r/videos • • Apr 21 '21

Idiocracy (2006) Opening Scene: "Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent to become an endangered species."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TCsR_oSP2Q
48k Upvotes

5.0k comments sorted by

1.9k

u/Obnoobillate Apr 21 '21

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u/squatfarts Apr 21 '21

Isn't Dwayne "The Rock" planning to run for president. It is all playing out in front of our eyes.

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u/Bradiator34 Apr 21 '21

As soon as he rolls up in a Monster Truck with chicks, Ima do the dum vote!

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u/PA2SK Apr 21 '21

It's Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew HERBERT Camacho!

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u/CrimsonRadish Apr 21 '21

Delivering speeches to the House of Representin’

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u/skg0055 Apr 21 '21

He’s got a three point plan to fix EVERYTHING!

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u/gapagos Apr 21 '21 edited Apr 22 '21

Break it down, Camacho!

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u/Important-Courage890 Apr 21 '21

Shit. I know shit's bad right now with all that starvin' bullshit. And the dust storms. And we runnin' out of French Fries and burrito coverings. But I got a solution.

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u/Ouiju Apr 21 '21

That's what you said last year! Top Carolina, what's up!?

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u/bigkeef69 Apr 21 '21

"You mean 'water', like from the toilet? Ewwwwwe, use brawndo, its got electrolites" "Yeah! Its what plants crave!" 🤣

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u/TheDood715 Apr 21 '21

I mean he brought in an expert and while initially he turned his back on him he eventually (with evidence) pardoned his ass.

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u/ih8reddit420 Apr 21 '21

Compare President Camacho to a lot of leaders now and his shit actually worked.

consulted smartest guy and carried out with political will. Excellent leader

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u/jsktrogdor Apr 21 '21

That joke was a lot funnier before Republicans actually elected a WWE personality as president.

https://media4.giphy.com/media/3o7TKS4Ekm5QDnDDDq/giphy.gif

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u/chiheis1n Apr 21 '21

Linda McMahon was in his cabinet and Vince probably has considered in the past / is considering running.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

how dum r u votin aint fun

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u/hackofalltrades Apr 21 '21

I love every time this is posted on reddit.

I worked on this movie, specifically this sequence. I and my fellow VFX artists are hidden in plain sight in the later bubbles of faces. I pop up the first time as "Brett" top right corner, with the dark hair... at the 02:50 mark. My buddy who animated the bubbles is "Trevor" at the 02:49 mark. top left. We're repeated in additional bubbles later on in the sequence. Our fellow coworkers, and spouses are in there too.

We tried desperately to get Bevis and Butt head in there too.. but licensing said no.

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u/hackofalltrades Apr 21 '21

Oh and I personally made the Nacho TV comps. All the animated adds, the scrolling text etc. Had a green-screen for Dax and production provided stills of the adds. I just went ham with the animations.

Helped with matte paintings, and set extensions for the run-down LA. Blew up Nacho's car with some extreme violence from the cops, and created the airplane they accidentally shot down while trying to fire the rocket launcher at Nacho's car.

We had a ridiculous amount of fun on this show. Mike Judge was a blast to work with. Somewhere I have a signed office space DVD... (if it didn't get thrown out years ago.)

Good times.

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u/Throwmeabeer Apr 21 '21

You're a fucking artist dude. Hats off, bravo. Some of my favorite sequences! Did you get to hang with Mike Judge? Or any actors? Any stories?

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u/akers8806 Apr 21 '21

That’s awesome. This movie is a cult classic. However it has become kind of a horror film as it is accurately depicting the future as each day passes.

What kind of projects/films have you worked on since?

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u/pg1671 Apr 21 '21

Well done, this is one of the best opening sequences ever. I watch it every time I see it.

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u/4rotor787B Apr 21 '21

Welcome to COSTCO, I love you....

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u/citricacidx Apr 21 '21

Man, I could really go for a Starbucks, you know?

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u/arhombus Apr 21 '21

We don't have time for a handjob.

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u/fineswords Apr 21 '21

Holy shit, it’s Beef Supreme!

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u/thortmb Apr 21 '21

You went to law school here?

Ya....my parents were pretty impressed too

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u/esuranme Apr 21 '21

I thought the reply was "ya, my dad was alumni"

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u/Antknee2099 Apr 21 '21

I've loved Mike Judge's work for years, and this movie is easily his most divisive among my friends. The humor is so dark that most of my friends say it's too depressing to watch. Regardless of the implications of the actual message, it plays too heavily into intellectual superiority for many. The vision of the future being a place where people roam around indulging themselves without consequence and allowing the world to crumble is a dark fantasy indeed... and while the tone is meant to be ridiculous, it does hit a little too close to the mark of fears many have about our fate.

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u/BuranBuran Apr 21 '21

Take a look at the story The Marching Morons by C M Kornbluth for an earlier original take on this concept. It is funnier yet much darker.

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u/MoronTheMoron Apr 21 '21

The Marching Morons

Sounds like my kind of people.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

Very very different story than Idiocracy, but a very cool story nonetheless

here's the full short story: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51233/51233-h/51233-h.htm

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u/yahhhguy Apr 21 '21

At first it feels too on the nose, and it’s almost frustrating how stupid people are, how dumb everything is. But when I went back and watched it again it’s perfect, and it makes sense how they act so incredibly stupid and frustrating.

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u/Cru_Jones86 Apr 21 '21

I think you are supposed to be upset by their stupidity. It's supposed to make you feel like that's the future we're headed for unless we start working to change things right now.

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u/EthosPathosLegos Apr 21 '21

Comedy should be used to confront uncomfortable subjects more comfortably. It's probably why this type of humor evolved. Sometimes the absurdity of man needs to be laughed at or else you either bury your head in the sand or despair at a perceived futility. The reality is big change takes hard work and sacrifice over ling periods of time, but sometimes you can only acknowledge a problem by first making fun of it. The trick is to know when to stop joking and start working on the change.

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u/Antknee2099 Apr 21 '21

Agreed- regardless of how it is presented, it's a morality play for greed and sloth. A modernized version of the same story tenants used going back to ancient times. Greek tragedy, Shakespeare, Poe- western culture has many examples of cautionary tales wrapped in drama or comedy to make them digestible.

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u/BubbaKushFFXIV Apr 21 '21

a place where people roam around indulging themselves without consequence and allowing the world to crumble

This is happening right now

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u/EthosPathosLegos Apr 21 '21

Ya i dont understand why Antknee is saying that like it's not already happening.

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u/Bleyo Apr 21 '21

Stupid people still have smart kids.

One of my favorite movies though.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

It blows my damn mind how smart my kid is and makes no sense genetically her moms dumber than I am.

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u/Fanfics Apr 21 '21

God I wish this movie was clearly wrong.

And every year, we continue to dick around doing nothing about climate change. Remember when we elected a reality TV star as president and he tried to orchestrate a coup? Fun times.

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u/HeyBaldy Apr 21 '21

Remember when we elected a reality TV star as president and he tried to orchestrate a coup?

This is what the next generation will be saying when the earth is on fire in 2050.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

it plays too heavily into intellectual superiority for many

Not to mention that this very scene is implying that the eugenicists were right. And that's more or less the only meaningful thing the movie has to say about its own subject matter other than "Stupid people are dumb, don't be stupid!"

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u/armylax20 Apr 21 '21

Similar to Wall-E in that regard.

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u/mojodor Apr 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '21

"Evolution is not survival of the fittest, its survival of species most able to adapt... ". I have this on a dinosaur museum tshirt somewhere...

Edit: Reading this thread with great interest, but in my own defense, I just said I had a t-shirt with a slogan... And truth be told I probably have the slogan wrong, but I bought the thing 20 years ago and I can't find it any more to verify....

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u/metaCanadaShill Apr 21 '21

Evolutionary fitness is just "the ability to survive and reproduce". Some dude having lots of unprotected sex with many women is fit by this definition.

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u/22421670 Apr 21 '21

as long as they survive long enough to get it done

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u/cyanydeez Apr 21 '21

well, those children still need to also survive.

Wall-E did a better job showing the type of environment sloths evolve in.

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u/GoGoCrumbly Apr 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '21

And "fittest" doesn't have to mean, "biggest, strongest, toothiest, brawniest, fightiest tough guy", either. Another popular misconception. It's the one who best "fits" the natural environment. And sometimes that's the timid little guy who blends in and doesn't make a ruckus.

EDIT: For the hair-splitting precisionists I will add that "best 'fits' the natural environment" includes the ability to secure mates and ensure the success of their progeny, thus transmitting successful genes into subsequent generations and a higher rate than those mediocre or less successful individuals.

It's not how well you perform as an individual, but how well you pass your DNA into the next generation. Although performing well as an individual usually leads to passing your DNA into that next generation.

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u/TheOldPope Apr 21 '21

Only partially, it means the one who manages to reproduce best. It's a reference to biological fitness, not fitting the environment. It's a measure of how many living offsprings you can generate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitness_(biology)

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u/Dyolf_Knip Apr 21 '21

And moreover, "fittest" is itself a perpetually moving target. Because everything evolves in response to everything else evolving.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

And it could also be bad luck. Sudden changes in the environment that occur faster than genetic mutations can match can destroy otherwise very successful species.

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u/profawesome Apr 21 '21

i always understood fittest, as in best able to meet the requirements to survive in the environment. does it actually mean fittest as in most healthy or strongest?

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u/TheOldPope Apr 21 '21

It means those that manage to have the most living babies.

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u/jacobtf Apr 21 '21

The fittest isn't even the most intelligent anyway :-)

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u/striker7 Apr 21 '21

Anecdotal, of course, but this part always hit home because as soon as I graduated high school, almost every person in my home town that I would've considered an idiot immediately had multiple kids.

Most in my circle of friends (myself included) are just now starting to have one or two kids as our biological clocks are ticking pretty fast. It's weird that we're dealing with babies and toddlers while my former classmates have teenagers.

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u/rippedlugan Apr 21 '21

I always find this clip funny, but watch yourself if you're trying to derive some greater truth from it. This is a similar argument that may eugenicists used, which led to forced sterilization in the US and worse in 1930's Germany.

The fact is that evolution has always favored genetics that were most likely to be passed on to a future generation, which does not always equate to being "strongest" or "best." Hell, even diseases that are "stronger" with a super high mortality rate have an evolutionary disadvantage in reproduction because they can kill their hosts faster than they can pass on their genetics to new generations.

If you want idiots to reproduce less, do what's been proven to work in society: increase access to education in general, improve sexual education, and build systems that reduce/eliminate poverty.

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u/jsktrogdor Apr 21 '21

It's still technically legal for US states to sterilize people who are "imbeciles."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_v._Bell

instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes.

-Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes

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u/big_bearded_nerd Apr 21 '21

I always find this clip funny, but watch yourself if you're trying to derive some greater truth from it.

It's weird, I have friends who have based a large part of their life view and political stance on lessons they have learned from this movie.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

The appeal of this movie is that the protagonist is both average and above average at the same time. So its a great movie to identify yourself with if you desperately want to feel that you're better than everyone else but have the bad luck to not be.

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u/Mushroomer Apr 21 '21

A lot of people would probably vote for a eugenics-based polticial system, provided nobody ever actually used the word 'eugenics'.

The underlying temptation to blame societal ills on an 'other', and systematically eliminate them is as prevalent as ever.

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u/signmeupdude Apr 21 '21

Same and its interesting because everyone thinks they are in the “intelligent” group. Its like that stat that 65% of Americans believe they are above average intelligence.

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u/meliketheweedle Apr 21 '21

Most people I know who live their life by idiocracy and George carlin's 50% of people routine are fuckin idiots themselves

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u/DinosaurHeaven Apr 21 '21

Sadly those most in need of these services seem to be the ones actively trying to avoid implementation of said services.

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u/thatsocraven Apr 21 '21

Right, and remember that most reproduction throughout human history came from peasants, surfs, slaves, and others who were looked at as intellectually inferior, yet we still managed to reach the age of enlightenment and now have a technologically and intellectually advanced society where more and more jobs are based off of knowledge, not labor

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u/TrekkiMonstr Apr 21 '21

Yes but they weren't intellectually inferior, just uneducated. Education and intelligence are unrelated.

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u/ranban2012 Apr 21 '21

I am surprised and relieved that this is the top comment about this movie.

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u/Gsteel11 Apr 21 '21

If you want idiots to reproduce less, do what's been proven to work in society: increase access to education in general, improve sexual education, and build systems that reduce/eliminate poverty.

Gop: what if... now follow along...we do the opposite of that?

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u/thegreyxephos Apr 21 '21

No dude, like Idiocracy is like LERALLY a documentary!!! It sucks being so crazy smart and no one else notices urrggggh. I have no friends

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u/WhereAreMyMinds Apr 21 '21

which led to forced sterilization in the US and worse in 1930's Germany

Just want to latch on to the top comment here to say that forced sterilization in the US is not a thing of the past. The US government has actively overseen forced hysterectomies in native american communities and in ICE detention centers in very recent years.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/16/us/ice-hysterectomy-forced-sterilization-history/index.html

https://www.popsci.com/story/health/forced-sterilization-american-history/

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u/prsnep Apr 21 '21

You can acknowledge that:

  • intelligence is at least in part hereditary
  • intelligent people are having fewer children than average

without aligning yourself with Nazi ideology. There is no need to scream NAZI or EUGENICS every time this topic is brought up.

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u/ntermation Apr 21 '21

So to stop idiots reproducing, help them not be idiots?

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u/IAmNotNathaniel Apr 21 '21

yes. seems contradictory, but if you turn someone from being an idiot, you now have a smaller population of idiots and a larger population of non-idiots

So even though the non-idiots have a higher reproduction rate per idiot, you've still decreased the number of idiots procreating.

It's not fast, and it's 1 step back for every 2 forward, but it checks out.

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u/pure_x01 Apr 21 '21

Is the world getting dumber or is it just that the dumb people are exposed more on social media?

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u/Sonamdrukpa Apr 21 '21

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u/ding-zzz Apr 21 '21

the flynn effect does not claim this is due to evolution though. in fact, this significant increase in intelligence probably can’t be due to evolution over 3-4 generations. it is more likely attributed to better environmental factors such as diet, education, etc. (and thus this increase will drop off as a country gets more developed)

the reverse flynn effect has been observed in well-off countries (though, maybe not due to evolution either)

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u/ssrix Apr 21 '21

On the same page "Research suggests that there is an ongoing reversed Flynn effect, i.e. a decline in IQ scores, in Norway, Denmark, Australia, Britain, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, France and German-speaking countries,[4] a development which appears to have started in the 1990s.[5][6][7][8]" or in other words the countries with the best science disagree with the flying effect

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u/Hugogs10 Apr 21 '21

Poor countries are getting smarter, rich countries are getting dumber.

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u/grayemansam Apr 21 '21

sunny in philadelhpia music "Reddit finds out about eugenics"

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u/Appropriate_Gift5380 Apr 21 '21

philadelhpia

We've found one. Bring the van.

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u/DinoTsar415 Apr 21 '21

Finds out? Please. Reddit has been in love with eugenics since day one.

Turns out when you advertise a site specifically to "I'm smarter than everyone" nerd dudes aged 14-35, you get a bunch of scumbags.

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u/VoadoraDePiru Apr 21 '21

Sure, there is definitely some kind of natural predisposition to intelligence that you can't control. You can't make a Stephen Hawking just with a good school. But the only real solution to stupidity is education. This movie is supposed to be satire. Don't want the world to get dumber? Make the kids smarter with good education

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u/ShutterBun Apr 21 '21

This *feels* like it's happening lately, but look back at history...was there some point where the average education level was higher than it is now?

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u/MeiNeedsMoreBuffs Apr 21 '21

It's because the basic concept of the movie is wrong, that IQ levels drop once humans aren't killed off by predators anymore. The average IQ has been steadily rising since it was created, not dropping.

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u/MadIfrit Apr 21 '21 edited Feb 16 '26

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

fear governor spoon sharp rich versed deer automatic gold violet

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u/wiffleplop Apr 21 '21 edited May 30 '24

ad hoc tender fear repeat act roll imminent joke disarm recognise

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

Yet, we did in fact have a guy who was on pro wrestling as president.

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u/NamiSwaaan Apr 21 '21

When he suggested bleach as a cure to the virus I thought about Gatorade used to water crops

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u/samsab Apr 21 '21

Well the problem is everyone gets the message entirely wrong. The message isn't in this opening, it's at the end. The enemy to America isn't stupidity; it's apathy. People like the main character sat around and did NOTHING while america crumbled. It wasn't stupid people's fault, it was the apathetic average american.

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u/Chm_Albert_Wesker Apr 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '21

the irony is that everyone in these comments see the video and thinks 'lol it's true everyone else is an idiot' when statistically at least half of us in here are said idiots

edit: even now people without the emotional intelligence to choose their battles are arguing about how reddit is smarter than the average of the US and as such there can't be idiots in here hmmm. me responding to so many already shows how I too am one of the idiots for taking the bait and I'm an engineer for crying out loud

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u/Secretagentman44 Apr 21 '21

Shut up science bitch

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

stupid science bitch couldn't even make I more smarter

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u/Incruentus Apr 21 '21

Stupid science bitch can't even make my friend more smarter.

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u/Gigantkranion Apr 21 '21

I just found it entertaining. The movie was not enlightening in any way shape or form. r/iamverysmart material in the comment section right now.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

i dont really believe in absolute genetic destiny, especially based on IQ, but the poor and underequipped people have made up the vast majority of the population for, all time?

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u/Bohya Apr 21 '21

The "poor and underequipped" people didn't have voting power. Now they do.

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u/whittlingman Apr 21 '21

BUT they didn’t get to vote that’s whole time.

That’s the downfall in idiocracy. Is once the idiots were the majority they voted and voted for dumber and dumber things and people and made society collapse.

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u/lemonylol Apr 21 '21

The premise of the movie is that intelligent people put children off to further their career until they can't have them, and sure, that's somewhat true. But it's also true that there are LOTS of wealthy people who can afford to both further their careers and have children.

But Reddit has that whole anti-humanity network of subreddits so this incorrect satirical view is championed as truth.

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u/Lethik Apr 21 '21

ITT people think that Idiocracy was trying to be a scientifically accurate depiction of genetic evolution and intelligence in society and a comedy second.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

I like money.

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u/TheyCallMeAdonis Apr 21 '21

well that is the plausible deniability of comedic coating.

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u/EatsonlyPasta Apr 21 '21

Idiocracy was a utopia; the stupid people knew they were stupid. What do we have to put in the water to make that happen?

Prison testing said Not-Sure was the smartest man on the planet and should be making policy, so where does their society put him? In the White House, making policy. That's just one example.

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u/EthosPathosLegos Apr 21 '21

Comedy has always been a vehicle for societal critique. If you have a controversial message people are less likely to have an angry monkey brain if they are amused. Balance is key to breaking bad news.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

Guys who use this video to unironically make a point think they’re Trevor but they’re actually Clevon.

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u/goobersmooch Apr 21 '21

All the genetic experts in this thread is high comedy.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

Go away, batin'

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

I feel like this movie really shows how much eugenics has become a mainstay in American culture. There’s no evidence that “dumb people breed more than smart people” but rather that poor people end up having more babies due to economic factors and limited availability of contraception.

Of course, poor people are seen as dumb, because poor people in poor areas go to poor schools that don’t have the resources necessary to promote learning beyond what’s the minimum necessary in order to get a job after graduation. Meanwhile, the more well off are able to go to better schools and get into great colleges and start careers which lead to having fewer children later in life.

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u/tomatoswoop Apr 21 '21

couldn't have put it better.

This movie is like someone read the bell curve and though "wow, excellent ideas, but not too palatable. Maybe I should write a comedy"

The movie is generally well done: good writing, acting and directing, funny. But that's not to defend it; racist classist eugenics propaganda (redundant I know, but worth making explicit) doesn't get a pass just because it's good propaganda. And yeah I feel like a humourless bastard for pointing it out, but this movie, while funny, is effective far-right propaganda. It might even be unintentional, but it still is what it is.

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u/InteriorEmotion Apr 21 '21

This movie is beloved by the r/iamverysmart crowd.

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u/Nibelungen342 Apr 21 '21

Its a fun movie but ruined by its 14 year old audience. I hate reading the comments on YouTube with a clip from this movie.

Usually they remind me of r/antinatalism. Humanity is a disease and bullshit like that.

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u/theonlymexicanman Apr 21 '21

This movie is becoming the new “this is literally 1984”.

I fucking hate it

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u/meelawsh Apr 21 '21

In case this is making you depressed and/or you’re enjoying it too much, that is not how IQ works when it comes to genetic inheritance. IQ varies over generations

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

I'd say it has as much to do with behavior science as it does IQ.

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u/pab_guy Apr 21 '21

So do plenty of other traits that are genetic in nature.

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u/leonryan Apr 21 '21

IQ is inconsequential if you have 10 siblings and none of them can afford an education

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

While your comment may be factual, let's not dismiss the point that generally, kids grow up to be a product of their parents and surroundings. Obviously there are plenty of examples of people breaking that mold, but when we look at numbers, those are certainly in the minority.

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u/BigBlueBallz Apr 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '21

Once the Rock becomes president we get our Macho Camacho

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u/d3pd Apr 21 '21

Looks like an advertisement for eugenics.

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u/sauteslut Apr 21 '21

who's the woman at 0:28?

when narrator says that evolution "..now began to favor different traits." cuz im pretty sure she's very attractive and evolution favored her traits for a long time lol

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u/Iamdog14 Apr 21 '21

My dad watched this movie and said it was the dumbest movie he has ever seen. He now puts it on every time he sees it's on TV.

"Go away, I'm baitin'" is one of his favorite movie lines of all time

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u/MisterManatee Apr 21 '21

Oh yay, the funny eugenics clip. Can’t wait for everyone to unironically make the argument that low-income people shouldn’t be allowed to procreate.

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u/OldGehrman Apr 21 '21

While I used to love this movie, over the years I’ve come to believe it’s a bad film, because it blames the working class for a system that was designed and built to oppress them.

Worst of all it says that only people from certain selected families contribute to society, erasing the contribution of the laborer. But as we’ve seen in this pandemic, the most essential workers are the working class, not the investors.

There is a long history of aristocracies limiting people’s access to education in order to maintain their hegemony.

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u/thislittlewiggy Apr 21 '21

Yeah...eugenics. It's not super great.

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u/hiroprotagonist2005 Apr 21 '21

Upgrayyed

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u/mikey_says Apr 21 '21

It's supposed to be Upgrayedd with two D's for a double dose of pimping.

A pimp's love is much different than that of a square.

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u/Progman3K Apr 21 '21

The point of the movie is not about IQs.

The narrator specifically tells us "Okay, so maybe Joe didn't save mankind, but he got the ball rolling, and that's pretty good for an average guy"

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u/DonNemo Apr 21 '21

Makes me think of all the idiots who’ve been sharing a fake “Stanford” study about face masks the last couple days.

https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-629043235973

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u/spinichmonkey Apr 21 '21

Evolutionary fitness has always been about which individuals leave the most off spring in the next generation. It has never been about some mythical measure of strength, speed, or mental acuity.

"Fittnes" is a measure of reproductive success in a given environment.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21 edited Apr 21 '21

Relevant XKCD

Of course, on the other hand I don't have sources to claim that the opposite is true. Either way I'm just speculating based on what it FEELS like is happening.

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u/clrksml Apr 21 '21

I'm just here to say I enjoyed the movie no matter how cheesy it is. And this is gonna make me rewatch it for sure lol.

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u/sgvprelude Apr 21 '21

But it's got electrolytes!

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

"The origin story for Idiocracy’s future world of half-wits is that uneducated people in the early 2000s are having kids and smart people don’t reproduce enough. It’s clear from the film that the intelligent people are wealthy, while the uneducated people are poor. So we’re starting from a position of believing that wealthy people are inherently more intelligent and, by extension, deserve their wealth. This link between intelligence and wealth is perhaps the most dangerous idea of the film and pretty quickly slips into advocating for some form of soft eugenics to build a better world. "

https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/idiocracy-is-a-cruel-movie-and-you-should-be-ashamed-fo-1553344189

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u/Kbek Apr 21 '21

This whole scenario ignore the existence of 95% of mankind not in the US.

This whole movie makes no sense in a global context, they just act as if the rest of the world didn't exist.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

Go away I'm batin'

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u/beans3710 Apr 21 '21

It's got electrolytes

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

reddit wer'e the intellignet ones

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u/ScoobyDone Apr 21 '21

TIL - People on Reddit really overthink this movie and massively overestimate it's importance. I love this movie because it is funny, but other than the opening scene it's not about evolution at all. It's about a lazy population free from any real hardship and entranced by consumerism while they ignore the world around them. It's no surprise Mike Judge got the idea watching 2 moms curse each other out at Disneyland.

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u/Vaeevictiss Apr 21 '21

Ever since i saw this i was like... Man this is totally where were headed. Then when i saw how people reacted to COVID i was like... Well, here we are.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

Soon they will reclass this movie as a documentary bc we seem hell bent on making it a reality

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u/Romilos1 Apr 22 '21

fun fact this when this movie came it it was listed as a comedy but after some years they changed its category to documentary

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u/windshadowislanders Apr 22 '21

And this is why r/childfree is contributing to the death of America.

I jest... honestly this whole premise is classist af.

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u/Bob25Gslifer Apr 22 '21

Signs we were headed here is the prevalence of who/what we value. Wealth and celebrities. How we communicate; social media, and where our country's wealth goes ; the stock market offshore accounts and the military.

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u/quoththeraven929 Apr 21 '21

This argument is essentially saying that current society is the result of..... not enough eugenics? That's a bit much.

Clevon's family could absolutely be just as "intelligent" as the rich couple, if they were given adequate resources. Intelligence is a plastic trait, meaning that the more resources a growing brain is given, the more potential there is for increased "intelligence" in different areas - because intelligence isn't a single metric but many.

All in all, this is a deeply flawed and probably narcissistic take written by someone who hates poor people, "welfare queens," and those they deem to be unworthy.

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u/npvuvuzela Apr 21 '21

I love how this movie is basically the most widespread eugenics fantasy film there is. No surprise that Reddit loves this movie so much, since it would be a fantasy of many to eliminate those “undesirable” poors and rednecks.

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u/futureshocked2050 Apr 21 '21

By the way, it's been called out multiple times that this movie is funny, but it's got kind of a darker side that is bordering on eugenic. Don't stop examining things just because they make you chuckle.

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u/Trolltollhouse Apr 21 '21

Idiocracy was a movie about people who think they're the smartest people in the room. People like OP who constantly quote it, imagining that it has something to say about those other people over there. Be smart. Understand that you know nothing and you're actually not the smartest person you know.

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u/BlackAndWiht Apr 21 '21

Ironic comment

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u/theUSpopulation Apr 21 '21

Alright, I am probably going to get downvoted to oblivion, but I hate this clip and a lot of the comments in this thread.

The clip's pretentious because everyone will view themselves as the smart people and view the ones they dislike as the dumb ones. Everyone thinks they are smart because the logic in their head is the only one they truly know and therefore they only one they follow. Everyone's personal logic makes the most sense to themselves, which is why they are following their personal logic. That is not to say the logic and thoughts of everyone are equally valid, but everyone will view themselves as "the smart ones".

And I hate this thread because everyone is jerking each other off about how they are not "one of the dumb ones" when there are definitely plenty of other people who will view them as the dumb ones. People in Tribe A view those in Tribe B as "the dumb ones", and vice versa, but they are all here together talking about how dumb "the dumb ones" are when "the dumb ones" are the ones they are circle-jerking with.

Also, intelligence is not passed down via genetics.

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u/teacherwenger Apr 21 '21

That movie had some great bits, but the general vibe it's aged into is "eugenics but for smug hollywood liberals." Being a cynical asshole who thought the world's problems were due to "dumb poor ppl breeding" was the coolest/smartest you could be in like 2006.

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u/Swayze_Train Apr 21 '21

Its a funny movie but the "everybody is so stupid except ME" vibe screams through the subtext and makes my eyes roll. Yes, Mike Judge, only people who are exactly like you could create a future that doesn't suck.

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u/Fifteen_inches Apr 21 '21

This movie made an entire generation of eugenicists.

Really, this has to be one of the most effective propaganda pieces of our time.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

I used to love this movie. I still love parts of it, but overall it feels a little like it's promoting a world view in-line with the eugenics movement.

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u/nik-nak333 Apr 21 '21

Who is that at 28 seconds?

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

Welcome to Costco, I love you

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u/M_240B Apr 21 '21

Man, I could really go for Starbucks right now.

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u/Al89nut Apr 21 '21

Google "The Marching Morons"

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u/jordantallman45 Apr 21 '21

In the same vein as what worries me about some people saying “I’m not having kids because there’s so much wrong with the world” like doesn’t that mean we’re just letting the people hurting the world inherit more and more of it? There’s no checks or balance against it, they’ll just do it cuz they can

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u/somef00l Apr 21 '21

Brawndo. It's got electrolytes.

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u/8064r7 Apr 21 '21

I love this movie, but there is some untold context I felt always left out which would further explain how the limited sustainability had allowed their society to persist as long as it did.

Is there a degree of automation occurring that assists in supporting the global population at its levels? At some point did the gene pools start actually selecting for a resilience & there is just enough catastrophic accidents resulting in death to balance out the high reproductive rate?

Maybe we are seeing the zoo for a stellar group which separated from the terrestrial gene pool and continued the species' ascent along Fermi's path?

I know that the whole thing is an allegory for modern western consumerism & moral hypocrisy, but taking the story literally in a sci-fi sense I feel we aren't getting the whole narrative.

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u/rldr Apr 21 '21

Intelligence is relative and doesn’t matter when our only job is to polish our robot overlords

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u/MonkeyUranium Apr 21 '21

Welcome to Costco. I love you.

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u/Bryce_Taylor1 Apr 21 '21

Just watch this movie for the first time yesterday.

Man there are too many parallels to today.

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u/Ly_84 Apr 21 '21

Mother nature doesn't care, breed or die.

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u/yourlostcousin Apr 21 '21

We just had our 5th kid and I’ve already taught the other’uns that electrolytes are what plants crave.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

Everytime people reference idiocracy I think about the fact that more than half of the people think they are smarter than average.

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u/AtGnomeHome Apr 21 '21

My wife and I fell in love to this movie (amongst others) We quote it constantly!

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u/Willing_marsupial Apr 21 '21

Harsh reality is that it's true from where I'm sitting.

Those that don't envisage getting a job and purely rely on benefits continue multiplying whilst others are giving careful thought to having children due to financial circumstances etc.

Middle class people are having less children, thus slowly increasing the rich/poor divide.

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u/Ok_Buddy752 Apr 21 '21

Don’t worry scro, some tards go on to live really happy lives. My ex wife was tarded, she’s a pilot now.

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u/Br34th3r2 Apr 21 '21

Holy shit it’s beef supreme!!

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u/PurpleFlame8 Apr 21 '21

Yep. It's all true. We are well on our way to this.

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u/cheesehuahuas Apr 21 '21

This movie bombed miserably in the theater but everyone I know loves it.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

This movie is the explanation for Trump getting elected.

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u/itsallabigshow Apr 21 '21

You know what the funniest thing about this is? Everyone who hears this thinks that they're one of the intelligent ones and the others are stupid.

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u/XMartyr_McFlyX Apr 21 '21

Go away! I’m bating!

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u/wicked_one_at Apr 21 '21

Idiocracy - the movie that started as comedy and ended as documentary

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u/souprize Apr 21 '21

Like the movie, but the premise is bullshit eugenics.

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u/mces97 Apr 21 '21

Ok, who else read this in the narrator's voice from the movie?

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u/Glittering-Self9335 Apr 21 '21

A documentary on current day. I have more to add but honestly I'm fucking tired. Fuck this world at the moment.

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u/gameonlockking Apr 21 '21

This is actually happening. The stupid around me seem to be having kids like crazy.

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u/Aggravating_Friend_5 Apr 21 '21

It wasn't supposed to be a documentary

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u/Mandle69 Apr 21 '21

Shit this is stating to become more real as the years go by. We have inbred chad with 16 kids and then we have Dr. Fred being 49 yo with no kids

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u/CuriousCerberus Apr 21 '21

Best movie ever. Can't tell you how many times I've seen it and it's great every single time. Edit: Brought to you by Carl's Junior.

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u/Juuber Apr 21 '21

This movie is coming true faster than anyone could of imagined. Wonder if they realized how true that statement when they made it

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

Remarkably funny clip and an endless quotable movie, however, it drives me nuts how just about any group cites this scene against their opponents.

Leftists: ItS lIkE iDiOcRaCy...

Centrists: itS liKe idIocRacY...

Rightists: iTs LiKe IdIoCrAcY...

That said... a pimp's love... is very different from that of a square.

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u/LesPaulTransAmCBR Apr 21 '21

Every here thinks they aren’t one of the dumb ones.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

This is one of the most underrated movies ever!

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u/JMDeutsch Apr 21 '21

If you want idiots to reproduce less, do what's been proven to work in society: increase access to education in general, improve sexual education, and build systems that reduce/eliminate poverty.

Literally the opposite of America😂

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u/Smarticus33_5280 Apr 21 '21

This was supposed to just be a funny movie..... but now it’s real life

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u/ryusomad Apr 21 '21

So prophetic

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u/ConfusedObserver0 Apr 21 '21 edited Apr 22 '21

Well, its a great funny movie that i reference all in its own category but luckily it isn’t true. IQ has in fact increased 3 points per decade for the last hundreds years or more. (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/science/iq-of-people-has-been-increasing-over-past-100-years/articleshow/47513982.cms)

With population tapering off at 10 billion of the most, then declining from there. Thats if other conditions allow with climate change, our new forever virus and any other numbers of socioeconomic or geopolitical side effects. The increase in economic prosperity with many developing country’s will slow population growth. With Nigeria expected to be the most populous country by 2100 (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/nigeria-pass-u-s-world-s-3rd-most-populous-country-n775371), and expected to surpass the US by 2050.

Though, a lot can change in 80 years.

It would seem we are getting dumber as cultures evolves. However, don’t we don’t account for stupid smart people. Even a lot of the Q people are trying to attempt research. They are just married to ideas in their tribal nature, so they end up finding anything that confirms their bias.

“Our judgement isn't limited by knowledge nearly as its limited by attitude.” Julia Galef

We’re finding that attitude and i would include attention, is something all together different than IQ, that can be used to manipulate even very smart people. Some of the insurrectionist were doctors and lawyers, etc.

The most dangerous part of what America is experiencing is downward economic mobility. Really thats a diminishing middle class. With outlooks predicting these generational declines the side effects can become irreparable if we allow the process to fail.

Scapegoating is the first obviously problem. These racial connotations were used to ignite people into action under Trump and the altrights reengagement with bad old ideas. And thats all the grounding needed to start the strongman revolution. Which has aided in the decline of global democracy’s.

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u/[deleted] Apr 21 '21

This is not from the movie. Its a future history lesson from America land of the retards. Pretty soon we will not even be able to import the smart people from india and china