Wit & Attitude Quote by Edward Abbey

Abbey’s genius here is the bait-and-switch: he opens with the familiar folk wisdom about individual fallibility, then spikes it with a nastier, funnier claim that feels almost heretical in a culture that treats “teamwork” like a civic sacrament. The line runs on vernacular propulsion - “pretty dumb,” “for real bona fide,” “there ain’t nothin’” - as if it’s being delivered over a campfire or in a bar, which matters because Abbey is smuggling a political critique inside a tall-tale cadence. The humor disarms; the cynicism lands.

The specific intent is to puncture the moral prestige of collective action. Abbey isn’t denying that groups can accomplish things; he’s arguing that groups can also outsource responsibility with breathtaking efficiency. Alone, a person may make a bad call and own it. In a team, stupidity gets laundered into process: committees, consensus, and “just following the plan” turn error into something that looks like policy. The phrase “bona fide stupidity” is key - not ignorance, not accident, but the fully credentialed kind that comes with badges, minutes, and buy-in.

Context helps. Abbey, the desert anarchist of The Monkey Wrench Gang, spent his career skewering institutions - bureaucracies, industrial tourism, the managerial mindset that smooths wild places into “resources.” This jab at teamwork reads like an ecological and civic warning: the most damaging decisions aren’t usually made by lone idiots; they’re made by organized, well-intentioned groups that can’t admit they’re wrong until the canyon is paved.