Orwell and Stupidity

Abstract Orwell used the term ‘stupidity’, and closely associated concepts such as ‘foolishness’ and ‘ignorance’, throughout his essays and novels as an idiosyncratic shorthand for cultural, political, and social critique. But these ideas have a complex history, suggesting Orwell’s difficulties in fully realizing the term. Once this history is organized, we can better isolate ‘stupidity’s’ underpinnings, especially Orwell’s concern that individual action was increasingly mindless in modern societies. We find in Orwell three distinct sources for these mindless acts: the legacy of painful material conditions, the pressures of a technologized society of spectacle, and acts of self-hypnosis designed to protect the psyche from the state. This helps reveal ‘stupidity’ as a critique of both totalitarianism and colonialism. It also turns attention to Orwell’s many antidotes to ‘stupidity’, and especially to the need for carefulness, seriousness, and an awakened consciousness.