It’s a bold statement: stupidity is worse than the Coronavirus Pandemic. Yup, Covid19 is bad, and I don’t mean to diminish how deadly it is, but there is a more nefarious character: the Cult of Stupidity, fueling the virus’ growth and killing far more Americans than poorer less educated countries… and it’s all of us, even non-members, who are paying tribute.
The Worship of the Dumb
Trump’s briefing where he suggested that injecting disinfectants may cure Covid19 reveals much more than a single man’s stupidity. There is a greater epidemic that permeates our society, a celebration of stupidity that ascends such a man to such power.
Anti-vaxxers, climate deniers, Trump defenders, Flat Earthers, these are all movements of people who harden their own stupidity when faced with hard evidence… Trump is merely a symptom of the Cult of Stupidity phenomenon.
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s followers rose to defend his undefendable comment.
The Privilege of Stupidity
Isn’t it fascinating that it’s the ruling class who are the cult’s priests. Look at these protesters shouting at police officers during an armed Michigan protest against stay-at-home orders. What do you notice?
Imagine if it were Black Lives Matter protestors, armed and shouting at police; of course they would be arrested or shot. White privilege protects not only their safety from police, it also protects their capability to flaunt and worship their stupidity.
Privilege is the fuel when they scorn facts and elevate their own conspiracy theories; when they refuse to listen to reason and threaten to leave your church and sever ties with you if you argue the facts with them. It is privilege that hardens the resolve of members to deepen their ties within the Cult of Stupidity.
Stupidity vs. Medicine
In the interest of brevity, I cannot comment on every horrifying instance of stupidity in our current times, I only wish to comment on the bitter irony that medical professionals are sworn by oath to revive the protestors (later infected by covid19) shouting insults at them.
Christians in the Cult
It genuinely grieves me that believers make up a disproportionate membership in the Cult of Stupidity. I have fond memories of my nearly two decades in the Evangelical Church; I know that believers are better than this, I am smacking my forehead, confounded: “How could this be?!”
Unfortunately, Christians suffer from a debilitating misinterpretation of “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). Trump can claim he’s a stable genius, but even in the face of OVERWHELMING contrary evidence they continue to believe because “God called me to”, or some similar trite phrase.
However, Christians are capable of marrying scientific fact and faith. They’ve long ago rejected that natural disasters are God’s wrath, why? Evidence. Christians are rejecting that gay marriage will destroy the institution of marriage, why? Obvious facts (and the nauseatingly high accepted divorce rate within the church).
But because of the single issue of abortion, and the Cult of Stupidity, when it comes to Christian Conservatism, all capability of balancing rationality and cultish fervor fly out the window.
One of these things is not like the other… guess who’s the Christian in the room
The True Foe
The cult members’ eyes have all rolled back in the intoxication of the dumb. They are lost to reason and hopeless. But what about the true Christians, the remnant, who love Jesus and still rationally accept scientific facts/data? You are the true audience of this letter.
I believe you are torn between the (mainly faithful) Cult of Stupidity, and the fact-based (mainly non-theist) resistance. You are ON THE FENCE, not wanting to cut-off the cult-member worshiping on the pew beside you. But as this cavalcade of stupidity continues, how can you remain neutral?
If you are silent, you participate in the stupidity. As a believer, you are by proxy an enabler and thus part of the Cult of Stupidity. You believe in facts, science, and statistics, but you won’t speak up… history will categorize you with the others, the Christians who overwhelmingly vote for Mr. Disinfect-Inject in November.
If the Cult of Stupidity once again takes over in the November election, you will carry the mantle of blame.
Soldiers, Arm Yourselves
And what about liberals, my fellow soldiers on the left? We have a role in the rise of the Cult as well. With my liberal friends I am met with sighs and eyerolls, shrugged shoulders and an acceptance that this level of stupidity is just the new normal.
No. Just four years ago there was a gag reflex to such asinine stupidity; George W. Bush used to get pounded for gaffs far, far less awful than what’s regular today!! Yes, it’s exhausting, but we cannot allow the Cult of Stupidity to be normalized in the US.
Join my voice, help me build content, edit, repost… reject stupidity, together let’s get this message out.
The Action Point
What we must focus on is the moderates who entertain and validate the positions of the Cult. These folks are swayed by facts and statistics, but still consider thoughts like “Well Biden is just as bad, maybe I won’t vote”. In my opinion these pose the highest threat to America, even more so than the cult itself.
Postchristianity.net exists because I believe we’re better off the less Christianity (in its current form) influences society; and the Cult of Stupidity is a prime reason. When a small cadre of wealthy, noisy, privileged citizens won’t listen to sound facts, and they control our society, we have a crisis far greater than the coronavirus.
Postchristianity 
This post encapsulates my thoughts and struggles when dealing with the anti-science, anti-vax, both sides are bad bunch. I struggle to see their humanity when it looks like there is such a lack of empathy and compassion. I had to give up on pushing back on the stupidity to save my sanity. But lately I find myself itching to get back in the fight!
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Thank you, Robert. I constantly wrestle with the impulse to give up when our foe is so deeply unswayed by facts. Ultimately I am committed to continue fighting for the sake of my daughter; I need to be able to look her in the eyes and tell her that I tried. I’m honoured to be in the trenches fighting with you.
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Kai and Robert,
You may be surprised to find out what the anti-vax movement is truly about. I too, was shocked when I found out.
It’s not that ‘anti-vaxxers’ are against all forms of vaccines, that would be silly. It’s that it was discovered during the development of certain vaccines back in the 50’s and 60’s, they were created using contaminated animal (mice) tissues, some of which contained viruses that were harmful and transferrable to humans. These retroviruses then contaminated much of the available blood supply, which was then passed on to a large number of Americans. In fact, it is these viruses that she believes are causing things like Autism and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in humans, diseases that were not experienced on a large scale in previous human history. Of course, when the big Pharma companies found out that she was going to publish this information, what do you think their reaction was?
If you’d like to learn more about this, feel free to check out the story of Judy Mikovits or even RFK Jr. But better hurry, her story is getting censored pretty quickly.
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Hello, The anti-vax movement is founded on a suspect theory that has been debunked as a lie from the very author of the paper that claimed vaccines cause autism. Also if you think doctors are still using the same vaccine solutions as they did in the 50’s and 60’s you are the embodiment of the title of the article. Science has made huge advances since then, and your argument is vastly different from the complaints that I have read regarding the older vaccines. Lastly it is my anecdotal experience that any “scientific study” that is being “censored” has not been peer reviewed (verified by multiple teams of other researchers doing the same experiments to get the same results to confirm the results are accurate) and therefore not a viable scientific theory and unworthy of publication and public dissemination. So kindly tell “Dr. Wackadoodle” she can file her shitty theory right back in the place it originated.
The earth is round, water is wet, vaccines save lives. tRump is not smart, sane, Christian or doing a good job. Chemtrails are just water vapor and Qanon is either punking you or seriously mentally disturbed.
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Asonofgodiam, thanks for your comment. I recently got into a debate with someone who I think is in a similar disposition: he wasn’t “all in” with the anti-vaxxers, but he sympathized with some of their reasoning. I just wanted to point out the following: Look how much the claims of the vaxxers has eroded since the movement first began? They still are not lacking in emotional fervor, but the argument has become so neutered, battered and diminished by plain obvious fact. What you’re talking about, if true, is so anecdotal and insignificant it is not worth our breath.
You seem to be an apologist, attempting to reason with sound arguments, thus I hope that you are reasonable to sound arguments and haven’t lost yourself into the Cult. I got into a debate with a vaxxer about the re-rise of measles in the US and he said he would be “happy” if his kid got measles, that it would be a better alternative to the vaccine. I urge you to hear this, when plain facts lead one to openly welcome self-harm before admitting one is wrong… one is in the Cult of Stupidity.
And where are the anti-vaxxers and their resistance to a novel coronavirus vaccine?
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