Laws Of The Stupid

We have all met them. We have worked with them. We may have a friend or family member who is one. They seem to be everywhere. And the older you become, the better you are at spotting them. I am, of course, talking about stupid people.

‘Never tell a fool that he is a fool. All you will have is an angry fool.’ - Talmud

I am blessed because I spent a decade working at one of the epicentres of stupidity – a local council. I saw first-hand how to avoid success. I saw how to waste money, resources and time. I saw how to devalue staff. I saw how to blame others.

It was a great on-the-job education. I memorised all the lessons, flipped it 180 degrees, and created a useful guide for the rest of my life. Whenever I am perplexed, I think about the council's solution and then do the opposite.

I have many stories from my council days and have written articles about them. For example, the ￡1 picture frame cost the council ￡14.99. The microchipping project to reduce bicycle thefts did not include handheld scanners. The two magnetic posters I ordered would not stick so thrown into a skip - ￡1200 wasted.

Not everyone in the council was stupid, many were not. Some were lazy, or too busy doing non-council work, or had their spirit broken and were now an automaton. But the overarching problem was the system we were all working in.

Then one day, I stumbled upon a theory. One that filled in the gaps in my explanation of why government does not perform. Allow me to explain.

There once was an Italian economic historian called Carlo Cipolla. He studied at the University of Paris and the London School of Economics. In 1976, he published an article called The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity. He broke down human stupidity into five fundamental laws:

1. Always and inevitably, everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation.

Running my own business has brought me into direct contact with stupid people, many of them. Individuals who cannot follow simple instructions or carry out straightforward tasks.

2. The probability that a certain person will be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person.

As an employer, I have stopped looking at CVs and degrees for they tell me very little. Many stupid people have degrees and have worked in reputable organisations. Alternatively, some of the smartest people I have hired were former criminals with no education.

3. A stupid person is a person who causes losses to another person or to a group of persons while himself deriving no gain and even possibly incurring losses.

A police officer told me that if we sacked underperforming police officers and did not replace them - productivity would increase overnight. He explained that many good officers are continually cleaning up the mess caused by stupid police officers.

4. Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular, non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places, and under any circumstances, to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

We have seen over the last few years the collapse of public services, while at the same time an increase in diversity, equity and inclusion, aka DEI. Woke fools convinced politicians that they had a new way to run society that would benefit everyone – it was a complete failure.

5. A stupid person is the most dangerous type of person.

Stupidity is a real danger to the stupid as the The Darwin Awards can attest. These awards are given posthumously to individuals who have done something so stupid that it cost them their lives. An example is the man who stole the protective padding from a metal pole at a ski resort and used it as a sledge. This makeshift sledge worked well until it smashed into a metal pole that used to have a protective cover.

A few decades ago, a friend of mine watched a TV programme on rising damp and the damage it can do to floor joists. He had a great idea. He pulled up the floorboards. Built small brick towers under each wooden joist to carry the weight of the floor. Then he cut through the joists where they went into the wall.

He was so proud of his actions that he told us about it and showed us his handy work. He had solved a problem - a problem he did not have. He could not see the flaw in his actions. If rising damp comes through the bricks and rots the wooden joists, then will joists be susceptible to damp coming through the brick towers? The whole ground floor of his house is now unsafe.

We can split people into four groups depending on whether they benefit society or themselves.

1. Helpless people contribute to society but are taken advantage of by it

We have all met someone like this. We label them as too nice and advise them to put themselves first for a change.

2. Intelligent people contribute to society and leverage their contributions into personal benefits

This is what we all should aim to be. We benefit ourselves and others – a productive member of society.

3. Stupid people are counterproductive to both their and others' interests

Everything they do always goes wrong. Sometimes for them, other times for someone else. They do not learn from past experiences.

4. Bandits pursue their own self-interest even when this poses a net detriment to societal welfare.

We have met people like this. Selfish. Untrustworthy. Sociopathic.

What made me want to write this article? I wanted to understand how the UK got into the mess we find ourselves in. We have been led by stupid people. Our current situation was not achieved by design. It is not what any politician planned for it benefits no one and makes their lives more difficult.

We find ourselves in this position because of a constant supply of stupid politicians in positions of power making the wrong choices for the right reasons - in the hope that society would improve. They did not benefit themselves and they did not benefit society – the true definition of a stupid person.

Could they not see that mass immigration would damage community cohesion?

Could they not see that globalism would damage British workers?

Could they not see that breaking down the family unit would damage society?

Could they not see that foreign wars would turn people against us?

Could they not see that allowing people to live on state welfare would bankrupt us?

Could they not see? Stupid people never do.