Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future • Hacker News Board

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#21

Post by darkerside » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:26 PM UTC

tshaddox wrote: post #9

luckylion wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure everyone knows what the author means. Yet you can still say that it's inaccurate and only used for effect: the framing is that it's adjacent to holocaust deniers. If you're not a fan of that kind of use of language, you can criticize it while still understanding what the author wanted to convey ("those people").

The specific complaint was that it “trashes nuance.” But if everyone knows what the author means, in what sense is nuance being trashed?

You serious? Nuance is when things are more complicated than the initial basic message would indicate. Elevating the primary message at the expense of those details is exactly what trashing nuance means.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#22

Post by malchow » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:28 PM UTC

magikaram wrote: post #10

"The underlying message of course is that humans ought to take such things as science, research and knowledge seriously, lest we create our own Idiocracy." Rather, I felt the underlying message of the film is that the film is a critique of the consumerism and corporatism of the US. The 'idiocracy' with how the government runs, the downward trend of education in the US, and the pessimistic views of our future.

I think you're right. Idiocracy was much more Judge's critique of the lazy morality ("It's irresponsible to have kids!") and lazy voting ("burrito coverings") of the yuppie class. These days, you can even see wokeism being lambasted ("Welcome to Costco, I love you.").

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#23

Post by yakshaving_jgt » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:29 PM UTC

caffeine wrote: post #20

aww_dang wrote: post #3

I'm not convinced that the author's favored political positions are above satire. >A blunt-smoking doctor at the hospital (Justin Long) is shocked that Joe doesn’t have a barcode on his arm, like everybody else, and asks, “Why come you no have a tattoo?” Yet, the author seems to be a fan of the bio-security state rationalized by the covid emergency. >...climate deniers... Is this not also a bastardization of language…

This movie is ripe for a remake where the world is stupid-Left instead of stupid-Right. Starbucks offers gender reassignment surgeries and Costco employees say “Welcome to Costco, I apologise”, and the world-ending crisis is that nobody can actually reproduce any more.

> This movie is ripe for a remake where the world is stupid-Left instead of stupid-Right.

What makes you think it isn’t currently both?

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#24

Post by tshaddox » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:30 PM UTC

luckylion wrote: post #19

tshaddox wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The specific complaint was that it “trashes nuance.” But if everyone knows what the author means, in what sense is nuance being trashed?

Everyone knows who you mean when you call one US party "fascists" and the other "communists", but you've lost pretty much all nuance. And all you've won is a bit of impact, for a while, because the tool will blunt with constant use. You'll have to reach for "super fascists" and "mega communists" next time and that will barely move the needle and you'll be far away from the effect you got when you tried that hack the…

But the original commenter literally feigned confusion, as if the term might have referred to people who deny that the Earth has a climate.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#25

Post by alphabettsy » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:31 PM UTC

borepop wrote: post #8

Don't Look Up, currently out on Netflix, seems to owe a fair amount to Idiocracy. And/or to the ways in which American culture morphed into Idiocracy over the last several years.

Yea, but while accurate it was terrible. Idiocracy is funny, Don’t Look Up was not to me.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#26

Post by A4ET8a8uTh0 » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:32 PM UTC

As iconic as the movie is, I think articles like these do it a disservice by trying to bang out a political narrative based on it ( Trump bad ). Yeah, there are similarities ( both Mountain Dew Terry and Trump have trademarked names ), but we are nowhere near the level of idiocy presented in the movie and hence statements like 'it is a documentary really' are, at best, a hyperbole.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#27

Post by slibhb » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:32 PM UTC

Per the Flynn Effect, people are getting smarter. The source of the problems mentioned in the article is not increasing stupidity, it's a breakdown of the relationship between the elites and the masses.

You see this clearly in the article where the author complains about sharing a country with deplorables with nutty beliefs. You see it in the elite turn against free speech: elites wonder aloud "is free speech a good idea if it leads to Trump or Brexit?" For their part, the masses seem determined to de-rail the train out of boredom or to spite the elites.

Increasingly, people view their countries or cultures as farcical or unjust, without a legitimate claim to exist at all. Civic virtue has either disappeared or is no longer recognized. Someone like Robert Mueller represented the old school. The reward for his diligent work was ridicule by both political factions, with Trump's attacks and Democrats' insinuations of senility. The politicians we apparently prefer are those who can reliably generate viral content.

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#28

Post by tpoacher » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:33 PM UTC

magikaram wrote: post #10

"The underlying message of course is that humans ought to take such things as science, research and knowledge seriously, lest we create our own Idiocracy." Rather, I felt the underlying message of the film is that the film is a critique of the consumerism and corporatism of the US. The 'idiocracy' with how the government runs, the downward trend of education in the US, and the pessimistic views of our future.

Agreed. If anything, it greatly criticised the rampant use of science-soundbytes devoid of proper context.

"It's got electrolytes!"

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#29

Post by ALittleLight » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:33 PM UTC

Many people like to say "Idiocracy is a documentary" or some similar thing implying they think it's realistic. I've never seen anybody take the premise of the movie seriously though.

If idiots are reproducing out of control and that will lead to a bad result, doesn't that mean we should reduce the reproduction of idiots and increase the reproduction of the intelligent? To avert Idiocracy we need eugenics, no?

Re: Idiocracy: A disturbingly prophetic look at the future

#30

Post by lkxijlewlf » Thu, Dec 30, 2021, 4:33 PM UTC

jrs235 wrote: post #15

magikaram wrote: post #10

"The underlying message of course is that humans ought to take such things as science, research and knowledge seriously, lest we create our own Idiocracy." Rather, I felt the underlying message of the film is that the film is a critique of the consumerism and corporatism of the US. The 'idiocracy' with how the government runs, the downward trend of education in the US, and the pessimistic views of our future.

I felt the underlying message was "Intelligent people, stop focusing on career and start having more kids (we really are in a race to the bottom)!"

Wouldn't the Dunning-Kruger effect mean that unintelligent people would just keep having kids while the Imposter Syndrome would mean Intelligent people would not?