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Many people are fighting in One Big War. Their whole life is composed of 1 main or a handful of Big Dramas. Fearing the resolution/destruction of these dramas, every win/lose war is turned into a plus/minus battle.

When you make each war a battle you pile up bodies after each encounter. When you make each battle a war you bring closure then and there. You don't seethe and grow resentment.

A peaceful society is one where battles don't rage on. They are put to rest. Not buried. Certain cultural conventions and traditions help with this.

In some cultures, you must be able to accept defeat. Others, you must be able to declare victory. Different cultures emphasize different temperaments towards the universe.

In a culture that's used to one person accepting defeat to end a war, battles range on when both refuse to do so. Wars also end when one side can just walk away. "We may never understand each other. Live and let Live".

But being able to declare victory internally dulls your competitive edge. If I can walk away going "Yeah, that guy was a total idiot, 2 +2 CAN equal 5 sometimes.", I'm never going to improve at math.

As you can imagine, a country or person that is obsessed with being number one will have a hard time accepting defeat. They'll draw out every encounter into a draw out battle.

They'll draw out every war of "You Were Wrong" into a bloody Long War of "But I'm A Better Person Overall." They stop learning because they refuse to admit defeat. They've never had to before. There was space to walk away.

Without that space, you can't walk away anymore. For the person who didn't need math in their life, they suddenly feel stupid and fearful now that every job requires math.

They could be a music, or art prodigy. They could be a farm who intuitively selectively breeds crops for great yield. But in our world of today. They need to know 'useless' things and squint at small pixels on a glowing screen to survive.

What 2 + 2 = 5 is saying is ... "This thing that you tell me is necessary for my life is not necessary. Not 'real'. See, I'm alive. You can't deny my existence can you?"

This is the catch-22 of 'oppressed' people. A stupid person isn't going to know how to not be stupid because that's precisely why they're stupid. If they knew how to not be stupid, they wouldn't be stupid.

Saying "Hey, follow these specific steps to not be stupid anymore. Read these books." completely fails to understand stupidity. If they could read those books, if they could follow your advice, they wouldn't be stupid.

I don't mean stupid derogatorily here btw. I mean it to mean "worthless to the eyes of the system.". Most people will feel smart and stupid as they move through different life environments.

People who had perfectly happy and meaningful lives now have horrible lives where they fuck up everything at work (and so fucking up their life) and have no other choice. Their skills are useless b/c society now values something else.

"Wow, Grandma here has "Patience" and "Endless Love"" "Sorry, but this is a menial data entry job squinting at a screen on a bad chair paying minimum wage. You might want to look for something you're more qualified for."

Watching old people you care about get fucked up by technology is a good signal to stick in a few more control rods to your nuclear reactor of "innovation" Watching your friends get fucked up into depression... less so. After all, they all seem so Happy on instagram and facebook

"How is grandma btw? I've been working at this tech job for 10 years and haven't kept in touch. I wonder if she's doing well. If her life has changed. Eh, I'll do it later. Gotta adjust this recommendation algorithm."

A society grows weak when its stupid people don't know how to accept defeat. It thinks that accepting defeat is weakness rather than the path to power that it really is.

Give stupid people space. Or you force them to deal with each other. The non-architects are gonna be forced to build skyscrapers.

Realize that you'll be stupid in the eyes of society some day. Realize that many people have already thought you stupid and there's nothing you can do about it. You can't redeem yourself by being say more moral without re-starting a war.

Are you clutching a cease fire to your heart? Following the terms laid out in a passive aggressive manner, taking advantage of every loop hole? Living in a way that is burning out your soul? Realize that you can end the war any time.

Maybe you're "Right", but you need the other to acknowledge defeat. Are you sure you can't just declare victory and walk away? Maybe you're "Wrong". Can you accept that and end the war? Or do you need to draw it out to win the bigger war?