By: Abdullah Al-Omaira

At first glance, the question may seem strange.

Stupidity, in its apparent form, does not think… it simply reflects the absence of deep thinking.
But the real question imposed by crises is not that.

The more important question is:

How does an unaware mind behave when reading events?

In moments of tension and major crises, different patterns of thinking emerge.
Some try to understand the full picture,
while others settle for quick reactions that produce noise more than understanding.

And from here the real question begins:

How does stupidity think when facing a crisis?

Organized Stupidity

In major crises, intelligence is not the only thing that appears.
Something else also emerges with even greater presence and influence: organized stupidity.

Crises are not managed only by strategic minds; they are also surrounded by armies of voices that do not understand what is happening, yet speak about it with great confidence.

If we want to understand this phenomenon honestly, we may need to ask a slightly different question:

How does a naive mind think during times of crisis?

If I Were Naive .. What Would I See?

If I were naive, superficial, or incapable of reading events deeply, I would probably do something simple:

I would look for the easiest explanation.

A naive mind dislikes complexity, cannot tolerate analysis, and does not like to wait until the full picture becomes clear.

Therefore, it tends to rely on:

quick explanations

loud headlines

ready-made rumors

For such a mind, a crisis is not a complex event that requires understanding, but rather easy material for consumption.

If I Were an Unbalanced Opponent

If I were an unbalanced opponent, carrying half a mind while the other half is empty yet insisting on leading the thinking, I might do something else.

I would turn the crisis into a stage for mockery.

I would not think about the complexities of the situation, the balances of the region, or the long-term consequences.

All I would see is an opportunity to say:

"Look… they have fallen."

But the problem is that history tells a different story.

Crises in the Middle East have rarely been the end of states.
More often, they have been the beginning of their reorganization.

If I Were Manipulated .. How Would I Write?

If I were manipulated, or tasked with producing media material without real awareness of what is happening, I would deal with the crisis differently.

I would not use my mind.

Instead, I would use someone else’s mind.

A ready-made mind written somewhere else, then handed to me to implement.

I would produce:

a story without context

an image without meaning

a rumor without a source

The important thing would be to keep the noise moving.

In times of crisis, noise sometimes becomes more valuable to some people than truth.

How Does Stupidity Build Its Narrative?

A rigid mind cannot update its image of the world.

So when reality changes in front of it, it does not attempt to understand… it tries to deny the change.

It remains trapped in an old picture:

States that are still as they were decades ago.
Societies that remain as they were generations ago.
Power measured by slogans rather than realities.

But the world moves… whether one realizes it or not.

The Gulf .. A Test of Reading

The crises currently passing through the region place the Gulf states before a new test.

But the real test is not only military, nor purely economic.

It is a test of reading.

How is the crisis interpreted?

Is it read through the lens of noise…
or through the lens of balance?

The region today is no longer what it was half a century ago.

There are states that built their strength upon:

economic power

stability

long-term planning

These elements do not appear in loud headlines, but they become clearly visible when the region shakes.

The Difference Between Two Minds

During crises, two types of minds appear.

A mind that searches for rumors.
And a mind that searches for meaning.

The first lives on noise.
The second lives on understanding.

The first sees a crisis as an opportunity to shout.
The second sees it as a moment to think.

Perhaps the Real Question

Perhaps the real question in times of crisis is not:

Who shouts louder?

But rather:

Who understands better?

History rarely remembers the voices of noise for long.

But it always remembers the minds that read the moment with awareness.