On fools

Zvonko Davidovic

Why did I decide to write about fools? Because the competition nowadays is fierce and inexhaustible, and because fools are one of the products Macedonia produces in fantastically large quantities. Dealing with stupid people is much like dealing with dead people – when you’re dead you don’t know you’re dead. Only other people know, the same as when you’re stupid. We ​​constantly meet fools in our everyday life because they are all around us, living around us, with us, in us. Even in everyday speech the word fool is constantly present and often used in a variety of situations and occasions. When a driver does not stop for pedestrians we yell “look at this fool”, when we see something that greatly surprises us or annoys we loudly comment “what has this fool done” or when we want to tell someone that any dialogue with a stupid person is in vain we say “don’t bother explaining, he’s a fool“. Fools are an inexhaustible source of stupidity which, unfortunately, is now considered a virtue.
Fools exist and will exist for as long as mankind exists, and they prove to be the most resistant kind of creature on the globe. Even our ancestors recognized the existence of fools and left us with a bunch of proverbs and wise sayings. Many celebrities and influential figures have also written about fools and left us many tips and guidance on how to identify a fool. What is a fool? Who’s a fool? What’s the impact of fools on society? Who needs the fools? To whom do you need to be a fool? These are just some of the questions that arise when you utter the word ‘fool’.
Really, what is a fool? If you look it up in the dictionary, the only thing you can conclude that there is no exact definition for fools, yet the meaning is derived from synonyms ranging from dumb, ignorant, petty, and senseless, up to creep, idiot and freak. If you look at what was written about fools and how they were defined over time, you will come to the conclusion that it is not so easy to define fools in one word or sentence, probably because fools and their stupidity are endless and timeless. People have said that you will recognize a fool for wearing a top hat in winter, and a fur cap in summer, but not all fools wear a hat, there are many without it probably because they do not need to protect their empty heads. Others claim that you can recognize a fool by identifying five things – they get easily get angry, they give gifts or privileges to those who do not deserve them, they strive for trivial things, they do not distinguish friends from enemies, and they reveal both their and other people’s secrets. Others claim that a fool is one who thinks that others don’t think.
However, despite everything written and said, it is not so easy to recognize fools at first glance, especially if they are quiet. But the situation drastically changes as soon as they open their mouth, then all doubts disappear and you will know with whom you’re dealing. Fools are not born fools, but one becomes a fool, and there are many ways to do this, and it doesn’t take much effort and desire, on the contrary, lack of effort and desire to work on yourself and your improvement, on your knowledge and skills, to work on your own personality and character, are quick and easy ways to turn yourself into a fool. One can become a fool by someone else’s actions and activities, and then we say that someone else is making a fool of us or we can become a fool by our actions and then we say that we have made a fool of ourselves.
Fools have a great advantage over wise people because they are always content with themselves and find that what they think is the only and indisputable truth, and their actions are right and wise. They are proud of what a wise person would be ashamed of. Fools with their shamelessness, lack of any logic and mind, and with their majority also influence and create our society, social relations and values, ​​and public opinion. Even some scientists claim that fools also affect our health through the stress they cause, and believe it or not – 110 million people die of it each year. The most common causes of stress, according to research conducted by the American Psychologists Association, are money, work and family. In regard of work as one of the causes, they describe stress as the consequence of communicating with fools or a fools at work, and the consequences are anger, fatigue, lack of interest and motivation, headaches, lack of appetite and sexual problems. Just think of the time you called a loved one who was at work at the time and heard his/hers upset voice and then he/she told you – I had some problems with that fool I was telling you about.
Fools are many and well-disposed in our society on the principle – the greater the fool the higher the social position and function. A fool always finds an even bigger fool that would listen and follow, and their numbers grow with geometric progression.
Lack of proper upbringing as a result of family breakup and degradation, denial and abandonment of traditional values, degradation of moral values, lack of capacity for upgrading with a very poor educational background, disintegration of society and powerlessness of the state, and malfunctioning of the system as a whole are just part of the reasons for the rise in the number of fools and their takeover of the system. Closing our eyes to the truth and inaction of others as well as the apathy and sense of hopelessness and lack of perspective in the rest of society enables an increase in the number of fools, and creates a situation in which fools have succeeded in asserting and taking over the system of government. Such a situation, in turn, creates a situation and a feeling that fools are no longer the fools, but quite the opposite, they are now becoming normal, and all others are considered fools.
Fools are not to blame for this state of affairs because you can expect nothing but stupidity from a fool, but we are all to blame for this state of being normal and recognizing the fools and their foolishness, but doing nothing to prevent or change it as a daily situation. The self-interest and comfort zone that most people do not want to leave, mixed with fear leaves room and opportunity for fools to govern us, become rich, live and prosper in society and the country. Silence and moving aside and not opposing the normal on the principle of “let him be, he’s a fool, I’m not arguing with him” have led us to the situation we are in.
There had been an outflow of millions of state money that had ended up in the private pockets of officials and tycoons, and there is still no investigation, no procedure, and no confiscation of such figures’ property is in sight. The promises of any party coming to power are that these situations will be solved, but once they take their official posts they end up with an endless number of dull excuses and justifications, and the already established practice or robbing the nation continues in the same way, only under different names. If you add to the fact that for a good part of crime in recent years there is evidence and recordings that can easily trace the money and the manner of committing crimes, and no one has so far held anyone accountable, one can realize that something in the prosecution and judiciary is not quite right and that the third government is governed and managed by the same or similar to those who should be prosecuted and held accountable. Things are not much better in legislature because it is just a vague shadow of what it should be and a faithful servant of the executive power. Raising their hands at the will of the executive power without thinking or their own stance makes MPs useless and an unnecessary expense for the budget or the public money, as one would like to say even though that money has long been neither the people’s nor for the people. The travel logs and expenses that some lawmakers take each month from the “people’s money” cashier, which amounts to a couple of years’ worth of a seamstress’s annual salary, only makes the feeling of lack of perspective even more bitter.
The daily “making fools” of some public officials and journalists only reinforces the claim of the number of fools and their presence in society at the highest levels. Making “a fool” out of the people when the government is trying the take the focus off of an unpleasant situation or event, and trying to marginalize the problem or change it at the desire of the party with the least possible damage and loss, and by concealing the truth further degrades society and creates good grounds for breeding an even greater number of fools.
It doesn’t take much for the people that are fooled to make fools of themselves. Evaluating desperate situations in society as good, closing eyes before the truth, and defending the fatal moves of leadership at any level, and the influence of the leaders’ foolishness are just the beginning in which fooled people turn into a foolish nation. And no one needs a fool but another fool, and the EU is not, or wants to be, a fool.