Perhaps being an "idiot" today means logging off. It means saying "I love you" first. It means admitting you don't understand the crypto market. It means crying at a movie. It means choosing sincerity over satire.
But Dostoevsky offers a terrifying counter-argument: Maybe the "idiot" is the only one who has solved the puzzle. o idiota dostoievski
Because Myshkin’s compassion is a mirror. When you look at a truly good person, you don’t see their goodness; you see your own flaws. Myshkin doesn’t judge anyone—he pities them. And nothing enrages a guilty person more than unearned pity. Perhaps being an "idiot" today means logging off
Myshkin ultimately fails. His story ends in ruin. He returns to the sanitarium, his mind shattered by the cruelty he witnessed. It is a bleak ending. But it is also a challenge. It means crying at a movie
We have pathologized kindness. We tell our children, "Don’t be a pushover." We tell our friends, "They don’t deserve your empathy." We have decided that to be good is to be naive; to be moral is to be a mark.