Homo Sapiens are just not that bright

Although there are obvious exceptions, as a species we humans are very stupid. I would point out that the distribution of intelligence amongst humans looks like a bell curve so half of the people fall below the median intelligence. I would also point out that the median is really not that high either, so even those whose intelligence is above it are not overly intelligent either.

This thought was triggered by the recent election in France. France and indeed all of Europe was convulsed by a war that cost 10s of millions of lives and virtually destroyed all of the physical infrastructure of the continent because of fascism in it many forms. France itself had half of its territory brutally occupied by a foreign country while the other half was ruled by a puppet regime that was only allowed to exist because they had the same ideology as the occupying power and it took orders from that power. Millions of French citizens risked summary execution by resisting the occupation and the puppet.

So you would think after all of that they would run away from any political party that had even a hint of fascist tendencies. Nope. The last election in France had an openly fascist political party come in second during the general election and it was competitive during the runoff. 

I would understand that if all of the negative outcomes happened hundreds of years ago. The French might forget about most of them but that is not the case. Yes, the generation that had to live through it are mostly gone but it was recent enough that the generations that came after should have a clear idea of what fascism did to their country. I believe they do but they do not care because....

I do not know how to finish that sentence except to say "that they are not that bright". And they are not unique in this. It has become more and more apparent that this is a problem of the species and not just a given group or collective of it. 

Considering the existential threats that we will be facing in the next few decades I have to say that I am more and more inclined to believe this will be our fate instead of the alternative.