The classic midwit approach to problems is to conflate a symptom with the disease, offer an inefficient or ineffective cure for the symptom as the solution to the problem, and then wonder why it isn't working.
For example:
A midwit notices tremendous human suffering among the institutionalized mentally ill.
The midwit declares institutions the problem.
The midwit campaigns to have institutions shut down.
The midwit congratulates himself on a job well done.
...
A midwit notices tremendous human suffering among the homeless mentally ill.
The midwit declares homelessness the problem.
The midwit campaigns to spend ever-increasing sums of money 'fighting homelessness'.
Homelessness continues to grow unchecked.
A dullard would have given up and declared the problem unsolvable, while an intelligent person would be investigating why the rates of mental illness are steadily rising and would attempt to combat the problem at its source. The midwit, meanwhile, is the governor of California.
As others have said, if you're concerned that you may not be thinking things through thoroughly enough, you're capable of introspection and growth and unlikely to be a midwit. In any case, a bit of humility is generally enough to stave off the worst excesses of midwitism, which is why today's midwits are generally 'atheist'.
It was even around before Marx. Puritan Thomas Watson wrote one of the uses of the 8th commandment was to "confute the doctrine of community", which is that all property should be held in common.
A midwit notices tremendous human suffering among the institutionalized mentally ill.
The midwit declares institutions the problem.
A corollary to this is that midwits are lazy cowards, so they'll always pick the safest and easiest route. Fighting mental illness is difficult. It requires deep knowledge of many things, and it may not even be possible. Fighting institutions is easy. They're physical things that can be destroyed. You can't wave signs around in front of mental illness, but you can in front of an institution.
Same thing with homelessness. It's an easy fight. Someone doesn't have a house? Give them a house! There, problem fixed. They aren't homeless any more.
If someone thinks that every problem has a quick, easy, and most importantly very safe solution, they are a midwit.
The classic midwit approach to problems is to conflate a symptom with the disease, offer an inefficient or ineffective cure for the symptom as the solution to the problem, and then wonder why it isn't working.
For example:
A dullard would have given up and declared the problem unsolvable, while an intelligent person would be investigating why the rates of mental illness are steadily rising and would attempt to combat the problem at its source. The midwit, meanwhile, is the governor of California.
As others have said, if you're concerned that you may not be thinking things through thoroughly enough, you're capable of introspection and growth and unlikely to be a midwit. In any case, a bit of humility is generally enough to stave off the worst excesses of midwitism, which is why today's midwits are generally 'atheist'.
Communism never disappears because it is a political manifestation of evil, and evil is a reliable byproduct of free will.
It was even around before Marx. Puritan Thomas Watson wrote one of the uses of the 8th commandment was to "confute the doctrine of community", which is that all property should be held in common.
A corollary to this is that midwits are lazy cowards, so they'll always pick the safest and easiest route. Fighting mental illness is difficult. It requires deep knowledge of many things, and it may not even be possible. Fighting institutions is easy. They're physical things that can be destroyed. You can't wave signs around in front of mental illness, but you can in front of an institution.
Same thing with homelessness. It's an easy fight. Someone doesn't have a house? Give them a house! There, problem fixed. They aren't homeless any more.
If someone thinks that every problem has a quick, easy, and most importantly very safe solution, they are a midwit.