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People carry on telling me about how intelligent Kas is.” These 10 easy phrases, although complimentary on the face of it, might have unwittingly sealed an harmless man’s destiny.
Uttered by Leon about his fellow contestant Kasim on the BBC’s explosively widespread technique gameshow The Traitors, they planted a seed of suspicion that quickly grew right into a veritable jungle. For 3 consecutive nights, the poor good physician was hauled over the coals on the Spherical Desk, more and more ostracised from the group and compelled to defend his unimpeachable character, earlier than being unceremoniously banished on the finish of the fourth episode. He was, after all, a Trustworthy all alongside.
If you happen to’ve by no means watched the present, the premise is straightforward: a bunch of strangers are thrown collectively in a Scottish fortress to play the sport. Initially, a small minority of gamers are secretly given the function of Traitor; everybody else is a Trustworthy.
Every evening, the Traitors choose a Trustworthy to “homicide”, eliminating them one after the other from the sport. Every day, the entire group has a Spherical Desk dialogue to guess who they suppose might be a potential Traitor, on the finish of which one individual is voted out or “banished”. Within the last spherical of the sport, if there are solely Faithfuls left, they cut up a sizeable prize pot between them. If even a single Traitor stays, that individual wins all the cash as a substitute.
It’s a masterclass in groupthink, mob mentality, anthropology, psychology, sociology, duplicity, manipulation, the artwork of persuasion – you title it. The format, now on its third UK sequence, makes for wildly compelling viewing.
Contestants kind cliques, assemble outlandish theories, and draw conclusions about others which are largely primarily based on bias underneath the guise of “proof” that ranges from scant to non-existent. Opinions can activate a dime, and staying protected from banishment is a a lot more durable activity than one may think in a recreation the place even the merest point out of your title can see the herd flip in opposition to you.
However within the case of Kasim, a 33-year-old physician from Cambridge who appeared unwaveringly type, first rate and personable, his mind paved the way in which for his downfall. After Leon highlighted Kas’s smarts, doubt crept in throughout the group. Cleverness, removed from being an asset, was deemed one thing to be cautious of.
“You, Kas – you’re sensible, you’re calculated,” got here Jake’s damning character assassination the next evening. “You save lives in the course of the day; you’re killing at evening. It simply is smart – the dots are connecting there.” (This accusation, in flip, led to one of many present’s most iconic strains thus removed from Kas: “You’re principally calling me Harold Shipman.”)
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He’s not the one one to fall foul of the “too sensible” poisoned chalice. Throughout the identical Spherical Desk through which Kas was eradicated, politics scholar Freddie additionally acquired a excessive variety of votes, with the justification in a single occasion being: “You’re so intelligent and so brilliant.”
Earlier sequence have likewise proven that it pays to return throughout as a mean Joe, IQ-wise – not a type of highfalutin, big-words-using, book-smart folks. Take the primary season, when Imran – a Trustworthy who occurred to be the world’s youngest holder of a PhD in astrophysics – was the second participant to be banished. Nobody might put their finger on precisely why he was suspicious, with obscure references to his “physique language” and “a few issues which have been stated” the one explanations given.
His departure was shortly adopted by that of Ivan, a video games grasp, writer and game-theory skilled who, as soon as once more, proved that being too intelligent by half was the stupidest play of all. “I’m actually really unhappy with you, Ivan, since you are so sensible,” stated one fellow participant earlier than voting him out, whereas one other delivered the phrases that each participant ought to come to dread: “I do suppose you’re a genius.”
We’ve seen time and time once more that not showing to be too brilliant acts as the very best protecting protect
Within the second sequence, whipsmart chess coach Anthony was intelligent sufficient to accurately guess that everybody’s favorite baddie, Paul, was a Traitor, a full three episodes earlier than the latter was banished, primarily based on utterly sound logic quite than a whim masquerading as “intestine intuition”. However his solely reward was banishment himself in episode six. The ultimate nail within the coffin? His “very intelligent manner of diverting questions”, in keeping with one other participant.
On the flip facet of the coin, we’ve seen time and time once more that not showing to be too brilliant – giving off a stable, salt-of-the-earth, guileless vibe – acts as the very best protecting protect there’s. You’re neither seen as a risk, nor as somebody able to pulling off deception and duplicity.
Simply take a look at a few of the finalists who beforehand managed to stumble their solution to the top, not by advantage of any nice technique or gameplay, however by being what one may uncharitably classify as “helpful idiots”. Meryl and Aaron in season one; candy, gullible Mollie in season two (who, even when introduced with a cast-iron solution to win the sport, selected as a substitute to place misplaced loyalty above taking residence the money).
Returning to sequence three’s newest evisceration of the intelligentsia, Kas was tellingly smeared with one notably unpalatable label after defending himself eloquently with clear, coherent arguments that by some means solely deepened others’ suspicions. “Sat right here tonight, listening to the way in which you’ve reacted to a few of Jake’s feedback, you remind me of a politician,” was fellow Trustworthy Joe’s damning evaluation. “The best way you say stuff, there’s like, no substance, and I simply don’t imagine you.”
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The entire alternate maybe mirrored a a lot wider concern that’s been insidiously creeping into public discourse and opinion all over the world: an inherent suspicion in the direction of, and rejection of, mind, particularly relating to these in cost.
Michael Gove helped kickstart this anti-intellectualist motion again in 2016 (regardless of himself being an Oxford grad), along with his notorious declaration in the course of the EU referendum marketing campaign that “the folks on this nation have had sufficient of consultants”. The “folks of this nation” appeared to agree with him, voting for not solely Brexit however a succession of bumbling prime ministers that notably culminated in Liz “lettuce” Truss, who managed to spectacularly tank the financial system throughout a tenure that lasted lower than 50 days (making her the UK’s shortest-serving PM).
Additional afield, you solely need to look throughout the pond on the US’s re-election of Donald Trump and rejection of Kamala Harris to wonder if true genius lies in stupidity relating to getting forward as a potential chief. The president-elect’s newest random obsessions embrace inexplicably renaming the Gulf of Mexico and taking Greenland from Denmark (for deeply spurious causes reminiscent of a kid all of the sudden deciding that they wish to swipe their sibling’s toy).
Curiously, research have proven that clever folks are extra trusting of others than are their much less sensible counterparts; Oxford College researchers concluded that this was as a result of the previous are, in actual fact, higher judges of character. However within the recreation of The Traitors – and of life – maybe the neatest factor of all is to play dumb.
