The stupid right is not stupid, but pretends to be stupid. That’s what makes it so reprehensible

De gentlemen of Today Inside regularly claim that I have called their viewers ‘stupid’ and that I am therefore no longer allowed to come. Nonsense of course: how can I make such a bold statement about the intelligence of more than a million individuals whom I don’t know at all? I did call some of the supporters of that program ‘dumb right’. That is very different, although I understand that it requires explanation.

The Dom Right, coined years ago by Peter Breedveld, is a political movement that is characterized by using deliberate or negligent ignorance as a weapon. Stupidity sabotages the debate, in the form of you-baking or sanctimonious whining about the tone, and denies facts, especially about immigration and climate. Stupidity is used to create misplaced victimhood for one’s own group and to discredit knowledge and expertise as ‘elitist’. The stupid right likes to be stupid, that’s why it’s called the stupid right.

All of this has little to do with intelligence or cognitive abilities. In fact, the protagonists of the stupid right are all quite intelligent, and that makes their stupidity just as reprehensible. And treacherous, because they succeed – even among progressive simpletons – in portraying the image that they represent the working class as interpreters of stupidity.

Sometimes the deliberate fool falls out of character for a moment, revealing his true nature. So shot Telegraph-hitter Wierd Duk raged last week at a student who dared to (mildly) criticize him. “At least when I was 22, I didn’t have such a big mouth against a senior journalist with a recognized track record,” said the biggest disgrace in Dutch journalism. ‘But in these hyper-narcissistic times, every toddler with a HAVO diploma thinks he knows better.’ Classic stupid right: the other becomes with toxic seniority (I’m old, so I’m right) accusation of one’s own narcissism. And then that ugly disdain for HAVO: wasn’t that something the ‘left’ always accused of?

That ‘havo diploma’ is not a slip of the tongue, but typical for what in America is called the ‘aspirational class’. These are well-educated and well-earning social climbers who have voted en masse for the extreme right. They are certainly not poor nor stupid, but because they are bombarded with stupidity on social media all day long, they feel extremely dissatisfied and deprived. Duk is the embodiment of that class: the Nespresso drinker who secretly looks down on Senseo drinkers. The Vinex resident with four holiday trips a year, who is convinced that he is normal, because there are people who go eight times.

The stupid right has absolutely nothing to do with the actual working class, if only because it is increasingly colored. People gratuitously complain about the virtuous canal belt, but woe to the teacher who dares to advise pre-vocational secondary education (VMBO) children. The government is the government and climate policy is for woke losers, but if you don’t take that Tesla subsidy, you are a thief of your own wallet.

All this could lead to labeling Mr Duk and the entire stupid-right cult as hypocritical, if it were not for the fact that the accusation of hypocrisy is more of an argument for the stupid right. In fact, it is their only argument; so you shouldn’t want that. But still, the progressive forces in the country should take off their gloves (metaphorically, Geert!) and learn to fight the opponent with their own weapons. It is difficult to speak to people about intelligence, but you can address them about stupidity.