ORBI ALL! "Introduction to the History of Human Stupidity" by Walter B. Pitkin, Fourth Edition. Milan, Bompiani Ed, 1947 The series "Adventures of thought " was strongly supported by Valentino Bompiani , and an enclosed space and time that went from 1933 to 1968, contemplating the authors of merit and of various nationalities, with themes of science, medicine, biology, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, psychology, philosophy, sociology.
Walter Boughton Pitkin (born in 1878 in Michigan, died in 1953 in California) was an American reader of philosophy and psychology at Columbia University and a professor at Columbia University School of Journalism (1912-43). He wrote some essays as Life Begins at 40 (New York, 1932) and The Psychology of Happiness . His essay A Short Introduction to the History of Human Stupidity (1932) was translated into 15 languages, including Italian, so ... here we are.
Divertentissimo read this' Introduction to the History of Human Stupidity ', a text full of clever ideas, curious anecdotes of actual events, politics, everyday life, in human history.
" Here we are, in this year of grace 1934, owners of the land and air, fire and water " but " humanity hangs on the brink of an abyss from which it can not escape unless you choose a good time to do the analysis of their failings . " The world rolls inexorably toward utopia: good and bad will be the first to suffer " . (continued)
Walter Pitkin uses 300 pages to " demonstrate that human stupidity is the foremost of the social ills " and there are three factors that classify :
1) " the number of fools is infinite .
2) " power, as in the finance business, in diplomacy as in politics, is almost entirely in the hands of people more or less stupid. "
3) " in individual capacity often goes hand in hand with a solemn stupidity, but the curious thing is that this one shines while hiding in the shadows .
" I believe that at least three out of four members of our species are stupid enough, and it is amazing the number of those who were raised to dignity, especially in politics . " One million suckers , settled in armchairs presidential , have neutralized for years - and never so obviously as in 'last decade - the influence of senior creative thinkers ". ( And the prof. Pitkin refers to the years after World War 1, having published the paper only 1932; if he had seen the other future 'suckers' would certainly changed his mind .. # noncèfinealpeggio ).
Funny when he writes: " while going to the press on Chapter I of my essay, so here Hoover (ns the Tremonti, I suppose ) ensure the Chambers of Commerce that all economic problems are a thing of the past , and CIO 'on the eve of the worst financial meltdown of this generation, of 1929. " And again:
" here to denounce the Department of Agriculture a sinister plot in which the Soviets are hoping to ruin the American farmers selling off the wheat market in Chicago ; here Americans collectively spend annually on cigarettes no less than they spend on the education of children, here is advocating the Cardinal Hayes sale of wine and beer to make the poor soul affected by the crisis ; Chicago here penniless again suspend the wages to the police and firemen ; here is such a Gubo John, enraged at not pulling his pipe, put on tobacco a few drops of petrol, to perish in the fire that destroyed her cabin ; here are the New York bankers continue to lend to cities, states and societies in Brazil, reaching a sum whose interests may have to be accurate one day to the sound of tear gas grenades, because Brazil has suspended payments before we went to the press "
" here Hitler draw up a list of German patriots whose heads should be cut off soon he will rise to power: and that of Einstein will be the first to roll in the basket ; here Raymond Duncan, in his enthusiasm for Gandhi , drag in toga and sandals at the Central Library of New York to the Battery, with ladle and bucket in hand, spreading water and salt in a show of solidarity with Hindus ; here is the daily press to give publicity to the fortune tellers, clairvoyants and to pythonesses ; here is the Federal Agricultural Committee recommend to the Governors of the Southern states to bury one third of the harvest of fifteen million bales of cotton ; here Ford (ns the Marchionne .. ) issue 's ukase (l' ukase in Imperial Russia was a dictate of the tsar, the government or a religious leader who had the force of law - Wikipedia ) : \u0026lt; Who does not cultivate his garden does not eat > , to force its workers to adapt to its near-perfect program ; here diorama released by the Federal Reserve Board that the gold reserves of the United States affect half the gold in the world at the same time when the British stop using it, overflowing the Japanese in Manchuria, the million Chinese die in floods and hundreds of banks suspend payments "... and last but not least:" here is a judge who serves a rich thug of the crime of bribery and condemning at the same time suborn , and five transparencies genes criminals engaged a lawyer in New York, are not subject to the minimum censorship never .
And this is just an excerpt of a small part of the prologue.
Pitkin strives to investigate the causes of human stupidity going back to prehistoric times ( archeoscope of infection) to the future situation ( Telescope infection). And then called Introduction to the History of Human Stupidity;).
Duclos, a philosopher who lived among the precursors of the French Revolution, along with Diderot, Buffon, Helvetius , used to say, speaking of a fool, "he is the penultimate of stupid, "and when questioned about why that second-last, he replied:" not to discourage anyone .
