“I will soothe you and heal you, I will bring you roses. I too have been covered with thorns.” ―Rumi
This speech (please watch before reading - full text below) is a masterclass outlining so much of what is wrong and evil in the world today and for days to come. Too many idiots dressed in emperor’s clothing.
An idiot isn’t someone just low on “smarts” or intelligence. That is the once upon a time medical term. No. An idiot is someone that is lacking both emotional and especially social and moral intelligence. And it is dished out in abundance in the world, this Archie Bunker’s disease whereby a person fails to see “the other” as fully human, equal, free,worthy and dignified as oneself.
An idiot suffers from a failure of consciousness and remains as a beast - unable to “walk in another’s shoes”.
Pritzker rightly points out that cruelty is the scarlet word identifying who is the idiot in the room. Psychologists have long researched the subject and pointed out that a very visible, early indicator of a psychopath and a criminal is a youth that is cruel to animals. However, these cases are at the extreme end of the idiot spectrum. There are many other lesser idiots still at the top end. Less cruel in deed but still cruel in thought and action, never maturing into a healthy, loving, socially functioning individual. But as Pritzker points out, many grow up and become presidents. And who knows, he’s still young enough, maybe Stephen Miller has yet a chance.
Cruelty is very much the sign of someone who can’t see into the heart of the other, it’s a failure of imagination and ultimately empathy and compassion.
However, what other indicators of “idiocy” are there? How might you avoid these near-psychopaths, these narcissists that can’t move their consciousness outside of themselves?
I have a few in mind, a few that over my lifetime, my sniffer and idiot detector have been honed and trained by way of. Here’s a short list.
Can’t Dance. Just watch the dance floor and look for the cardboard types. Dancing involves transporting yourself outside, it involves letting go of the self. Dancing involves following the rhythm of others. Idiots just can’t do that.
Relationship failures. They have few really tight friends. They use people. Relationships are transactional, even romantic relationships. And in their failure of empathy for the other in the relationship, it will eventually wither on the vine unless that other person is an idiot like them.
Bags of money. Not always the case but often idiots are successful at business. Why? Because our economic culture and framework rewards idiocy. If you are a decent person and considerate of your customer, your client - you won’t be making oodles of mullah. We live in an economic world that plays the wooden music the idiots love to dance to. Plus, idiots support other idiots - they look for themselves in others. Thus, the bags of money grow.
Mirrors. Vanity. Boob jobs. Toupees. Belly tucks. Laser surgery. Expensive suits. Names on this. Lights on that. They crave limelight and accolades.
“[O]ne who is moved to aid others neither by reason nor by pity is rightly called inhuman. For he seems to be unlike a man” (E IVp50s, Spinoza
Pride. Arrogance. In Buddhisms, one of the things we must “fall away” is Māna - our pride and self-worship that keeps us from embracing others and the world around us. We remain in seperation, frozen to life.
Don’t touch me. Idiots are invariably not touchy, feely. Almost autistic in social demeanor, so consumed with “self” they are. Look for the person in the room who has a wide social distance, stance. And judge accordingly.
A low literary IQ. Idiots don’t read works of fiction or poetry. If they read, it is non-fiction and self-help stuff. Factual reading. Why? Reading poetry involves setting oneself in another’s shoes, it involves a free imaginative force at work and idiots just don’t have this ability, this window to the world outside.
No pets. Or if they have pets, they are only for show. Walked by paid servants and there just as show-pieces. Ask around the room about people’s pets and then form your judgement from there …
Dirty, stupid jokes. Jokes are a mirror into someone’s soul, the kind they tell and especially the ones they laugh at. Listen to a vulgar joke and see who laughs the hardest, the most earnestly …
I hope these few tips might help you. I’m sorry our world is so rampant with these idiots, these destructive idiots that only see self-interest, war, aggression and no mercy as the stalwart qualities of being.
Count your blessings. Could be worse. And last thing … if you can’t spot the idiot in the room, then …
Let’s take the higher road. The true road, the true path of enlightenment … and higher intellect. Be kind. Value diversity, that which is not you.
How to spot an idiot. JB Pritzker.
Whenever I'm about to do something, I think, would an idiot do that?
And if they would, I do not do that thing. The entire efficacy of this
incredibly useful piece of information hinges upon your ability to pick the right idiot.
I wish there was a foolproof way to spot idiots, but counterintuitively, some idiots are very smart. They can dazzle you with words and misdirection. They can get promoted above you at work. They can even be elected president.
If you want to be successful in this world, you have to develop your own idiot detection system.
As part of the responsibilities of being your commencement speaker, I'm going to share mine. Sure, I'm naturally suspicious of people who never saw the original Star Wars movies, and even more cautious of people who loved the prequels and the sequels. But I admit, this is not a reliable idiot indicator.
No, the best way to spot an idiot? Look for the person who is cruel.
Let me explain. When we see someone who doesn’t look like us or sound like us or act like us or love like us or live like us, the first thought that crosses almost everyone’s brain is rooted in either fear or judgment, or both. That’s evolution. We survived as a species by being suspicious of things that we aren’t familiar with.
In order to be kind, we have to shut down that animal instinct and force our brain to travel a different pathway. Empathy and compassion are evolved states of being. They require the mental capacity to step past our most primal urges.
This may be a surprising assessment because, somewhere along the way in the last few years, our society has come to believe that weaponized cruelty is part of some well-thought-out master plan. Cruelty is seen by some as an adroit cudgel to gain power. Empathy and kindness are considered weak. Many important people look at the vulnerable only as rungs on a ladder to the top.
I’m here to tell you that when someone’s path through this world is marked with acts of cruelty, they have failed the first test of an advanced society. They never forced their animal brain to evolve past its first instinct. They never forged new mental pathways to overcome their own instinctual fears. And so, their thinking and problem-solving will lack the imagination and creativity that the kindest people have in spades.
Over my many years in politics and business, I have found one thing to be universally true: the kindest person in the room is often the smartest.
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