Three theories why things are going to hell. And my own - increasing stupidity.

20240116

I get news from quite a few sources. One of my favorite sources for opinion and analysis, more than news, is Doug Casey’s International Man. Today he has an article that sums up the major diagnoses of today’s malaise.

He says that there are at least three theories as to why things are going to hell.

·        The Evil Party theory hypothesizes that the opposite political party is to blame for most of the problems. These would be the Trump Derangement Syndrome people.

·        The Incompetent Legislators theory holds that it doesn’t matter who is elected, they are all corrupt and ignorant. There is a lot to support this. This short video of a congressman questioning a head of the Environmental Protection Agency and other members of Congress is a good illustration. Thanks, Rob.

·        The third theory he proposes is the Elites theory, which holds that the plutocrats of the world want to reduce the rest of us to what amounts to slavery or eliminate us altogether.

I think Casey is missing a point. A fourth alternative should at least be considered. We are getting stupider. Never very good at looking after our own interests, we are increasingly less capable of doing so. Several books have been written addressing this issue. Here are some of my reviews:

First, four by Edward Dutton. First one is best.

• At Our Wits End

• The past Is the Future Country

• Breeding the Human Herd

• The Genius Famine

And then by others.

• Dysgenics: Genetic Deterioration in Modern Populations by Richard Lynn

• Crumbling Genome: Why We Are Becoming Less Fit

• The Vanishing American Adult

The thesis is simple. Smart children come from smart parents. Though most people know it instinctively, here’s my video explaining how it works out according to statistics.

Another thesis that we all understand intuitively, though it is poison to admit it, is that not all groups of people are equally intelligent. Northeast Asians, and we of European descent, are smarter on average than other populations. Our historical success, just about every measure of intelligence ever conceived, and a vast number of my book reviews support this proposition. Europeans are not having many children, and our countries are being flooded with less intelligent immigrants from the global South. Thirdly, even among us of European descent it is the less intelligent who have the most children.

I have made a few videos on the subject:

• The Rise and Fall of Intelligence

• Blame Evolution for our Distress

This theory is at least as viable as the three that Doug Casey gives. It is not incompatible with the others – it is easy to believe that our politicians and elites are also getting stupider.

The stupidity theory has one vast shortcoming. There is no political solution. Elections won’t solve it. Neither will torches and pitchforks.  The only solution is to start having smart children again, and that is thankless hard work. Most of you don’t even want to think about it.

That’s the news from Lake WeBeGone, on this the middle day of winter by the Ukrainian calendar, where winter embraces the months of December January and February. Which, incidentally, fits reality better than the western calendar. January is indeed our coldest month. As I have written, our rivers and lakes are frozen solid. As you can see in this picture, there is a lake alongside the road leading from the kids’ school – lower left-hand corner – to the bus stop just out of the picture on the right. Marianna and Zoriana got a thrill out of walking on the lake instead of the road as we went home yesterday.

Graham