America and the Axis of Idiots

Is Human Civilization Doomed Because People are Just Idiots?

umair haque
Eudaimonia and Co
Published in
9 min readAug 11, 2020

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Photo Credit: Julie Dermansky

It’s easy enough to see the end of our civilization from here. We have about a decade, before climate change, mass extinction, and ecological collapse go nuclear — and cause decades of waves of depressions, pandemics, upheavals, social collapses, extremisms, and authoritarian implosions that make the last six months look like a fond memory. Imagine 2020 — but getting worse forever. That’s why things feel so bleak right now.

So I want to ask the question. Are people just idiots? Are we doomed because of human stupidity? You might imagine that I have a jaundiced view of human nature. But I don’t. I think the problem of human stupidity is indeed a grave threat to our civilization now — by which I mean aggression, hostility, cruelty, selfishness, all the kinds of idiocy. I use the word idiot not as an insult, but the way the Greeks meant it: someone who’s only interested in themselves, in private gain and advantage and wealth and power.

Isn’t that most of us? Actually, no. I also think that if we look at the world carefully, a subtler picture of human stupidity emerges.

Let’s take a brief spin around the globe.

People in Europe don’t seem to be idiots. Sure, there are idiots everywhere, but the…

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