When Idiocy Becomes Evil: Why Bonhoeffer Was Right About Stupidity

By LONNIE KING

Recently, I read a haunting piece in The Bulwark titled This is the Most Exquisite Leopard Face-Eating You Will Ever See.

The article tells the story of Derek Huffman, an American man who became so enraged by the cultural and political direction of the United States—particularly the fact that his daughter learned about the existence of same-sex couples at school—that he moved his family to Russia.

Yes, Russia. The authoritarian regime currently waging war against Ukraine and committing unspeakable atrocities in the process.

And if that weren’t alarming enough, Huffman eventually volunteered for the Russian military. Not because he was conscripted. Not because he believed in the cause. But because, in his own words, he wanted to “assimilate.”

I couldn’t stop thinking about what Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in Letters and Papers from Prison:

“Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of force accomplish anything here; reasons fall on deaf ears.”

Bonhoeffer wasn’t talking about intelligence. He was describing a kind of willful ignorance—the moral kind. The kind that’s impervious to facts. Immune to empathy. Incapable of self-awareness. It doesn’t listen. It doesn’t reflect. And in the end, it serves as a bodyguard for evil.

It was a stupidity he saw firsthand. A German pastor and activist, he lived under the Nazi regime led by Adolf Hitler.  And he ultimately was executed by that evil regime for daring to speak out against it.

The stupidity of his countrymen ultimately empowered the evil that cost him his life.

When Ignorance Stops Being Harmless

There’s a point where ideological stupidity stops being naïve and starts becoming dangerous.

That line gets crossed when a person can no longer tell the difference between “protecting their values” and enabling oppression. When outrage over cultural discomfort becomes loyalty to a regime that jails dissidents, kidnaps children, and attacks civilians.

Derek Huffman claimed he just wanted to live in a place that matched his beliefs.

What does it say about those beliefs that the place he chose is Russia under Vladimir Putin?

Clarifying the Facts—And the Irony

You may have seen headlines claiming Derek Huffman was killed on the battlefield. But those reports—based on a single unverified source—have since been refuted. His wife, DeAnna Huffman, posted a recorded phone call with him on July 25 confirming that he is alive and stationed near the front lines in Ukraine.

What’s more telling than the false death report, though, is Huffman’s response to it.

He said he was shocked and hurt that people in America—his home country—celebrated the rumor of his death. He called it “hatred.”

That may be the most tragically ironic part of this whole story.

This is a man who left America out of hatred—hatred for the cultural shift toward inclusion, visibility, and tolerance. A man who couldn’t handle the idea of his daughter learning that same-sex couples exist. A man who actively chose to work for a regime guilty of war crimes and human rights abuses.

And now he’s stunned that people might hate him back?

The lack of self-awareness is staggering.

But this is what happens when moral stupidity goes unchecked. The same people who demonize others for their identity, beliefs, or lifestyle will often cry “persecution” the moment they face criticism or consequences.

They want to dehumanize others without being dehumanized themselves. They want moral immunity for their convictions, even if those convictions cause harm.

And they never seem to notice that people like them—people who think and speak and rage just like they do—have long celebrated the deaths of immigrants, LGBTQ people, Muslims, feminists, atheists, journalists, and “liberals.”

They cheered when their enemies died. They laughed when “the libs got owned.” They glorified violence when it came from the right direction.

But now it feels cruel to them?

So How Should We Respond?

The question The Bulwark asks is this: What do we do when idiocy crosses over into evil?

I don’t have an easy answer. But I do know that we have to stop pretending that ignorance is harmless.
We have to name the moment when it becomes complicity.  And we have to stop excusing people who “didn’t know what they were getting into” after the damage is already done.

Even if someone didn’t intend to become part of an oppressive system, if they walked into it willingly—and stayed there when the cost became clear—they bear responsibility.

Intentions matter. But outcomes matter more.

Final Word from Bonhoeffer

“Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice.”
– Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I don’t think Derek Huffman set out to do harm. I really don’t. But when we make peace with oppressive systems, we become part of them.

And when we can no longer tell the difference between ideology and cruelty, our stupidity becomes evil’s favorite disguise.

Grace and grit to you! — LK