Introduction

In the past two decades, the rise of a particular commonplace in public debate has emerged on both the Left and the 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.