The article is devoted to the answer to the question of what is idiocracy. The meaning of the word cannot be explained without comparison with the following concepts: democracy, aristocracy, partocracy. All of them consist of two parts, where the first has a different translation, and the second is a derivative of the Greek kratos ("rule", "power"). What is this political system and when did the term first appear in the literature?
"Idiocracy" is a movie
The beginning of the use of this concept was laid by the film of the same name by Mike Judge, one of the most versatile celebrities in Hollywood. He is a screenwriter, and an actor, and a producer, and an animator, and a composer. At the same time, he has the education of an engineer. In 2005, Judge turned to a sci-fi story, breaking the popular belief that the personality of the future would be a more civilized and reasonable person. In his opinion, in 500 years from the beginning of the 21st century, the process will go in a completely different direction - towards the stupidity of society.
There are many reasons for this, and one of them is the childfree movement, to which the most intelligent individuals have been exposed. It is they who will have to realize: if they do not give birth to children, then the problem of demography will be solved by others, including the marginalized strata of society. And then there will come a period of gloomy dystopia, recreated in a picture called "Idiocracy". What does the word mean in the context of what is offered in the film?
Power of idiots
The first part of the word being studied is also of Greek origin and translates as "ignorant person". In medicine, the term defines the deepest of the three degrees of mental retardation - idiocy. In everyday life it is used to characterize a person who is stupid, limited or stupid. Putting the two parts together, we get the following: "idiocracy" is a word meaning a political system where power is held by people with low IQ. Is this true in the movie?
In 2005, the average IQ was 110 points. In 2505, where the heroes of the picture ended up - corporal Joe and the prostitute Rita - they amounted to about 20. But can the term in question be interpreted as "the power of idiots"? Yes, society has degraded, but the paradox is that people whose IQ is higher than others are appointed to the highest positions. Corporal Joe, who found himself in the future as part of an experiment to freeze ordinary people, passed the test well and immediately received the position of Minister of the Interior.
"Idiocracy" isideocracy (ideal device)?
Such a system where everyone finds a job depending on their abilities, where there is no place for cronyism, family ties and bribes - isn't this an ideal society? There is an opinion that in the process of translation the letter "e" was replaced by "i", and the word radically changed its meaning. What other points could indicate that the society of the future presented in the film has advantages over ours?
- New repair technologies. The modern approach leads to the refusal to restore the broken and obsolete. Most prefer to throw out the thing and buy a new one. The film also shows, for example, houses where a crumbling building is connected to a neighboring ordinary cable. Restoration and repair is sometimes much cheaper than building a new one.
- Invention of new household items. Huge savings can be provided, for example, by the toilet seat on which Frito, one of the main characters of the film, sits in front of the TV.
- Getting rid of complexes. The society of the future has put the basic natural needs on a pedestal. The main occupation that fellow citizens indulge in is reproduction.
- More religious. The hospital where Corporal Joe ends up is named after the Holy God. Modern people still believe in treatment, pills and operations. After 500 years, the Almighty becomes the main hope.
Summary of Idiocracy
And yet, the opinion given just above can be considered ironic rather than pretentiousto the truth. Idiocracy is a political system in which the stupefaction of society and a sharp jump in the birth rate led to an economic crisis, an ecological catastrophe and the destruction of culture as such. Only one company is flourishing - producing energy drinks. Hyperinflation, pornography, population counting with tattoos, complete replacement of speech with slang, dubious entertainment in the form of a movie called "Ass" and rehabilitation nights for the purpose of fighting riots are the main characteristics of this device.
At the same time, the president is still at the head of the state, speaking from the podium with weapons in his hands. An indicative moment is his former profession - a porn star. The family tree presented in the film perfectly demonstrates how such a society can be built.
The fate of the painting
Judge was able to convincingly show that, following the theory of Darwin, G alton and Mendel, 5% of geniuses and the intellectual elite with a probability of up to 95% can easily be absorbed by the rest of the descendants. This is what led 500 years later to the creation of a society of single-celled creatures that drink electrolytes. Evolutionary selection, unfortunately, can be with a minus sign.
The state is interested in improving demographics by stimulating the birth rate of the best representatives of society. Idiocracy is a warning, according to the authors. But this approach has caused accusations of sexism, racism, slandering the American dream from outsidesociety and state, etc., due to which the film did not have a wide release.
Despite the fact that the majority saw the film on DVD, one can speak of the rooting of the term "idiocracy". Its significance lies in the fact that stupid and narrow-minded people should not be at the head of civilized countries. This leads to disaster. So, in the film, it is Joe, who became president, that people owe the fact that the Earth is still spinning.
Meaning of the concept
Why did the term political system appear in the literature, which did not exist in reality? You can often find reflections on the film, where the authors ask themselves who is smarter: a peasant who lived a hundred years ago, or a modern IT engineer.
In fact, the concept is more often applied to those who run the country. The term "idiocracy" began to be used in a figurative sense to characterize a political system in which there is no transparent system for the formation of power, the training and promotion of promising managers capable of solving the tasks facing the state. And it generates a huge number of anecdotes. For example:
"With idiocracy, government members are unable to resolve issues even if there is a rollback."
"With idiocracy, all the enemies of the people are eliminated, but the problem still remains."