My continued contemplation about recent events has led me back to consider Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s Theory of Stupidity (an internet search for this theory will help you follow along with my suppositions).
One is this past winter’s anti-ICE movement in Minnesota. The other are April’s “No Kings” rallies. Let’s start with Minnesota and especially the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. It’s reasonable one might believe that Bonhoeffer, an anti-Nazi prisoner, would applaud their actions. He chose prison and eventual death over silence in the face of an evil regime. Surely Good and Pretti are of the same essence. But one must ask if these two were compelled to act as they did by truth or propaganda. Believing what you do about their character, were their actions reasonable in the face of their reality?
It is feasible to entertain if the actions of Good and Pretti meet the underlying assumptions of the Theory of Stupidity. You can say of their personhood that they were brave, courageous, compassionate, etc…, but when does the action of driving your car at or pulling a gun on legitimate law enforcement personnel* equal anything but stupidity? No, it’s not insensitive to ask this question; Bonhoeffer’s theory must be assessed contextually regardless of consequence.
I’ve reviewed various reporting from “No Kings” rallies. I was fascinated by the many protest signs displayed with messages ranging from insightful to nonsensical (see examples from the opinion column “We DO Know” in this publication dated 4-1-2026). Is the Theory of Stupidity applicable as you dissect the messages, evaluate the perspectives expressed, and weigh the evidence behind them? I will say I agree with the premise of the “No Kings” statement. I no more want an authoritative, narcistic “King” as President than I would want a cognitively void octogenarian masquerading as President at the behest of unelected bureaucrats.
The Theory of Stupidity proposes that the proponents of socio-political movements propelled by propaganda but bereft of reason are nearly impossible to challenge through debate or logical discourse. We can only hope they fail by their mere lack of substantive thought. In such movements, perceived virtues are nothing more than noise and the marches they inspire become meaningless pomp and circumstance. The Constitution must always be victorious against such conviction regardless of whether it comes from the Right or Left.
Happy 250th, everyone!
Daniel Cunningham, Jefferson
*Publisher’s note –Eye witnesses have said Alex Pretti was holding a phone, not a gun, at the time he was shot, and there is no verified evidence that he brandished the gun at officers.
