In these times I cannot help wondering whether anti-vaxxers, and those blatantly disregarding the most basic safety measures, are stupid or if they wish to self-destruct.

Stupidity is not merely a lack of intelligence or education. Even so-called primitive nations have treasures of wisdom. No, I think it is more like a wish for self-destruction that kicks in at times despite the massive wealth of available knowledge and historical lessons to tap into.

There are so many examples throughout ancient and modern history. In my view this kind of stupidity is caused by an urge, whether wilfully or by design, to ignore common sense, common decency and values that are the glue that keep nations together.

It seems like an inexplicable wish for self-destruction that arises from time to time. Is it perhaps one of nature's ways of preventing population growth from getting out of hand?

Of course, I exclude those few that cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons – they too are thankful for those who take the vaccines. Anti-vaxxers gamble with our lives and provide space for the virus to spread and mutate into deadlier variants. And then the crowning stupidity: mankind, the most intelligent creatures to ever roam the earth, wilfully destroying their only home, mother earth.

There are also examples in the animal world of such self-destructive tendencies among intelligent species, like whales committing mass suicide by swimming out on beaches. All creatures seem to lose their inner compasses from time to time and/or become vulnerable to mass mobilisation by members of their own species. One cannot help wondering whether it is done wilfully or by design.

Dawie Jacobs, Sterrewag, Pretoria