a highly educated, cultured society. How did they fall for the psychopathic Fuhrer? It has been pondered for decades since. A sobering reminder of the moral ambiguity of human beings. That it also occurred with the acquiescence of the Christian churches is a warning. It was not the lack of biblical information, but an absence of biblical wisdom and understanding and, finally, courage.

But there is another aspect to this. Stupidity requires our fears and anxiety, fear of death, of exclusion and of isolation. And Germany, as the late Baptist theologian James Wm. McClendon, jr. pointed out, had a culture heavily saturated in the virtue of conformity. Protest, dissent, and resistance were less prized, and so as Hitler ramped up plans for global domination, those who saw the madness had few places to turn. Instead, as Elie Wiesel said, they closed their curtains and turned away as the trains were being loaded for the camps.

Stupidity here is not a personal attack on individuals. It is closer in the Bible to the fool in the book of Proverbs, who turns away from all that is true and best. We are all at risk for its seductions. The first principle of the Hebrew Scriptures is that only God is God and we are not. When we yield that place to ourselves ( even in speaking for God falsely) or to another or to a movement, there is no possibility of avoiding disaster.

David Brooks, the conservative columnist, wrote a piece this week on the current moment, in part reflecting Bonhoeffer’s words. It is a good read. This is a moment of great upheaval and a surge of authoritarian bluster. The worst we can do is simply call one another stupid and ignore the difficulty wisdom asks of us. We still have opportunity to find the way forward. But only if we are wise and determined.

And a note of practical reality: pointing out stupidity, as Bonhoeffer said, only causes the one under its spell to double down. When one has collapsed and resigned their inner freedom to resist, think, refuse, they have no capacity to do anything but acquiesce, but in their mind are a thousand rationalizations to grasp.The stupid man or woman is convinced that the one who calls them out is lost, deluded or “has not educated himself,” surely a strange assertion! Action, not argument, is alone available.

Look around. It is here.

Let the one who has ears to hear, listen.