14 Comments
User's avatar
Danielle Shelton's avatar

Ive been saying this for so long! Im surprised it’s not referenced more often. We literally have Linda McMahon in the cabinet. Hello! President Camacho? πŸ˜‚πŸ˜’

Expand full comment
Mike's avatar

Idiocracy is just a follow-up to this famous Carl Sagan quote, as far as I'm concerned:

β€œI have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

Expand full comment
Sara Stamps's avatar

I've been referencing Idiocracy since his last term. And as far as reintroducing extinct species, if humans are the reason a species went extinct, I'm all for bringing it back.

Expand full comment
Holly D's avatar

Who knew that Idiocracy would end up being speculative fiction? Great chat, thank you!

Expand full comment
Mark Hayes's avatar

It's rapidly becoming a documentary...

Expand full comment
Michael F's avatar

Speculative fiction => Handmaind's Tale!

Expand full comment
Judith's avatar

Seems like there’s so much going on these days that you’re not reporting on anymoreπŸ₯²

Expand full comment
Rachel D. Adams's avatar

I can't believe they killed the movie! How did we see it? I'm guessing maybe it was one of those boring nights meandering the aisles of Blockbuster? Or was it something we were curious about and ordered from Netflix? I just remember, we agreed that this could happen. We were from rural Alabama. But it's not about genetics playing out... it's the culture they were born into. As the insanity of this last election played out, my husband and I have both referenced it several times. This is so interesting.

Expand full comment
LadyJae's avatar

I've been saying this for years!

Expand full comment
Carrie Crockett's avatar

Loved this!

Expand full comment
Beth  Kagel's avatar

Both

Expand full comment
Maggie's avatar

I loved all of this!! Thank you for the words and insights!! I keep thinking about Distinguished Gentleman with Eddie Murphy.

Expand full comment
Mark Hayes's avatar

About six weeks ago my Etsy order of a t-shirt AND an embroidered sweatshirt reading, "Unwilling Participant Of An Idiocracy".

Expand full comment
Artimis Toki RobI's avatar

Ok that's why I dnt remember it we were going through Katrina so I dnt remember a lot that happened during tht time

Expand full comment