6 reasons to believe we live in the age of stupidity

We've had plenty of time to learn, but we keep making the same mistakes.

In 2009, documentary filmmaker Franny Armstrong introduced the world to one of the most controversial non-fiction works on the environmental crisis of the early 21st century: The Age of Stupidity..

Unlike other documentaries with similar themes previously released, The Age of Stupidity was one of the few that put its finger on the sore spot by pointing out that human beings are not only responsible for one of the biggest global problems facing all the planet's biodiversity, but that this also speaks to their rationality and intelligence. That humanity is the causal agent of the catastrophe, but also a kind of gigantic child who has no idea what he is playing at.

But the motives presented by this work are not the only ones with the power to lead us to believe that we live in the age of stupidity.. Throughout the length and breadth of the Earth we have shown ourselves incapable of managing all kinds of problems that affect us all and that we do not even care enough to coordinate efforts to manage them.

• Related article, "Are we rational or emotional beings?"

Signs that we live in the age of stupidity.

This is a compilation of collective crises and issues that we either don't care about or simply try to combat in an unaccountable manner, with a mixture of vanity, laziness and individualistic mentality..

All of them have in common the unwillingness to cooperate, to get out of the comfort zone and to use rationality for something other than constantly greasing the machine of consumerism: producing and buying. Since the existence of the Internet and new information storage technologies, we have had plenty of time to detect these problems and take action on the matter, but today, for some reason, we do not seem to be up to the task.

1. We are destroying the planet

This is the reason with which we started the article, as well as one of the most serious, so it could not be missing in this list. The environment is basically the most important thing we have.The environment is basically the most important thing we have, since variations in it can wipe out entire populations in a matter of minutes. However, we continue to act as if recycling by separating waste were the height of responsibility and civic-mindedness, something reserved for the kindest and most disciplined citizens.

The reality is that although individual actions count, such efforts based on the "willpower" of each individual are of no use.

Everything indicates that collective commitments, drastic changes in the economy and in the model of production, and even intelligent management of the way we group ourselves together to live in cities.. None of this is even considered, justifying it with individual freedoms and the expectations of continuing to have a life full of technological comforts.

2. Infant mortality

Much is said about how life gives us the opportunity to choose our path, how everything we get depends mainly on our decisions and attitudes.

However, we don't seem very concerned about making the world we live in conform to that vision of reality, because we systematically overlook the fact that, for that to be true (even if only in appearance), we should as far as possible at the very least avoid there being regions where 100 out of every 1,000 babies do not reach their first birthday, as is the case today.as is the case today. We have the money to do so but, unfortunately, we use it to buy products made with the exploited labor of those areas.

3. Conspiracy theories

On December 14, 2012, a 20-year-old man showed up at an elementary school in the U.S. town of Sandy Cook and shot 27 people to death before eventually killing himself. It is one of the bloodiest massacres in the history of the United States of America, but for many people, such events simply did not exist.

There is a relatively popular theory according to which what happened at the school that day was actually a set-up created by the Obama administration to justify policies limiting gun ownership. To this day, in fact, several parents of children who died in the massacre are harassed and threatened by denialists furious about the "crocodile tears" they claim these victims shed.

This example expresses in a nutshell everything that is wrong with the existence of conspiracy theories and why they are a symptom of the age of stupidity..

In order to defend a worldview that fits one's ideals, one is even capable of creating the most convoluted explanations, those that cannot be challenged by the available evidence, attributing everything to an alleged conspiracy, to make reality conform to one's own thinking. Even if this means directly harming many other people.

4. Exploitation of women

Even today, centuries after we began to defend the theory of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, we continue to allow half of the population to be confined to the domestic sphere, we continue to allow half of the population to be confined to the domestic sphere.being penalized for acting with the same freedoms as men.

Even in those countries where both sexes formally have the same rights, it is still normalized to compliment unknown women in the street, to harass them in nightlife contexts, to expect them to work in the office and at the same time to take care of all the housework, and less attention is paid to them at work (even if they hold a leadership position).

It has never been clearer that there is a problem that goes beyond the law, but even knowing this, it is too often the case that this debate is dodged. that debate is too often dodged. with the excuse of focusing first on "those places where women are worse off", that is, those who live in other countries. Something that is not done with any other treatable problem from politics.

5. Religious fanaticism

Nowadays there are no more excuses to try to impose to others certain religious doctrines. However, the tools that in a globalized world like ours should connect us and make us collaborate more and better, are massively used to try to expand religious faith over the freedoms of others.

From messages of hate and calls to violence to political pressure to prevent education from to prevent education based on scientific knowledge that contradicts dogma.From threats that are posted on the Internet for all to see to viral videos with clearly homophobic content, bigotry has proven to be another reason why we live in the age of stupidity. Neither scientific nor technological advances alone are enough to eradicate it.

6. Nationalism

Today we know that historical identities, those that try to make us confuse our own individual identity with what our supposed ancestors did centuries or millennia ago, simply do not make sense. Evidently, there is no rational reason why what generations before us did should set very specific guidelines for our actions. very specific guidelines for action that we must follow in order not to betray our roots..

On the other hand, we also know that identity politics always leads to situations in which violence and authoritarianism are imposed, as it justifies certain political measures under the pretext of doing "what is natural" for a people or race, almost always creating artificial frontiers in communities that previously lived together..

Nationalism, however, has the power to seduce us again and again, when it reaches a point where we forget its nefarious effects. Today, a good part of the inhabitants of many regions of the world refuse to share economic and political spaces with other people for reasons of identity, while others consciously try to eliminate any trace of identity. to consciously eliminate any trace of cultural differences of ethnic minorities in order to impose their own to impose their own cultures in a hegemonic manner.

The age of stupidity also shows itself in our inability to learn from our mistakes. National withdrawal, associated with conservative and extreme right-wing parties, is seen as something normal, which does not even have to be questioned when a people is threatened from the outside... without stopping to think that this definition of "people" is totally arbitrary and presupposes the existence of the nation as that which must be defended above the people.