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Are We Idiocracy Yet?

idiocracy.wtf

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Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#331

Post by malfist »

bko wrote: post #233
xattt wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It breaks my heart when I hear people outraged about Onion stories, not because that they fall for them, but because they know they have a hard time telling truth from fiction.

I think people don't like Onion stories because they're not funny, they're just pretentious and political. For instance, their famous 'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens article they post all over their page whenever there is some high profile gun related crime. It's all over their page and no doubt they get a bump in traffic from smug people who feel it's clever. It's just so exha…

Its okay to find things not funny that other people do find funny. Not everyone agrees or has the same sense of humor. Bko is not the final arbiter in deciding if something is funny or not.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#332

Post by spiderfarmer »

relativeadv wrote: post #265
bdashdash wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel Idiocracy is irresistible bait for 'not like the other girls'-types. Everytime this movie comes up, droves of people mention how they get it, while others don't. It's becoming a trope in itself.

It definitely activates something within people. Maybe I'm just terminally online, but there is always _always_ someone who will say "Idiocracy isn't satire, its a documentary."

And they're mostly correct.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#334

Post by VectorVault »

catapart wrote: post #289
bko wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people don't like Onion stories because they're not funny, they're just pretentious and political. For instance, their famous 'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens article they post all over their page whenever there is some high profile gun related crime. It's all over their page and no doubt they get a bump in traffic from smug people who feel it's clever. It's just so exha…

> " [...] but don't put activism over comedy." lol. yeah, carlin and bruce can go fuck themselves, I guess. hilariously unserious take, bruh.

Most politics now smacks of satire and performative outrage. "I can solve the problems I created with more of someone else's money..."

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#335

Post by bko »

ern_ave wrote: post #306
ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not in the USA, but I think the issue is not so much the joke getting tiresome, but the repeat school shootings. Maybe if there was work done to stop the shootings, then the joke wouldn't keep getting repeated.

> Maybe if there was work done to stop the shootings It's odd that you seem to believe no work has been done. Lots of work has been done. Lots more work is blocked by people who steadfastly refuse to punish criminals - claiming instead that it's not their fault that they're violent. I'd love to hear any additional ideas you have other than violating the rights of citizens.

I agree, most of the arguments have been basically "do anything" hysterics that are divorced from reality. For instance, much focus is given on rifles, specifically big black scary looking rifles. In reality if you look at murder rates by weapon type

Handguns: ~45–50%

Firearm (type unknown): ~20–25%

Rifles: ~2–3%

Shotguns: ~1–2%

Knives / cutting instruments: ~10–12%

Blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.): ~3–5%

Hands, fists, feet (“personal weapons”): ~3–5%

Other (poison, fire, etc.): low single digits

https://www.criminalattorneycolumbus.com/which-weapons-are-m...

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#336

Post by red-iron-pine »

j-kent wrote: post #284
bsenftner wrote: post #87

I attended an audience testing screener for Idiocracy before the film's final edit. I could not believe my eyes and ears, I loved it unlike anything I'd seen before, it was the hardest US culture satire I'd seen up to that point. Then the lights came up and the audience started giving their reviews, in an open mike fashion. They all identified with the "idiots" and were indignant insulted, and angry. I remember makin…

Same goes with Starship Troopers - Clearly biting satire, but at the time was considered to be a dumb action movie by most.

it was a dumb action movie, with a bit of satire and some non-trivial nudity.

the book is a political science treatise about the role of the citizen in government and draws heavily from Thomas Hobbes and Max Weber, basically invented the "space marine" concept that we see in 40k or Starcraft or Doom, and touched on things like haptic feedback and non-traditional UI and how it could be C2.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#337

Post by JKCalhoun »

bko wrote: post #314
Goronmon wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can have a message and point of view, but don't put activism over comedy. The "joke" in this case is people's reactions to school shootings. And people's reactions haven't changed, so I don't see why the article should change. It's just so exhausting. This has some real "The worst thing about school shootings is knowing that The Onion is going to repost that article I personally am tired of seeing" energy to it.

It's not a joke if you repeat it 100 times. That article has some real "The best thing about school shootings is we get to have literally every article on our website be this clever headline we wrote 10 years" energy to it.

Yeah, pretty sure it's not expected to be funny. If at all, it has entered absurdist territory.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#338

Post by [deleted] »

bko wrote: post #233
xattt wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It breaks my heart when I hear people outraged about Onion stories, not because that they fall for them, but because they know they have a hard time telling truth from fiction.

I think people don't like Onion stories because they're not funny, they're just pretentious and political. For instance, their famous 'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens article they post all over their page whenever there is some high profile gun related crime. It's all over their page and no doubt they get a bump in traffic from smug people who feel it's clever. It's just so exha…

[deleted]

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#339

Post by Waterluvian »

afavour wrote: post #216
bdashdash wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel Idiocracy is irresistible bait for 'not like the other girls'-types. Everytime this movie comes up, droves of people mention how they get it, while others don't. It's becoming a trope in itself.

Agreed. It’s cited so often on Reddit by people who want to establish their superiority over the masses. “It’s a documentary!!” is a meme unto itself. It’s also got a kind of weird eugenics-y vibe to it (like establishing “stupid people breeding makes stupid people” as incontrovertible fact) when you step back and examine it as a movie that’s making Serious Statements. But it isn’t. It’s not a bad movie. But it’s a c…

This thread is a sort of extension to that, eh? Hacker News knowing the truth of a matter while observing Reddit down the barrel of a nose.

Re: Are We Idiocracy Yet?

#340

Post by righthand »

seydor wrote: post #110

- "Brought to you by Carl's Jr. They pay me every time i say it" vs "Mysterious trading patterns follow Trump into war" - "Florida's in Georgia, dumbass" vs "We setled Aberbaijan and Albania" - "Secretary of education is kinda stupid, but he 's president's brother" vs "Donald Trump's White House is a family affair" I ve been watching Idiocracy over and over for years, as a documentary. In many ways the movie is more…

The movie was made before handheld devices were a plague. Though you get a similar sense of it in the way that Frito is addicted to TV surrounded by ads.
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