‘The Triumph of Stupidity’

 In 1933, Bertrand Russell wrote an essay deploring the politics of Germany.

Russell’s work in logic had been built on the foundations of Gottlob Frege. Russell said that individual Germans had done more for civilization in the past 150 years than individuals from any other country. But the Nazis were degrading civilization, Russell said. Give them a few years in power, and the Germans would be reduced to the level of the Goths. Here’s Russell’s summary:

 

The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are in full doubt.

 

Russell said that what was happening in Germany could happen anywhere. He also said the bright spot in the gloomy picture was America.

The first sentence still rings true.

• Source: Bertrand Russell’s essay “The Triumph of Stupidity” is in Mortals and Others: Bertrand Russell’s American Essays, 1931-1935, edited by Harry Ruja; Routledge, 1998, Vol. 2, pp. 27-8.