Are 60% of Turks Stupid?

In Turkey, Aziz Nesin’s remark that “60% of the Turkish nation are stupid” usually resurfaces after elections, and is used heavily on social media by those whose candidate lost to criticise other voters.

So are 60% of the Turkish nation really stupid?

When, on what occasion and with what intention did Aziz Nesin say this?

According to Müjdat Gezen, while Aziz Nesin was giving a talk on humour in Torbalı, a district of İzmir, someone raised his hand and asked, “Mr Aziz, as the grandchildren of Nasreddin Hodja, we are a clever nation, aren’t we?” Aziz Nesin replied, “Well, 60% of us are stupid.” When Müjdat Gezen asked, “Why did you give such an exaggerated figure?”, Aziz Nesin said: “I was going to say 92%, but I love these people.” By 92% he meant the 1982 Constitution being adopted with about 92% voting yes (the official result was 91.37%).

The question that immediately comes to mind is: what was the secret of Kenan Evren’s success?

The main propaganda phrases Kenan Evren used before the referendum were these:

 “Cast Your Vote Remembering the Dark Days.”

“Those who collaborate with foreign powers have launched a ‘No’ campaign.”

“If we do not want to live through those disastrous days before 12 September again, and in an even more terrible form, we will adopt the new Constitution.”

“Those who long for the old era, traitors to the homeland, are working to discredit the administration.”

“(…) Those who oppose the Constitution are the ones who collaborate with ASALA and take instructions from communist radio stations.”

The year is 2023, and for 20 years the AKP has used similar, even more exaggerated rhetoric before every election. This means the tactic has always worked since 1982.

That is the background to the remark “60% of the Turkish people are stupid.”

By what criterion, or with what intention, did Aziz Nesin say this?

Nesin’s works generally carry a tone of humour and satire. Such remarks may therefore aim at social criticism, political commentary or a humorous effect.

In my view, Aziz Nesin used the word “stupid” here because he thought people’s decision-making processes were not sound. He even included himself, saying “we are stupid”.

Moreover, a writer’s statements are usually shaped by their era and personal views, so not every statement should be taken as a direct generalisation.

So does our decision-making process, or do our decisions, which Aziz Nesin highlights, have anything to do with stupidity?

Limbic System and Prefrontal Cortex

Decision-making shapes the direction and quality of our lives throughout our lifetime, from everyday choices about socialising to important areas such as health, career, family and finances (Lighthall, 2020). Although the brain’s decision-making process is multifaceted and complex, there are two important parts of the brain that influence it: the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system. These two parts are so important that, according to Daniel Goleman, “Success in life depends on the connection between the prefrontal cortex and the limbic system.”

The prefrontal cortex is known for its ability to resist momentary impulses. It helps us approach events more from a cognitive and reflective perspective and make decisions based on factors such as advantages and disadvantages. The prefrontal cortex also plays an important role in observing ethical norms.

The limbic system, by contrast, generally interprets events through emotional reactions. Dangerous or rewarding situations in particular can be emphasised by this system. Emotional responses such as fear, joy, anger and heroism are also governed by the limbic system.

In short, the prefrontal cortex is our reason and the limbic system our emotions, or, in Sufi terms, we might say our will and our nafs, our lower self.

These two parts are like two inner voices speaking within us.

We cannot do everything that comes to mind or that we want, because the prefrontal cortex warns us: this is illegal, this is immoral, this is shameful and so on. Some people, for example, are left-handed, others use their right hand more. But they do not always use only their right or only their left hand. People, too, make decisions sometimes with their prefrontal cortex prevailing and sometimes with their limbic system prevailing, depending on the situation. The important thing is that the two can work in harmony. When some people use their limbic system often, however, it becomes something like a character trait. The same goes for the prefrontal cortex.

The Turkish idiom “nabza göre şerbet vermek”, giving sherbet according to the pulse, that is, telling people what they want to hear, may well apply to these two concepts. If someone’s limbic system prevails, emotional appeals such as rhetoric and demagoguery will help persuade them. With someone whose prefrontal cortex is thought to prevail, approaching them with data, cause-and-effect relationships or logical chains of events will be useful in persuading them.

The Marshmallow Test

Psychologist Walter Mischel conducted a study called the Marshmallow Test to investigate self-control in a group of children. Walter Mischel and his colleagues investigated the effect on future success of the ability to wait in order to obtain something desired.

Mischel and his colleagues took a group of children into a room and told them: if you can wait patiently for 15 minutes, we will give you two treats. If you can’t wait 15 minutes, you will have to make do with one. Some of the children chose to eat one treat within the 15 minutes, while others waited the 15 minutes and ate two.

When the same children were observed years later, it was found that those who delayed gratification were more successful.

While we can easily classify people as blond, light brown-haired or dark-haired, classifying them as prefrontal or limbic is not very realistic; still, we can say it helps us like a litmus test when assessing individuals’ behaviour.

Take the Series Kurtlar Vadisi (Valley of the Wolves)

In one episode Polat Alemdar says, “I’m going into İncirlik Air Base.” Those who follow the series know that Memati is impulsive in such situations and reacts emotionally with lines like “Let’s go, boss, let’s hit them, boss.” Abdulhey, on the other hand, approaches it entirely logically, with lines like “Brother, are we sure, shouldn’t we think a bit, what happens next, there’ll be a war.” Polat Alemdar blends these two views; he does not act purely out of bravado or impulse, but finds a middle way. Instead of shooting his way in at the gate, he gets in by causing a team leaving the base to have an accident and infiltrating the medical team that comes to help.

This is a very important scene in which we can observe the brain’s decision-making processes.

For example, if someone responds to a fuel price rise by saying, “I always buy 50 lira’s worth anyway”, they are saying it entirely under the influence of the limbic system. If Erdoğan comes out and says, “We have the cheapest fuel in Europe”, and someone responds, “That’s right, Europe envies us”, they too are saying it with the limbic system entirely prevailing. Someone else, using their prefrontal cortex, draws a conclusion based on comparative data: “Yes, true, but with the minimum wage there you can buy 800 litres of petrol, while with ours you can buy 200.” And this is in fact the connection needed for success in life.

The limbic system is as essential to a person as borders are to a state. But borders must be protected by border gates, checkpoints and patrols, and that is what the prefrontal cortex does. If anyone can bring anything they like across the border, a security problem arises.

The limbic system is not in fact something negative; it is simply a part whose activities need to be controlled. Had Corporal Seyit approached the situation with his prefrontal cortex at the time, he would not even have attempted to lift the artillery shell. But at that moment Corporal Seyit decided with his limbic system, perhaps with heroic feelings, dared to take that shell on his back and changed the course of the naval battle.

The Coup Economy and the Limbic System

Now and then we use expressions such as “He is impulsive, he acts on his emotions” or “She makes rational decisions” or “they married for love, or they married for reason”. In the same way, by looking at people’s behaviour and words, we can determine whether their source is emotion (limbic) or reason (prefrontal).

Since 1982, if election rallies are full of bombast and appeals to emotion, it means most people act with their limbic systems. In other words, rational arguments do not affect them much.

When Berat Albayrak was Minister of Treasury and Finance, he commented on the rise of the dollar and the euro: “This isn’t the citizen’s (the low-income earner’s or civil servant’s) problem. The citizen earns Turkish lira and spends Turkish lira. It’s the rich (factory owners or businessmen) who deal with euros and dollars. And they go abroad on trips. Let them not go. My citizens don’t have such concerns.”

If someone believes this, they are entirely under the influence of the limbic system. And if someone else says, “No way, that has nothing to do with it”, I don’t think there is any need to say which part is influencing them.

Strike Up the Mehter…

The effect of the Mehter March, the Ottoman military band’s music, in many of the wars the Ottoman state won cannot be denied, but if the state and its institutions are not adequately equipped in terms of means and capabilities, the cry “Strike up the Mehter!” is pure bombast, invalid in terms of reality, yet will be accepted as absolute truth by people who cannot master their limbic system. Likewise Erdoğan’s phrase “We may come suddenly one night”, or the statement that if we launched an operation into Syria “we would pray the Friday prayer in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus”, are rhetoric aimed entirely at the limbic system.

The public greets such rhetoric with enthusiasm, applauds for a long time and talks about it for days, but in the end comes back to square one. Former Air Force Commander General Akın Öztürk took a realistic approach on this and said that a third of the Turkish Air Force would be destroyed before reaching Damascus.

History shows us who was right. Yet, like Nasreddin Hodja, most people look for what they have lost not where they lost it but where the light is. And those who, not being prisoners of their emotions, defend the truth at any cost pay a price.

Using the limbic system and appealing to the limbic system is a very serious security problem for individuals as well as for society and the state. Someone ruled by reason is far less likely to take bribes, engage in corruption, rig tenders, commit crimes or betray their people and state than someone ruled by the limbic system, who values heroic sentiment, instant gratification, getting rich quick and gaining prestige.

Just imagine: the prefrontal cortex says, “The government engaged in corruption and stole your rights and your children’s future.” But the limbic system says, “Never mind, the thief is our thief. He steals, but he works.” The difficulty, perhaps the impossibility, of explaining something to such people through analysis and a chain of logic is best understood by those who have been seeking justice and fighting for the truth for years.