English Version | Editor's Letter: Nonsense Issue

"Stupidity is infinitely more fascinating than intelligence. Intelligence has its limits while stupidity has none." - Claude Chabrol

© Aida Blue por Martina Keenan

The Nonsense Issue is dedicated to what's absurd, to the lack of common sense, to nonsense, and also to stupidity... All wrapped up in a huge nonsense rainbow that we thought made sense throughout the silly season - more silly than season, to be honest - in this absurd summer we're living.

© Ann-Sophie Thieme por Branislav Simoncik

Stupidity is not just stupid, it's extraordinarily useful and even necessary (and extremely destructive). It feeds prisons and a whole criminal and legal system, medical industry, media, advertising, cosmetics and even fashion, or fashions. It supports large sectors of our population with paid jobs. It is a protagonist in political and economic scenarios. Napoleon Bonaparte stated: "In politics, stupidity is not a handicap." We live surrounded by so many obvious idiocies... driving under the influence of alcohol, smoking (I personally find it very difficult to stop), cycling with no lights at night, canoeing without a life jacket, texting while driving, starting out in the criminal world (which can pay off, but it's an occupation with high failure rates), failures when recycling, both personal and political... the list is endless, feel free to add your own experiences and favorite items to it. Because there are some foolishnesses that harm noone - quite the contrary, they serve to lighten our down-to-earth side. There's harmless nonsense, linked to a freedom and a pleasure we cannot explain. "I like nonsense, it wakes up brain cells," said Dr. Seuss. Because we are all idiots from time to time. Perhaps the least obvious and most common foolishness is the ability to judge the stupidity of others, and very rarely include ourselves on the list.

© Fryderyka por Dominika Witos

Why do we love nonsense? Why do we love Monty Python humor and their Spanish inquisition that no one expected? Or why do we laughed until we tear up with joy, unknowingly, just by hearing someone's contagious laughter? Why do we make the strangest sounds when savoring what delights us most or why do we scream and experience panic on a roller coaster we enter voluntarily? There is a glorious and essential nonsense that lies at the heart of the world, even if it doesn't necessarily lead anywhere. It seems that only in moments of unusual insight and enlightenment do we understand this and discover that the true meaning of life may not make sense, that its purpose is not purpose. Still, we want to use the word "significant." Is this significant nonsense? It's a kind of nonsense that isn't just chaos, that isn't just chatty foolishness, but contains within it a rhythm, a fascinating complexity, and a kind of artistic talent for living. It is in this kind of nonsense that we arrive at the purest simplicity and the deepest meaning. Perhaps nonsense is so accurate because common sense without it is so limited.

Translated from the original on Vogue Portugal's "The Nonsense Issue".Full credits on the print edition.