Despite clear evidence that politicians, media outlets, pharmaceutical companies, and major corporations regularly engage in corrupt and manipulative practices, many people still cling to the saying: never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.

The logic goes like this: our elites aren’t scheming actors with goals opposed to the public’s—they’re just bumbling fools who make mistakes.

There is comfort in this idea. It’s easier to believe our leaders are well-intentioned buffoons than to accept the darker alternative. But the “incompetence” explanation doesn’t just soothe fears; it also provides cover for elites who profit by exploiting ordinary people.

I would propose a different rule: never attribute to incompetence what can be attributed to malice. This won’t always be correct, but it is far closer to the truth.

The Covid-19 response illustrates the point. Politicians, corporations, and media figures claimed they were acting in good faith while adapting to an evolving situation. Many still believe this. Yet a more sober look reveals a different picture: the pandemic became an exercise in control that worsened global inequality and further concentrated wealth among the richest.

Mass immigration, particularly into Europe, is another case where “incompetence” is used as a mask. The consequences—rising crime, shattered cohesion, declining safety for ordinary citizens—are brushed aside as unintended side effects. But the pattern is too consistent to ignore.

Even the bloated spending and inefficient bureaucracies often cited as proof of government incompetence make more sense through a malice lens. In reality, these systems funnel money and power to donors, party loyalists, and entrenched interests.

Foreign wars follow the same script. Since the early 2000s, America has blundered into one disastrous conflict after another. Were these accidents? Or do they reliably serve the same military and financial elites?

The list of “mistakes” pursued across the West is strikingly consistent:

• Speech restrictions and censorship
• Over-regulation and high taxation
• Inflation and soaring costs of living
• Destruction of the middle class
• Widening wealth gaps
• Demonization of Europeans
• Glorification of foreign cultures and denigration of Western heritage
• Mass immigration and uncontrolled borders

It becomes harder to dismiss concerns when every supposed blunder points in the same direction.

The unpleasant truth is this: many powerful actors hide their agendas behind a mask of incompetence. And we allow it by believing them. It’s time to stop pretending. What we are facing is not mere incompetence. It is malice, ill-intent, and interests set against those of ordinary Western people.