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A Short History of Stupid

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Public discourse and political discussion in Australia today feels Stupid. That’s the assessment from Crikey.com journalists Bernard Keane and Helen Razer. How we got to this point is the subject of their book A Short History of Stupid.

As co-authors, Keane and Razer contribute alternative chapters of the book. Each chapter consists of an essay covering a topic related to the history of what they call Stupid – irrationality, valuing feelings over facts what Stephen Colbert, host of the former satirical show The Colbert Report, calls truthiness. Truthiness he says, is the feeling that a ‘fact’ was right because you feel it’s right.

Each chapter alternates between writers, and they both have a different writing style which gives the feeling of reading two books. Razer uses personal anecdotes and a liberal use of the word “fuck” to make her point, which personally I found a little more difficult to read. Writing about John Locke, the 17th century philosopher who argued that property is both a natural right and intrinsically good, she says that property is as “central to Locke just as it is to Amanda, the owner of the Melrose Place apartment block.”

Keane’s work is more factual and satirical. He talks about the phenomenon of Labor voters who regard the economy as doing well when Labor in power but doing poorly once the Liberals come to power, and vice versa for Liberal voters as “a body swap comedy as imagined by economists.” 

Both writers come together to excoriate the performance of the media and politicians. Political news is valued as much as celebrity gossip. Opinion journalism has taken over in place of hard news facts. Reading through the book I found myself agreeing with the authors on the state of public discussion – from the irrationality of anti-vaxxers who insist their opinion is correct against the evidence, to the paternalists who believe that we need laws and late night lockouts to govern everything we do.

A Short History of Stupid is an informative exploration of the history of irrational public discussion in Australia today. Anyone looking to take part in the public discussion about where policy in Australia should be headed should consider reading this book.

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