If you have not heard of Valkyrie before, it was the cover name of the failed attempted coup by German Nazi officers to assassinate Adolf Hitler during WWII.  It was honored by the movie Valkyrie in 2008, four years after the release of the movie Downfall in Germany–a landmark moment when Germany finally started a very real come-to-terms phrase with its Nazi past.

Klaus Von Staffenberg led the group, and only in recent times has he and the entire group been honored for the courage they displayed in their daring attempt to end the destruction of WW2 from the inside.

One of the supporters of the group was Dietrich Bohnhoeffer.  His family had immigrated to the United States, but he felt a calling to return to his native Germany because of the Nazi reign he saw destroying his beloved country.  Bohnhoeffer was captured with others, and was sentenced to death and hanged in 1945.

While he was in prison, he wrote a lesson and a warning as true today as it was then.  I recommend reading this and passing it on to others to read as well:

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 him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being. Having thus become a mindless tool, the stupid person will also be capable of any evil and at the same time incapable of seeing that it is evil.

This is where the danger of diabolical misuse lurks, for it is this that can once and for all destroy human beings.

Note: Keep in mind, as you read this, that Bohnhoeffer was an ordained Christian pastor.

— TL;DR —

The full text is here: Bonhoeffer On Stupidity

Updated: 22 Jul 2024 to include more relevant text in the excerpt.

No Comments
History, Politics and Public Policy, Random Thoughts