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Movie Dedication: “Idiocracy”

August 22, 2009

MrsDoF and I just fininished watching the Mike Judge comedy, Idiocracy, a dystopian comedy about an average man and a prostitute sent 500 years into the future – where they learn that the human race has become dumber with each passing year.  Stupidity had became the norm when smart people started sensibly limiting their family sizes while idiots kept on turning out babies without a thought.

In the future, no one drinks water because Brawndo, a Gatorade-like beverage, has replaced it.  The world is buried in garbage and the most popular TV show is “Ow, My Balls!”  In this society, the dull-normal soldier and the prostitute are now the smartest two human beings on the planet.

I wonder if Idiocracy was the inspiration for Wall-E, the story of a little robot cleaning up the mess humanity left behind.  And I’m not sure if Mike Judge dedicated the movie to anyone, but I would like to dedicate Idiocracy to:

Radio gasbag Rush Limbaugh, who set the standard for broadcast xenophobia.  For TV and radio syndicated moron Glen Beck, who (recently) believes we already have the best health care in the world, and is sure that Barack Obama is a fascist and a socialist at the same time.  Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who could see Russia from her house, thought Africa was a country, couldn’t recall any Supreme Court cases other than Roe v. Wade even though she claimed to read “all” the most important news magazines including The Economist.  Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, who believes in Obama Death Panels.  Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who wants to stop health care reform at any cost.

To Senator James DeMint, who thinks that America will become like Iran if we extend health care coverage.  Senator James Inhofe, who doesn’t seem to know the difference between climate and weather, but is certain that global warming is a fraud.  President George W. Bush, who thought the jury was still out on evolution, appointed incompetents to life-and-death administrative positions, and who quoted bible verses about “Gog” and “Magog” to the French president to try to convince him to join our invasion of Iraq.  To Florida governor Charlie Crist, who believes his letters to God have kept Florida safe from hurricanes during his administration. Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, who wouldn’t believe a black president can be American unless he travels back in time to watch the birth himself. And special mention for President Ronald Reagan, who appointed industry hacks to environmental positions, and who believed that the invisible hand of the “Free Market” would somehow automatically look out for the future well being of our citizens.

These are not minor figures.  The sad thing is, I could go on for hours listing morons in high places. There’s Bobby Jindal and Chuck Norris and and Mike Huckabee and Mark Sanford… just an endless list.  It’s ever sadder because we’re not a dictatorship or a monarchy; every one of these people got where they are because huge numbers of people follow them, listen to them on broadcast media, and voted for them.  And yet somehow, after watching the movie that seems to have been dedicated to them, I have to try and sleep tonight.

NOTES:

  • I tried to find a YouTube clip of President Not Sure’s speech about how it used to be cool to be smart, and how movies once had stories where you cared who’s ass it was and why it was farting, but no luck.

  • My sons insisted I watch this movie; blame them!
  • Of course, it’s a comedy so we shouldn’t notice any internal contradictions.  Such as; in the stupid future, everyone’s lives are managed by an incredibly advanced Minority Report-style integrated IT system that works with mind-boggling efficiency, right down to remotely disabling electric cars driven by people harboring fugitives whose presence has been detected by omnipresent scanners.
  • Did I mention that Mike Judge is a genius?  I’ve heard King Of The Hill has been canceled, which is a shame.  So much could have been done with Bobby’s adolescence, Hank & Peggy’s transition into middle age… 
  • Johan Hari: “Republicans, Religion, and the triumph of unreason
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