Nobody is 100 percent evil, and nobody is 100 percent good. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best. Even Adolf Hitler wasn’t totally evil. He did nice things for people, worshiped his mother and Geli Raubal (if not Eva Braun), and did good deeds for his friends and others. But, given “degrees” of goodness and evil, I think most of us would conclude that Hitler’s “degree” of evil surpassed his “degree” of goodness. It is a matter of “degree,” however.
A Canadian friend who is currently teaching in China recently sent me a video from a Chinese social media site. The content was from America but had subtitles written in Chinese. The video showed a young American man surrounded by at least a dozen American females. They all looked to be about college age. He asked them the question, “What is a woman?” And, not surprisingly, he never got an answer, at least not the correct one: a woman is an adult, a human female. “That’s a stupid question,” somebody said. But he was never given a straight answer. These college students apparently do not know what a woman is, which was his point.
The Chinese are laughing at us, folks.
I hate using the word “stupid” because it sounds rude and mean. But there is really no other good synonym that effectively captures the meaning of that word. And to believe certain things is truly...stupid.
Let me clarify the distinction between “ignorance” and “stupidity.” We are all born ignorant, but not stupid. I believe that, as beings created in the image of God, there are some innate qualities (conscience, etc.) that He has put in us, but still, knowledge is learned (even our consciences must be taught and trained). We aren’t born with knowledge. All of us are ignorant about countless things. Most people know virtually nothing about rocket science. That doesn’t make them “stupid,” it just makes them “ignorant”—untaught in that subject. True knowledge is beneficial and can lead to wisdom. False “knowledge” (believed) produces stupidity and foolishness and often horribly tragic consequences.
The girls in the Chinese video I mentioned above are not ignorant; they are stupid. But, it is because they have been taught (and accept) false “knowledge” they have been taught (and believe) stupid things. You see, stupidity can be taught just as easily as true knowledge. And if we blindingly accept false “knowledge,” if we have been taught (and believe) “stupidity,” we become, to that degree, stupid people. Not ignorant. Stupid.
The point here is that stupidity is a learned trait. Not knowing what a woman is is stupidity, not ignorance. The rejection of what a woman is has to be taught because God, science, history, culture, and pure common sense that 3-year-olds can learn have all forever taught us what a woman (and a man) are. Thus, for anyone of sound mind, not knowing what a woman is is not ignorance. It’s stupidity. It is the acceptance—the blind, uncritical, unthinking acceptance of false “knowledge” taught to them by someone either equally stupid or perhaps as evil as Adolf Hitler, who is deliberately teaching error to produce stupidity in his/her listeners. That IS happening, there is no doubt. Check out any Ivy League school now.
Being so stupid as to claim not to know what a woman is is something that can only result from being taught. We are born, intuitively, smarter than that. True knowledge is learned and is the building block upon which wisdom is founded. False “knowledge,” however, is also “learned.” And, as noted, it produces stupidity, foolishness, and often some very tragic results.
Back to the evil Hitler. The above principles are also true of virtue and immorality; they are learned behaviors, not something we are born with. Hitler was not “born” evil; he learned it by accepting some terribly false “knowledge” that produced obviously catastrophic consequences. People aren’t born murderers, thieves, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, etc. Neither are people born honest, hard-working, trustworthy, etc. All these things, good and bad, are learned behaviors, mainly learned through listening to others we (rightfully or wrongfully) trust, or by imitating and absorbing the dominant cultural mores and ideas. If those dominant mores are good, most people will be “good.” But if evil becomes taught too widely, and accepted too readily, then people will imitate that and do “evil” things.
This is what makes the family, motherhood, and fatherhood so critical. They have the child from birth and can (should) immediately begin teaching it, by word and deed, true knowledge and virtuous behavior. And if they do that job correctly, wisdom and virtue, rather than stupidity and immorality, will be instilled in that new human being as early and as repetitively as possible. That is what good, solid positive human societies have been built upon from time immemorial. It’s what God intended. It’s the family’s job, not the government’s.
But this is why the Left must destroy the family. The last thing the Left wants is for children to learn virtue, goodness, self-control, and true knowledge (about, for example, men and women). For if people learn these things (virtue), they will not need, or WANT, the Left with it lies, stupidity, oppression, theft, licentiousness, and wickedness. We don’t need much government—the Left’s god—if the people are virtuous. Leftists know that, which is why they are doing everything they can to destroy virtue.
Tragically, they are succeeding. How many “stupid” mothers and fathers are there now in America, teaching their children false “knowledge?”
Proper knowledge and the wisdom that comes from it can—must—be taught. False “knowledge” and the stupidity, foolishness, and evil that it spawns must be defeated. For the last few generations in America, the Left has been winning this crucial battle. And the results are pouring in. Results the Left loves.
I have two substacks now: My main “Mark It Down” substack for “secular” articles/podcasts, and my new “Mark It Down Bible Substack” for Bible articles. Check them both out. Follow me on “X”: @thailandmkl. Go back to a great age in American history and read my western novels, Whitewater , River Bend, Return to River Bend, and Allie’s Dilemma all available on Amazon.