The four horsemen…beware
STUPIDITY leads the pack rounding the bend heading straight into the Apocalypse.
In American pop culture the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame comprised a group of American football players at the University of Notre Dame under coach Knute Rockne. They were the backfield of Notre Dame's 1924 football team that defeated unbeaten Army 13-7 in New York. Here’s how the greatest literary sports writer of his generation described it:
“Outlined against a blue, gray October sky the Four Horsemen rode again.
In dramatic lore they are known as famine, pestilence, destruction and death. These are only aliases. Their real names are: Stuhldreher, Miller, Crowley and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend cyclone before which another fighting Army team was swept over the precipice at the Polo Grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below.”
The Biblical symbolism of the Four Horsemen is so strong that the reference is also employed to signify “doomsday” in any aspect of life as follows:
Four Horsemen (Supreme Court), United States Supreme Court's conservative justices during the New Deal era
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (blackjack), the four U.S. Army engineers who discovered in the 1950s the first correct Basic Strategy for the casino game of Blackjack
Four Horsemen (NASA), senior scientists and consultants to NASA during the Apollo program: Bob Walker; Jim Arnold; Paul Werner Gast; and Gerry Wasserburg
"The Four Horsemen", colloquial name given to the proponents of the "New Atheism": Richard Dawkins; Daniel C. Dennett; Sam Harris; and Christopher Hitchens
Four Horsemen (American football), the nickname of the 1924 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team backfield
The Four Horsemen (professional wrestling), a professional wrestling stable
The Four Horsemen (cricket), the nickname for the West Indies pace bowling attack of the late 1970s and 1980s. The term usually applies to the late 1970s lineup of Holding, Garner, Roberts and Croft but is also used with regard to later lineups involving Marshall and, more rarely, later lineups still involving Bishop, Walsh and Ambrose. Patterson, Clarke and Daniel are occasionally considered horsemen
The Four Horseman, a contract bridge team founded in 1931 by P. Hal Sims, consisting of Sims, Oswald Jacoby, Willard S. Karn, and David Burnstine
In Christian tradition, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse signify the beginning of the end times. American evangelicals (I.e, Republicans) support an independent Israel only because they see it as a harbinger of the end times. Today it is playing out in American politics by a Republican lean toward Russia in the conflict in Ukraine because it is seen as the first battle of the Apocalypse. So who are these Four Horseman?
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (often referred to as the Four Horsemen) are figures in the Christian religion, first appearing in the Old Testament's prophetic Book of Zechariah and in the Book of Ezekiel, where they are named as punishments from God. They later appear in the New Testament's final book, Revelation, an apocalypse written by John of Patmos.
Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals. The Lamb of God/Lion of Judah opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. Zechariah describes them as "the ones whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth," causing it to rest quietly. Ezekiel lists them as "sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague".
In John's revelation, the first horseman rides on a white horse, carries a bow, and is given a crown – he rides forward as a figure of Conquest,[1][2] perhaps invoking Pestilence, Christ, or the Antichrist. The second carries a sword and rides a red horse and is the creator of (civil) War.[3] The third, a food-merchant riding upon a black horse, symbolizes Famine. He carries The Scales.[4] The fourth and final horse is pale, and upon it rides Death, accompanied by Hades.[5] "They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and plague, and by means of the beasts of the earth."[6]
Apocalyptic Christianity sometimes interprets the Four Horsemen as a vision of harbingers of the Last Judgment, setting a divine end-time upon the world.[7][8] - Wikipedia.
If I were to redefine the Four Horsemen in modern terms that sweep across all -isms and personify the most destructive forces in the world today, I would say: INSANITY, IGNORANCE, STUPIDITY and EVILNESS. Of the four, “stupidity” is the most dangerous because it is more easily mistaken for goodness, reason and logic. “Crazy” and “evil” have nowhere to hide and are irredeemable. “Ignorance” is easily correctable and subject to logical refutation.
There are some interesting comments that show I’m not alone in my judgement:
Evil isn’t the real threat to the world. Stupid is just as destructive as Evil, maybe more so, and it’s a hell of a lot more common. What we really need is a crusade against Stupid. That might actually make a difference.
― Jim Butcher, VignetteYou are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant.
― Harlan EllisonI'll take crazy over stupid any day.
― Joss WhedonIn politics, stupidity is not a handicap.
― Napoleon BonaparteWe keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid.
― Christopher HitchensA stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand.
― Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy
When I interact with the world today, I am convinced of my stupidity. My friends harangue me because I won’t condemn Russia for the war in Ukraine. They also think I should get out of Moscow while I still can. And they think I should lose weight. There’s great interest in how I’m doing and how I feel. Oh, and how’s Olga by the way?
Being besieged on all sides results in a paralysis of decision. Shocked into inaction. Stupefied! Just another form of stupidity.
Insanity has been described as “ doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” That’s not crazy. It’s stupid. And all of us are a little of both.
What is the best idea of “crazy” you can think of - sword wielding jihadis chopping off the heads of non-believers? This is more an example of stupid.
Hitler exterminating millions of Jews? Definitely a crazy act anchored in profound stupidity. So you see, most of what we consider crazy is stupid.
Crazy are serial killers and mass murderers in schools and churches. Rapists. Anyone with uncontrollable actions aimed at themselves or others. “Stupid” differs in that it is curable. In the sense that Hitler’s actions were rooted in a racial theory that shielded his inbred bigotry - then crazy applies.
Nowadays the favorite clincher in a political argument is to compare someone to Hitler. In so doing, we absolve the person of all guilt because he is “crazy” like Hitler. But when we want to say someone is crazy but culpable, we say, “Crazy like a fox .” Foxes are cunning, not even stupid.
Let’s look at some acceptable definitions of “stupid” and “stupidity”.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes:
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.”
I like Martin Luther King’s take on the subject:
There is nothing more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity" When Martin Luther King Jr. said this it was in the context of explaining the rationalization of the enslavement, mistreatment, and vilification of African Americans by the white community. African American slaves were thought to be an inferior species and thus deserving of their fate. Written in our Constitution is the formula for representation of the states where every man gets a single vote and the slaves were considered three fifths of a person and not considered to have rights (women – none at all).
We now recognize the pure folly of that way of thinking. Those who did think that way were sincere (in their ignorance) and were thought to be conscientious (in their stupidity).
Wikipedia offers a very nice discursive definition, opening with:
Stupidity is a quality or state of being stupid, or an act or idea that exhibits properties of being stupid.[4] In a character study of "The Stupid Man" attributed to the Greek philosopher Theophrastus (c. 371 – c. 287 BC), stupidity was defined as "mental slowness in speech or action". The modern English word "stupid" has a broad range of application, from being slow of mind (indicating a lack of intelligence, care or reason), dullness of feeling or sensation (torpidity, senseless, insensitivity), or lacking interest or point (vexing, exasperating). It can either imply a congenital lack of capacity for reasoning, or a temporary state of daze, or slow-mindedness.
In Understanding Stupidity, James F. Welles defines stupidity this way: "The term may be used to designate a mentality which is considered to be informed, deliberate and maladaptive." Welles distinguishes stupidity from ignorance; where stupidity means one must know they are acting in their own worst interest in that it must be a choice, not a forced act or accident. Lastly, it requires the activity to be maladaptive, in that it is in the worst interest of the actor, and specifically done to prevent adaption to new data or existing circumstances."[5]
We all need to examine our consciences. In a previous column I described “willful ignorance” as a dangerous moral failing. “Stupidity” is about how a particular mind functions. When a stupid person becomes self aware, he/she recuses one self from areas of mental incapacity. The unaware stupid person is a “head lowered bull in an intellectual china shop.” If that person has the trappings of social acceptability, and the ability to emotionally punctuate positions, - very, very dangerous.
With the country torn apart by MAGA heads, Ukrainistas, anti-abortion fascists, election deniers, culture cancelists, liberal warhawks —both ignorance and stupidity abound. We read about families torn apart over supporting Donald Trump. The curse of America is the killing of simple family values by the cultural dissonance infecting our public discourse.
Here’s an easy test to determine your ignorance or stupidity:
Answer YES or NO or MAYBE.
My country, right or wrong.
Versus my country, yours is always wrong.
Sanctions should always precede military force.
We should overthrow unfriendly governments.
We should leave the U.N.
We should aggressively promote democracy internationally.
Critical race theory should not be taught anywhere.
Morning prayer and the Pledge should open every school day.
Moslems should be barred from public office.
Mexican immigration should be halted.
If you answered YES on all the questions you are either totally ignorant or stupid.
If you answered NO on all the questions, ditto for your lack of discernment.
If you answered MAYBE on all the questions, you’re a fence-sitting fool.
If you answered YES on 1, 2, 7, and 8 - definitely stupid.
If you answered YES on the others - definitely ignorant.
If you had fun taking this test, you’re very insecure.
If you bypassed the test, a sign of high intelligence.
As for me, like a good and honest American, I rigged the test .