Dr Neville Buch
Abstract
When I wake up in the morning and listen to the radio news broadcast, I am bewildered. Have I left the earth time zone to end up in a bizarre alien landscape? As I analyse the situation, the thoughts are there being a world of ‘news as entertainment’ without any history, sociology, philosophy, or educational anchors. The solution would be a form of democratic elitism, education of the masses to think on a higher plane, but also come to the problem in the spiral historiography. The level playing field has turned against better ways of thinking, as forms of elitism, and has led into stupidity. The Spiral needs to turn back to elitism but with the progression of having empathetic thinking towards populists and capacity for better forms of mass education.
The Alien Landscape of ‘News as Entertainment’
The bewilderment experienced when confronting the modern news cycle is a symptom of what Dr. Neville Buch identifies as denoetization—the mechanical liquidation of the human capacity to judge under the pressure of automated technical and bureaucratic systems. In this “alien landscape,” the traditional anchors of history, sociology, and philosophy are severed, replaced by a techné mindset that reduces complex human realities to quantifiable metrics and “singular messaging” designed for immediate consumption. This world of news-as-entertainment mirrors the McDonaldization of society, where efficiency, calculability, and predictability override meaningful social relations and intellectual depth.
This media environment functions as a ”teaching machine” that domesticates dissent and treats the public as “passive conduits” for social and biological drives rather than the intentional authors of their own narratives. Without the “silent dialogue” of thought—the quest for meaning rather than just facts—society falls into the “banality of evil” where judgment is systematically liquidated.
The Spiral Theory of Stupidity and the Level Playing Field
The perceived “level playing field” in modern discourse has frequently turned against “better ways of thinking,” labelling them as elitist and exclusionary. This rejection of intellectual rigour facilitates Historical Forgetfulness, an active vice where populations repeat past errors because their origins have been banished from collective memory. Buch posits that this traps society in a ”spiral history theory of stupidity,” characterized by an inability to learn from past failures.
In contexts like Queensland, this has historically manifested in the ”Queensland character” myth, a folkloric and anti-intellectual construct used as a political device to resist “southern” or liberal intellectual influences. By prioritizing “common sense know-how” over “big ideas,” governance becomes a matter of Specialized Ignorance, detaching public policy from its ethical and historical bearings.
The Turn Toward Democratic Elitism and Mass Education
The solution lies not in a retreat to snobbery, but in a positive democratic elitism. This involves recognizing that there are higher levels of knowledge and better ways of understanding—a “collective best” that should be made accessible to the population broadly. This reformatory turn requires moving from a “Junior” state of unreflective execution toward a ”Senior” state of social accountability.
True mass education must go beyond vocational “job readiness” to embrace the Socratic question of “how should one live?”. This transition is achieved through Spiral Historiography, a model that rejects linear progress in favour of a cyclical re-evaluation of ideas. By recursively returning to past intellectual struggles, society can “uncoil” from repetitive patterns of error and move toward Sufficient Comprehension—the ability to see the whole of a matter while remaining open to correction.
Empathetic Thinking and Verstehen
The progression toward better mass education must be tempered by empathetic thinking towards populists. This requires Verstehen (Empathetic Understanding), a method of the human sciences that focuses on intentions and meanings to achieve a “fusion of horizons”. By acknowledging the “social wounds” of those caught in culture wars, scholars can practice thinking as caring (panser), tending to social fragmentation with empathy and historical truthfulness rather than cold technocratic calculation. Ultimately, the goal is Aristotelian Flourishing (eudaimonia), where success is measured by wisdom, character, and the common good.
Dynamic of Cognition (DoC) Table: Democratic Elitism vs. Populist Stupidity
| DoC Component | Populist Pathology (Stupidity) | Cognitive Corrective (Democratic Elitism) |
| Prejudice (Centre) | Historical Forgetfulness: Records as neutral data points; rejection of “elitist” knowledge. | Original Synthesis of Experience: Recognizing knowledge as an interpersonal, social product. |
| Attitudes (Thinking) | The Paranoid Style: Viewing intellectual anchors as conspiratorial threats to tradition. | Active Nihilism: Systematically using reason to negate entrenched myths and “institutional bullshit”. |
| Exclusion (Sensation) | Technocratic Reductionism: Filtering out human agency and the “thick” ethics of lived experience. | Reflective Self-Criticism: Dismantling “Specialized Ignorance” and distorted communication. |
| Inclusion (Intuition) | Folklore Historiography: Relying on simplistic “heroes vs. villains” myths to maintain identity. | Interpretive Holism: Integrating local micro-histories with global theoretical frameworks. |
| Value (Feeling) | Political Profit: Success as technical efficiency, status preservation, and administrative control. | Aristotelian Flourishing: Facilitating eudaimonia through the synthesis of the Five Intentions. |
APA Bibliography
Arendt, H. (1951). The origins of totalitarianism. Harcourt, Brace and Company.
Arendt, H. (1977). The life of the mind (M. McCarthy, Ed.). Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Bauman, Z. (2000). Liquid modernity. Polity Press.
Buch, N. (2015). No regrets in the evening of life: The history of Junction Park State School (1888–2013). Boolarong Press.
Buch, N. (2024). The spiral history theory of stupidity: Getting stuck in time-space, and personal breakout of historical cognition patterns. Management Institute for Contributory Economy.
Buch, N. (2026). Understanding history is philosophy in practice: A cognition history of Queensland. Management Institute for Contributory Economy.
Dewey, J. (1922). Human nature and conduct: An introduction to social psychology. Henry Holt and Company.
Habermas, J. (1979). Communication and the evolution of society (T. McCarthy, Trans.). Beacon Press.
Hofstadter, R. (1965). The paranoid style in American politics, and other essays. Alfred A. Knopf.
Ritzer, G. (1993). The McDonaldization of society. Pine Forge Press.
Spivak, G. C. (1993). Outside in the teaching machine. Routledge.
Williams, B. (2006). Philosophy as a humanistic discipline (A. W. Moore, Ed.). Princeton University Press.
Endnotes with References
- Denoetization: The mechanical liquidation of the human capacity to judge under the pressure of automated technical and bureaucratic systems.
- Techné Mindset: A cognitive failure characterizing modern governance that privileges narrow vocational metrics (“Job Readiness”) over wisdom and intellectual depth.
- Spiral History Theory of Stupidity: A framework where historical forgetfulness leads a population into repetitive patterns of failure because they cannot learn from past errors.
- Democratic Elitism: A positive sense of elitism where higher levels of knowledge and the “best” in arts and humanities are recognized as collective goals for mass education.
- Spiral Historiography: A non-linear method of historical inquiry that rejects linear progress in favour of uncoiling repetitive patterns of error to achieve social transformation.
- Verstehen (Empathetic Understanding): The central method of the human sciences focusing on intentions and meanings to heal social wounds.
- Specialized Ignorance: A condition resulting from the collapse of intellectual rigour in public policy, where systems rely on narrow messaging rather than comprehensive inquiry.
- The Five Intentions: A holistic framework for intelligence consisting of Self, Mind, Reason, Utility, and Love, necessary for constructing an ethically flourishing life.
- Historical Forgetfulness: An active intellectual vice that leads populations to repeat past errors because their origins have been banished from collective memory.
- Aristotelian Flourishing (Eudaimonia): The ultimate goal of the contributory framework, prioritizing human dignity and wisdom over transactional profit.
Featured Image: The-Power-Elite-for-History-Meaning
Neville Buch
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