Along with digital-detox trends (dumb devices that make humans smart) comes the latest move against lazy negligence: harsh public criticism of ignorance.

Tourists apparently can’t get enough of the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast museum’s quick wit and sharp critiques, as its “performances” are completely sold out.

In spite of the rudeness, or perhaps because of it, the twice-monthly “Grumpy Guide” tour has been a surprise hit, with each one since the launch in May sold out. Anyone looking to book a spot will have to wait until next year.

“I never insult visitors directly, based on their personality or their appearance, but I insult them as a group,” said Carl Brandi, 33, the performance artist who conceived of and performs as the aggressive Langelinck. “My contempt is directed at an inferred ignorance that may not even exist. But I try to make them feel as ignorant as possible.”

The Grumpy Guide phenomenon shows Germans are up for a challenge, even comfortable to be called out on their ignorance – they’re paying to be told they don’t know enough and can do better. Germany is giving a glimpse into a future generation of thinkers, unafraid of learning history, who care about personal integrity.

This is a huge contrast with current American political winds of “know-nothingism”, platformed rejection of expertise for pride in mass ignorance. The recent American regurgitation of nativism rebranded MAGA wouldn’t stand a chance in Germany:

Museumsführer Joseph Langelinck: „Sie haben das Erinnerungsvermögen einer Schmeißfliege!“

Translation: “You have the memory of a fly!”

This is a particularly biting insult, given Germany’s national commitment to science and staying “woke” (Vergangenheitsbewältigung) and never forgetting its own history.

Ihr Bratzen habt doch keine Ahnung!

Translation: “You brats have no idea!”

Compare and contrast:

A – Germany: People flock to experts telling them they’re ignorant, laugh at it, and dive into learning – remembering the 1930s when anti-intellectuals burned books and murdered experts.

This particular museum “lost” over 1,000 artworks during Nazism—the third worst-affected museum in Germany—and hosted the 1938 “Degenerate Music” exhibition to mock and destroy culture. Its collection was nearly eradicated by ignorance as complicity. Now it’s the venue where Germans pay to be challenged intellectually, to be called ignorant, and to dive into preservation and learning.

B – America: MAGA actively cultivates hostility toward experts, celebrates anti-intellectualism, and campaigns against “fancy education” – forgetting (or worse, admiring) these patterns in history.

Book banning in the US has surged in the past few years, fueled by conservative backlash…”What we’re seeing right now mirrors elements of different historical periods, but this has never all happened at once,” Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms managing director for US free expression programs at PEN America, said. […] PEN America has tracked more than 10,000 public school book bans in the 2023-2024 school year alone.

Societies either learn from or repeat their worst moments.

Germany chose learning, and is enjoying the challenge. The same museum that lost its collection to anti-intellectual rage is now profiting from intellectual rigor. That’s not just irony—it’s proof of concept. Germany chose differently, and it’s working.

America, stuck in repeat, is in the doom spiral of fear-addled book banning and anti-intellectual rage.

Related: ACTS 17 preacher Peter Thiel’s company Palantir tells American kids to skip higher education and lower their aim; offering them a job if they can swallow four weeks of “Western Civilization” shock doctrine.