No power to the stupid. A polemic.

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No power to the stupid. A pamphlet is a pamphlet by the German philosopher and publicist Michael Schmidt-Salomon published in 2012 and forms together with Hope Human. A better world is possible a two-parter . The author criticizes the - assumed by him - inability of politicians , economists and religious leaders .

prehistory

In 2009 Schmidt-Salomon dealt with the film Religulous in the polemical commentary The Wondrous World of Religious . The title of the film is a corruption of the English words religious ("religious") and ridiculous ("ridiculous"). Since Schmidt-Salomon promised a new term for religious fanatics to differentiate " from all those religious people who are also in their right mind in matters of faith ", he introduced the neologism of "religiosity" into the German language . He defined “religiosity” as follows: “ By 'religiosity' (short for 'religious idiocy') I understand a special form of intellectual disability that is triggered by intense indoctrination of belief, primarily in childhood, and that significantly below-average cognitive performance and specific restrictions of affective behavior leads, as soon as it comes to matters relevant to belief [...] Just as we - for example in the case of autistic syndrome - can determine 'island talents', there is apparently also 'island impoverishment'. Religiotie should therefore primarily as a partial developmental disorder 'are understood [...] "

In his 2010 comment published by the humanist press service , How blind are our politicians? the author challenged the unquestioned use of the terms " Jew ", " Christian " and " Muslim ", in this case, the concrete example of the former German President Christian Wulff . He argued that the global majority within the Jewish community lived secularly. The same applies to the Christianity of Germany, as well as the Muslims of the Federal Republic.

In general, he assumed that the entire “ political caste ” had a “ catastrophic illiteracy ”. Schmidt-Salomon also writes: “ You can't expect more from Christian Wulff [...]. But can it really be that German politics is determined almost exclusively by people who are so blinded ideologically or so scientifically and philosophically uneducated that they do not understand the simplest historical-political connections? "

content

As in the predecessor Beyond Good and Evil , published in 2009 , Schmidt-Salomon criticizes common terms. The human being , commonly referred to as Homo sapiens (“wise person”), is polemically renamed Homo demens (“insane / stupid person”). " Swarm intelligence ", as the author attributes it to ants , is denied to the representatives of homo demens . Instead, Schmidt-Salomon attests that the majority of humanity is “swarm stupid”. He uses the word “brainworm” to describe the stupidity that so many people assume. The author also introduces the neologisms: "Religiot (en)", "Ökonomiot (en)", "Politiot (en)", "Ökologiot (en)" in order to attract capable politicians, ecologists etc. (as representatives of Homo sapiens ) from those who are unable to distinguish (as representatives of homo dementia ).

Schmidt-Salomon, even if he speaks of a “wondrous world of the religious” in the pamphlet, wanted the book to highlight the diverse facets of evolutionary humanism .

In the last chapter of the pamphlet, Hessel's Outrage! rewritten to Unstuff yourselves! As the tenor of Keine Macht den Doofen , “We are not too bad, but too stupid to create fairer conditions”. Schmidt-Salomon rates contemporary phenomena such as Attac , Occupy Wall Street or attempts at the circular economy positively .

In the following work, Hope Man , Schmidt-Salomon tries to tie in humanistically to the polemical tone of its predecessor and to write a “ counter-book ” for Homo sapiens .

Web links

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Footnotes

  1. ↑ Michael Schmidt-Salomon: The wondrous world of the religious. MASTERSHOUSES. (hpd) The new film by “Borat” director Larry Charles “Religulous” calls for a new typology of believers, says Michael Schmidt-Salomon. Humanistic press service, accessed on July 19, 2014 (German).
  2. ↑ Michael Schmidt-Salomon: How blind are our politicians actually? MASTERSHOUSES. (hpd) Some statements are so “subject to criticism” that one is ashamed to take a stand. However, the debate surrounding the speech by the Federal President has taken on such absurd forms that it would be unwise to remain silent. A comment by Michael Schmidt-Salomon. Humanistic press service, accessed on July 19, 2014 (German).
  3. ↑ a b Fiona Lorenz : "We live in a madhouse". Interview. Humanistic Press Service , February 13, 2012, accessed on January 6, 2014 (German).
  4. ↑ New book by Michael Schmidt-Salomon: No power to the stupid. Skydaddy's Blog, February 13, 2012, accessed on January 6, 2014 (German).
  5. ↑ Michael Schmidt-Salomon: Keine Macht den Doofen , Piper, Munich / Zurich 2012, p. 109, ISBN 978-3-492-27494-4 .