The problem with stupid: ignorance, intellectuals, post-truth and resistance

Grimwood, Tom ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8099-6191 (2023) The problem with stupid: ignorance, intellectuals, post-truth and resistance. Zer0 Books, Winchester, UK. Item availability may be restricted.

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Abstract

In the past two decades, the rise of a particular commonplace in public debate has emerged on both the Left and Right: the threat of 'the stupid.' Far from a throwaway ad hominem, stupidity has become a key trope for both explaining and criticising the election results, culture wars and the advances of post-truth. But how do we negotiate 'the stupid' in a meaningful way? Does critique and resistance depend on the mobilisation of intellect, and what does the prevalence of stupidity as a commonplace suggest about the risks of such a mobilisation? What are the resources to work through it outside of condemnation or insult? Taking 'the stupid' as a primary figure in today's cultural rhetoric, Tom Grimwood uses internet memes, film and media, alongside philosophical inquiry, to present a series of interventions in the assumptions of what makes 'the stupid' dangerous and how to move beyond these assumptions into effective resistance.

Item Type:	Book
Publisher:	Zer0 Books
ISBN:	9781803410760
Departments:	Centre for Research in Health and Society (CRIHS) Institute of Health > Psychology and Psychological Therapies
Depositing User:	Tom Grimwood
Date Deposited:	14 Jul 2022 09:22
Last Modified:	24 Apr 2024 16:37
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/6459