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When #DietrichBonhoeffer, a German Pastor, Theorized How #Stupidity Enabled the Rise of the #Nazis (1942)

in History, Politics | March 26th, 2025

"Two days after Adolf #Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer took to the airwaves. Before his radio broadcast was cut off, he warned his countrymen that their führer could well be a verführer, or misleader. Bonhoeffer’s anti-Nazism lasted until the end of his life in 1945, when he was executed by the regime for association with the 20 July plot to assassinate Hitler. Even while imprisoned, he kept thinking about the origins of the political mania that had overtaken Germany. The force of central importance to Hitler’s rise was not evil, he concluded, but stupidity.

"'Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice,' Bonhoeffer wrote in a letter to his co-conspirators on the tenth anniversary of Hitler’s accession to the chancellorship. 'One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless.' When provoked, 'the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is utterly self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.'

"Fighting stupidity, to Bonhoeffer’s mind, first necessitates understanding it. 'In essence not an intellectual defect but a human one,' stupidity can descend upon practically anyone: 'under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or that they allow this to happen to them.' And it happens most noticeably when a particular figure or movement seizes the attention of the public. '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,' he writes. Since such phenomena could hardly arise without blindly obedient masses, it seems that 'the power of the one needs the stupidity of the other.'

"You can see Bonhoeffer’s theory of stupidity explained in the illustrated Sprouts video above, and you can learn more about the man himself from the documentary Bonhoeffer. Or, better yet, read his collection, Letters and Papers from Prison. Though rooted in his time, culture, and religion, his thought remains relevant wherever humans follow the crowd. 'The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent,' he writes, which held as true in the public squares of wartime Europe as it does on the social-media platforms of today. '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.' Whatever would surprise Bonhoeffer about our time, he would know exactly what we mean when we call stupid people 'tools.'"

openculture.com/2025/03/when-d
#Histodon #History #USPol #WorldPol #Fascism #Authoritarianism #BalladOfTheLittleMan

Open CultureWhen Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Pastor, Theorized How Stupidity Enabled the Rise of the Nazis (1942)Two days after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, the Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer took to the airwaves. Before his radio broadcast was cut off, he warned his countrymen that their führer could well be a verführer, or misleader.

🔴 📖 **Beyond the River, Under the Eye of Rome**

“_Hart delves into the cultural and political impacts of Rome's interactions with Transdanubian peoples, emphasizing the Sarmatians of the Hungarian Plain, whose long encounter with the Roman Empire, he argues, created a problematic template for later dealings with Goths and Huns based on misapplied ethnographic and ecological tropes._”

🔗 doi.org/10.3998/mpub.11453670.

#OpenAccess #OA #DOI #Read #Nonfiction #Book #Ebook #Bookstodon #History #Histodon #Histodons #Europe #Romans #Academia #UniversityPress @bookstodon @histodon @histodons

🔴 **Slavery, Prosperity, and Inequality in Roman Pompeii**

_“These narratives can be seen to form two sides to the same coin, as Pompeii’s prosperity was created in large part thanks to slave labour. The connection is supported by constructing a probabilistic model, which suggests some 6 million sesterces (HS) flowed every year to Pompeii’s masters through their exploitation of slaves. Slave owning probably formed the largest single income source for the urban economy.”_

Seth Bernard, Slavery, Prosperity, and Inequality in Roman Pompeii, Past & Present, 2025;, gtaf006, doi.org/10.1093/pastj/gtaf006

#OpenAccess #OA #Article #DOI #History #Histodon #Histodons #Slavery #Roman #Pompeii #Academia #Academic @histodon @histodons

doi.orgValidate User

Much has been written about emigration *from* Ireland. Little has been written about immigration *to* Ireland, even tho it's had a significant impact on the island over the centuries. It's possible that some of my ancestors were Jewish refugees from Spain and Portugal who settled in southern Ireland in the 16th century. Looking forward to learning more. Happy #SaintPat's y'all ;-) 🍀 🇮🇪 😁 #StPatricksDay #Immigration #Refugees #History #Histodon #Cork #Youghal #Ireland irishtimes.com/culture/books/m

Modern Ireland: Gopal Parsad with Bradley (6) from South Africa and left, Abraham Sabir, from Somalia with Oskar (9) from Slovakia at Knockalisheen, Meelick, Co Clare.  Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons
The Irish Times · Migration and the Making of Ireland: a fresh and fascinating readBy Piaras Mac Éinrí

🔴 📖 **Antiquity - Including the “East” As “Western Identity”**

_“In this book, the reader will access debates on intercultural experiences from the perspective of Phoenician colonists in Spain; the formation of a particular Greek identity built by Greek colonists in Sicily; the dramatic social and cultural transformations in the southern Levant following the regional transition to the Bronze Age; the integration of pre-Islamic Somalia in a trade network connected to the Mediterranean, from the Bronze to Iron ages; the multicultural influences inspiring the Book of Genesis; the cultural identity of early Christians as the New Testament is developed under the influence of Near Eastern traditions; and the complex multi-cultural and multi-ethnic dialogue behind the process of formation of Koine Greek during Byzantine times.”

Antiquity - including the “East” as “Western identity” [Working title] (2023) IntechOpen eBooks. doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.104.

#OpenAccess #OA #DOI #Academic #Ebook #Bookstodon #History #Histodon #Histodons #Archaeology #Archaeodons #Linguistics #Antiquity #Culture #Identity @histodon @histodons @archaeodons @linguistics @bookstodon

doi.orgAntiquity - Including the “East” As “Western Identity” | IntechOpenThe usages of the past, and of antiquity, were felt throughout history, reflecting the fabric of apologetic and ideological narratives. Antiquity is studied to understand time to understand the way in which the past is received, integrated, and used. This work gathers seven essays featuring case studies on ancient cultural identity via interdisciplinary approaches. Interdisciplinarity, thanks to the intersection of history, archaeology, and linguistics, corresponds to the transversal, comprehensive, and complex look essential to understand the intrinsic value of antiquity in each time and in each present. Ancient history and archaeology demonstrate how diverse the ancient world truly was. Socio-cultural change and dynamics in contact situations between groups of distinct cultures produced constant innovations and adaptations. In this book, the reader will access debates on intercultural experiences from the perspective of Phoenician colonists in Spain; the formation of a particular Greek identity built by Greek colonists in Sicily; the dramatic social and cultural transformations in the southern Levant following the regional transition to the Bronze Age; the integration of pre-Islamic Somalia in a trade network connected to the Mediterranean, from the Bronze to Iron ages; the multicultural influences inspiring the Book of Genesis; the cultural identity of early Christians as the New Testament is developed under the influence of Near Eastern traditions; and the complex multi-cultural and multi-ethnic dialogue behind the process of formation of Koine Greek during Byzantine times.

🔴 🇺🇸 🌎 **Uncle Sam, Teddy Bear And Trade Routes**

Title: My, my, such possibilities
Artist: Clifford K. Berryman, 1869-1949.
Created/Published: [ca. 1913].

Citation: Berryman, Clifford Kennedy, Artist. My, My, Such Possibilities., ca. 1913. Photograph. loc.gov/item/2016679406/.

#History #Histodon #Histodons #Cartoon #Drawing #Map #PanamaCanal #UncleSam #USA #US #UnitedStates #America #CentralAmerica #SouthAmerica #Trade @histodon @histodons