The four types

The American right wing is laden with both toxicity and stupidity. They have espoused misogyny, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia with a gusto that makes the rest of us bristle. However there was nowhere else to logically go when you amass the worst instincts of a society under one tent.

Yesterday I showed a video showcasing Cipolla's 5 laws of stupidity. He was an economist who in 1976 jokingly wrote a short book which was eventually shared with the world. In it he stated that the population basically fell into 4 categories: the intelligent, the bandits, the helpless and the stupid. The latter being most dangerous of all because it includes people who do harm to themselves as well as others and have remarkably low critical thinking skills.

The current political right seems to be teeming with a disproportionate amount of stupid people who follow orders blindly. Thus one can see how a cult of personality is created especially in this culture war climate which proves that Cipolla wasn't wrong. It is how other despots rose to power by counting heavily on the stupid.

Bandits work to their own advantage and understand what is going on but they capitalize on the current climate to get what they want. There are plenty of those in the upper echelons of right wing movements.

The helpless are often well-meaning but don't have the power to exert change and are often the most exploited. The intelligent do their best by behaving ethically and morally in a world where the odds are often stacked against them as they push back on both the stupid and the bandits.

It is how the world has always worked.