Nigeria, March 3 -- If you have a morbid fear of being stupid or being perceived as stupid by your peers and associates, you are suffering from stupidophobia, aka stultophobia. Many well educated people suffer this condition because it directly affects their claim to social relevance and intellectual depth.

In the last 100 years, very few intellectuals have devoted their time and analytical peregrination to stupidity as much as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a humble pastor who warned his countrymen about the rise of Hitler and his fellow butchers. He argued that stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than evil. Whereas one can expose evil and protest against it, stupidity is a more formidable enemy because it can be found perched, at tim...