I’ve said it before, what scares me the most is stupidity. And I don’t mean that in a judgmental way. It’s just, the more I observe people, the more I see how easily it spreads.

It’s quiet, slow, and sneaky. Sometimes it’s not even about intelligence, it’s about awareness. How people react without thinking, follow the noise without questioning, or speak just to be heard. I used to think I could just ignore it, but then I noticed something. It starts to affect you too.

I’ve seen it in the office. People agreeing to the most nonsense ideas just because everyone else nods. Or gossiping because silence feels too heavy. You end up laughing at things you don’t even find funny, just to keep the peace. And that’s when it hits me. Stupidity doesn’t always look like ignorance. Sometimes, it looks like comfort.

And sometimes, it looks like people who are lost. The ones who don’t know what they want, what they stand for, or where they’re heading. They move through life without direction, borrowing other people’s thoughts because they have none of their own. They adapt, they follow, and they blend, not out of kindness, but out of fear. Being around that kind of energy drains me. Because slowly, it blurs your own clarity, your drive, your edge.

Online, it’s even worse. One scroll, and you’re flooded with opinions pretending to be facts, or trends pretending to be meaning. That’s media priming, even if we don’t call it that. What we see, read, or hear shapes how we think. Maybe that’s why I’ve stayed off social media for seven years. I don’t want my mind to be molded by random noise.

I’ve always believed in positivity and manifestation. But being around negativity affects me the most. Negative thoughts spread faster than positive ones, and people absorb them without noticing. That’s what I’m truly afraid of, how easy it is for darkness to spread in silence.

So over time, I learned to build my own filter. And yes, a wall too, a thick, high one. Not because I hate people, but because I love my peace more.

I keep that wall to protect what’s inside me. To stop the contagion. To keep doing my own thing, while holding my integrity and dignity high.

~ Reendiana

Note:

This reflection is supported by research on social influence and behavioral assimilation (Hodas & Lerman, 2014), which found that people unconsciously copy the actions and ideas of those around them, proving that stupidity really can spread.