Age of Fools

Are We Heading for a World Ruled by Idiots?

Are we definitively heading for a world ruled by idiots? Journalist Alexandr Mitrofanov is one of the sharpest and wittiest commentators on the Czech political scene. And since his roots are in Russia, he also regularly and with considerable scepticism comments on the brutal Russian reality. As an experienced observer, he spares no irony or sarcasm, and his lively essay with the telling title *Doba pitomců: Kniha jenom pro chytré* (The Age of Idiots: A Book for Smart People Only) serves as a summary of his explorations. It is Mitrofanov's manifesto of scepticism and healthy realism, in which, based on his experiences from the East and the West, from Russia (the Soviet Union), Europe, and America, he states the existence of the “mass man” and rejects the “Enlightenment illusion” that he can be freed from “idiocy” through education.
With his characteristic humour, Mitrofanov warns against false optimism, though he offers no simple recipe for preserving freedom and liberal democracy. In his book, he poses the fundamental question of our time to us and to himself, without unnecessary sentiment: Who, in fact, is an idiot? And while examining the key issues, he pulls no punches and reacts pessimistically: It's futile, it's futile, it's futile. If you feel like you are about to go mad from the words and actions of figures like Putin, Zeman, Klaus, Babiš, or Trump, then this book is for you. It is an invitation to critical thinking and perspective from the pen of an experienced sceptic whose brilliant turns of phrase will have you roaring with laughter. You will also get a certain dose of bitterness, which, however, may in time lead to life wisdom.
But it doesn't stop there. To the question “What is to be done?”, Mitrofanov does offer an answer, as he clarified it in the circle of his closest friends: “We are always on the side of people against the newts, whether it's clashes between these incompatible beings in the Czech Republic, in Ukraine, which they invaded from Russia, or, let's say, in the USA. We realise what kind of society we live in, and we know that it certainly won't get better, but each and every one of us does what they can and what they are capable of, to have the feeling that they haven't let the idiots thrive without any resistance whatsoever.”