David Brooks Article on Stupidity: What Most People Get Wrong

It happened during a week when, as David Brooks put it, "the Americans made incredible gains in human stupidity."

He wasn't talking about low IQ scores. He wasn't even talking about people who are "dumb as rocks," though he did use that phrase to describe certain behaviors. No, the David Brooks article on stupidity—specifically his January 2025 column titled The Six Principles of Stupidity—is about something much more dangerous than a simple lack of brains. It is about a specific, aggressive way of acting that ignores reality until the roof falls in.

Honestly, we've all felt it.

You look at a news headline or a corporate memo and you just... blink. You wonder how a room full of Ivy League grads could produce something so spectacularly detached from how the world actually works. Brooks argues that this isn't a glitch. It's a feature of how our modern organizations are built.

Why High-IQ People Act So Dumb

Brooks draws a sharp line.

Intelligence is one thing. Rationality is another.

Rationality, as defined by psychologist Keith Stanovich, is the capacity to make decisions that actually help you achieve your goals. Stupidity, in the Brooksian sense, is the literal inability to ask the question: "What would happen next?"

It’s like the guy Brooks describes who decides to go for a hike in a lightning storm while wearing a copper antenna on his head. Stupidity doesn’t see the lightning. It just sees a cool-looking hat.

In his analysis of the early 2025 political landscape—specifically regarding massive spending freezes and federal purges—Brooks noted that these weren't just "disagreements." They were moves that produced "befuddlement." When words become "unscrewed from their relation to reality," as literature professor Patrick Moreau suggests, you aren't in a debate anymore. You're in a wreck.

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The Six Principles of Stupidity

Brooks didn't just vent; he categorized. He leaned heavily on the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who watched a civilized nation lose its mind in the 1930s.

1. Ideology vs. Befuddlement

Ideology leads to arguments. You like high taxes; I like low taxes. We fight. But stupidity leads to a state where nobody even knows what the rules are anymore. If a government freezes $3 trillion with a two-page memo, that’s not a policy shift. It’s chaos.

2. The Organizational Trap

Stupidity isn't always in the person; it’s in the room. When you have an organization where one person has all the power and everyone else is a professional flatterer, stupidity is a mathematical certainty. Bonhoeffer called this a "sociological-psychological law." The boss needs to be right, so the subordinates must become stupid to keep their jobs.

3. Stupidity is More Dangerous Than Malice

This is the kicker. An evil person usually has a sense of self-interest. They won't burn down the house they’re standing in. But a stupid person? They "dare greatly." They have all the answers already. They will light the match because they like the pretty colors, never realizing the floor is soaked in gasoline.

4. The Dunning-Kruger Connection

Incompetent people literally don't have the skills to recognize their own incompetence. Brooks calls this the "Hegseth-Gabbard corollary" in his recent writing. When you replace domain experts with loyalists who lack experience, the loyalists don't know what they don't know. They walk into disasters with a smile.

5. It’s Almost Impossible to Fight

You can’t argue with a stupid person. Facts don't matter because the stupid person has already decided the facts are irrelevant. Evidence is just an "irritant." If you push back, they don't reconsider—they go on the attack.

6. Rationality is the Real Goal

The opposite of stupidity isn't being a "genius." It's being rational. It’s having the prudence to look at a situation and realize that if you do X, then Y will probably happen, and Y is going to hurt.

The "Mean" Roots of Our National Problem

You can't talk about the David Brooks article on stupidity without looking at his other massive 2023-2024 piece: How America Got Mean.

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They are two sides of the same coin.

Brooks argues that we’ve stopped "moral formation." We used to have schools, churches, and community groups that taught people how to be neighbors. Now, we just have "radical individualism."

When you have no moral compass, you feel lonely. When you feel lonely, you get scared. When you get scared, you turn to tribalism and "politics of recognition." You aren't trying to get better health care; you're trying to fill the hole in your soul with a partisan identity.

This makes people mean. And mean people are much more likely to embrace the "rave party chaos of prejudices" that Brooks describes as the hallmark of the stupid mind.

What Most People Get Wrong About Brooks

Some critics say Brooks is just an elitist who misses the 1950s. They think he’s calling "the common man" stupid.

That's a total misreading.

Actually, Brooks is often more critical of the "educated class." He points out that "upscale Democrats" often impose a "stifling orthodoxy" that makes everyone in the system dull and conformist. He’s not attacking a specific tax bracket; he’s attacking a way of thinking that values "loyalty" or "ideological purity" over "what actually works."

Whether it’s the intellectual hubris of bankers in 2008 (his "stupidity narrative" vs. "greed narrative") or the 2025 federal spending freezes, the core issue is the same: arrogance.

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Practical Ways to Avoid the Stupidity Trap

If stupidity is about losing touch with reality, the fix is to get back in touch with it.

Start by diversifying your "input." If everyone you talk to agrees with you, you're in a "Principle 2" situation. You're building a bubble where stupidity can flourish.

Look for "rationality" rather than "intelligence." Don't just listen to the person with the most degrees; listen to the person who has a track record of predicting what happens next.

Practice "moral skill." Brooks suggests that being a good person isn't just a feeling; it’s a habit. It’s the habit of welcoming a neighbor or disagreeing without trying to destroy the other person’s soul.

Stop asking politics to be your religion. It can't handle that weight. When we try to find our entire meaning in a political tribe, we stop being rational actors and start being part of a "lonely mob of isolated belligerents."

Final thought: Next time you're about to make a big decision—at work or in your personal life—stop and ask the one question stupidity hates.

"If I do this, what will happen next?"

If you can't answer that with a concrete, reality-based outcome, put the copper antenna down and step away from the lightning.

Actionable Next Steps:

• Audit your circles: Identify three people you regularly talk to who disagree with your political or social views. If you can't find three, your "Principle 2" risk is high.
• Practice "The Next Step" drill: Before any major commitment this week, write down three second-order consequences of that choice.
• Re-engage locally: Join a non-political community group (a hobby club, a neighborhood clean-up, a local charity) to rebuild the "moral muscles" of social interaction that have atrophied in the digital age.