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THE THEORY OF STUPIDITY
By Dietrich Bonhoeffer

(Historical Note: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, neo-orthodox theologian, and anti-Nazi dissident. He was executed in Flossenbürg concentration camp by hanging [enforcamento] at dawn, one month before Germany surrendered to the Allies on May 8, 1945, ending World War II in Europe. His writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential.)

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by the use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ [semente, origem] of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in other human beings at least a sense of unease [inquietação]. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here. Reasons fall on deaf ears. Facts that contradict a stupid person’s prejudgment simply need not be believed and when they are irrefutable, they are just pushed aside as inconsequential, as incidental. In all this, the stupid person, in contrast to the malicious one, is self-satisfied and, being easily irritated, becomes dangerous by going on the attack.

For that reason, greater caution is called for when dealing with a stupid person than with a malicious one. If we want to know how to get the better of [derrotar, superar] stupidity, we must seek to understand its nature.

This much is certain, stupidity is in essence not an intellectual defect but a moral one. There are human beings who are remarkably agile intellectually yet stupid, and others who are intellectually dull yet anything but stupid. The impression one gains is not so much that stupidity is a congenital defect but that, under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or, rather, they allow this to happen to them.

People who live in solitude manifest this defect less frequently than individuals in groups. Thus, it would seem that stupidity is perhaps less a psychological than a sociological problem.

^{Adapted from the book Letters and Papers from Prison}

Which of the following is most likely not supported by the information in the passage?

• a

  A person who makes a point of avoiding contact with other people may be less susceptible to stupidity than someone who spends most of his or her time with a group of friends.

• b

  A person who possesses great intelligence and selfconfidence may in fact be dangerous because of stupidity.

• c

  Stupid people are in fact capable of recognizing the existence of certain truths that they do not like.

• d

  Despite appearances, stupid people are usually more intelligent than malicious ones and thus are harder to defeat.

• e

  People are not necessarily born stupid but, apparently, in one way or another, may become stupid.