Idiocracy

Have too many Americans become gullible, ill-informed idiots who have elevated feelings over facts and replaced critical thinking with a blind sense of trust for authority? I'm not trying to be insulting here; I'm just trying to figure out Rudy Giuliani's poll numbers.

Four years ago Tucker Carlson asked Britney Spears on CNN, "A lot of entertainers have come out against the war in Iraq. Have you?" And Britney, who was chewing gum throughout the entire interview, answered, "Honestly, I think we should just trust our president in every decision he makes and should just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens."

It's this kind of head-in-the-sand, free rein granted to those believed to be in a position of moral authority that has led to warrantless wiretapping, torture, and a $6.1 million judgment for a Kentucky McDonald's employee named Louise Ogborn. In 2004, Louise was 18 and working at McDonald's when her assistant manager Donna called her into the back office, said a police officer on the phone had identified her as a thief, and then forced Louise, under the "cop's" orders, to strip naked, do nude jumping jacks, submit to a spanking and finally perform oral sex on Donna's 43-year-old exterminator fiancé. The whole ordeal, ordered by a prankster over the phone, lasted three hours. But you know what they say about fast-food work -- the time flies when you're busy.

A Kentucky jury listened to testimony, watched a videotape of the entire incident and awarded Louise $6.1 million dollars from the obviously culpable party in this matter -- the McDonald's Corporation. That's right, two adults pressure a third adult into stripping, a spanking and a blowjob based on the word of a stranger on the phone and the fault lies not with the gullible idiots who blindly obeyed some perceived voice of authority, but with the company that happens to have its name on the sign out front. McDonald's has a written policy in their training manual against any type of strip searches and even sent out a voicemail warning franchises about such phone hoaxes but the jury found that the company was liable because, after all, the perv on the phone did say he was a cop and what choice did Donna the assistant manager have but to, as Britney says, "just support that, you know, and be faithful in what happens"?

Bill Maher is the host of HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher" which airs every Friday at 11PM.

Comments

[newsweek1945]

Bill, I love your brutal honesty, but please say as I am not allowed to say with any credulity or "umph", that the American electorate is basically, uninformed, undereducated, and unconcerned about anything except those silly little trappings that feed their greed, self-righteousness, arrogance, and little brains. Fear and bull works on these Talibans and the "wiser" Talibans know it!

[Ono4Hoopono]

I agree with LongBeachDave and others about Tucker Carlson functioning purely as a detractor and an obfuscator to shut down debate.

"Confusopoly." That's the rhetorical­/propagand­a game he's playing. The act of confusing someone rather than actually debating them. An excellent term coined by the "Dilbert" comic creator Scott Adams. (Sourcewatch.org, Wikipedia, et. al.).

Tactically, Carlson changes his positions like a chameleon to throw his opponents off balance and break their momentum, kind of like Christopher Hitchens. He will detract from something five different ways, and then when you call him on something, he says, "I agree with you," and then forcefully goes on to bring up something totally unrelated. When it's all over, meaningful debate has been sabotaged. Confusopoly.

He is smug in the way that someone who's never dealt with real hardship in life has no patience for anyone who has. This is not to say he hasn't suffered hardship, only that he was embittered by it or failed to learn compassion from it. His brilliant verbal gifts are totally wasted on him. He could do so much good with that mind of his if he actually grew a conscience. I could easily imagine him waking up one day and realizing this tragic misuse of his talent, to his profound regret.

But at this point, Tucker doesn't contribute anything of value, and he should not be invited back. Your show Bill, has real potential to get at truth, since people are disarmed to some degree with your format and with the HBO freedom of speech thing. Please save those precious guest spots for truthseeke­rs...peopl­e who are earnest in their beliefs, rather than partisan or self-promoting hacks like Hitchens and Carlson.

I look forward to Friday nights when your show happily pops up on my DVR.

[Aton]

It's the result of working within a ritualistic and conformist culture in which the average individual has very little voice and hence, very little power. This was how our country was designed. The founding fathers feared too much democracy and so established the government to be run by a few top individuals, usually of wealth. Whether that's a good idea or not can be debated but the fact is: the power structure in this country has shifted since it's earliest days to become more stratified and centralized thanks to corporate capitalism. A lot of working class people have been reduced to mere drones in its service. Sure, it's better than the old Soviet Union. You can choose who you sell yourself to, but it's still quite repressive and resistant to change.

[LongBeachDave]

Bill, I love your show, but you have to keep Tucker Carlson off--the man is a windbag of misinformation and cluelessness.

Also, I have to disagree with you on the Armenian resolution. I would agree if the present government of Turkey would simply acknowledge that indeed, it was a genocide and it was sanctioned by the government at that time. If you can read Robert Fisk's "The Great War for Civilisation"--the chapter on "The First Holocaust"--and not weep...well, these people at least deserve to have thier trajedy officially acknowledged, even if it makes the Turks "uncomfortable."

[realist333]

I agree with LongBeachDave on the Armenian resolution.
I don't see the resolution as "mistimed: or "misdirected" but as "misphrased."
The target of the resolution is not the Turkish Republic founded by Kemal Ataturk but rather Enver Pasha's pre-republican fascist movement known as Ittihad or "The Young Turks." It was the Young Turks regime that explicitly ordered the police and armed forces to exterminate Turkey's Armenian community.
There was never any doubt about the Young Turks' guilt. The governments of Britain, France and the United States all accused the Young Turks of systematic genocide, although they used different terms and did nothing to actually halt the slaughter. But the Young Turks never spoke for all of Turkey and, in fact, were overthrown and disgraced following WW1.
It's unfair to name the Turkish nation as perpetrator of those crimes. Many Turks did their best to protect Armenian neighbours. If the Armenian resolution were re-worded to indict Enver Pasha and the disgraced Ittihad regime, but not the entire Turkish nation, today's Turks could accept and even support it.

[StSaint]

Britney Spears is pure trash, no one cares or
expects wisdom from her but Melissa Gilbert, I expect her to be at least human!

[tempfate]

There is such a divorce from reality on most people’ part it is shameful. And it’s what many people spend their time doing in everyday life, complaining about their circumstances while marching in lockstep to whatever happens and whatever they're told; what does that suggest? America was lost years ago when the country collectively swallowed a kool-aid cocktail and nodded off at the wheel. Ignorance is bred and in many ways generational why should the current crop of the country’ future be any different, yes she was scared, but perhaps had she been empowered with a little knowledge instead of submitting to the wishes of the status quo in her world she would’ve not fallen into the trap.

[StSaint]

It concerns me that Bill Maher can be so brilliant on all issues, and then become so clouded on O. J. If you are going to mention O J be a true liberal and do someting
the mainstream media never does. JUST THE FACTS MAM

I don't need to rehash them, from Marsha
Clark's fabricated lies, violent Beatings with photos exposed as makeup from a stage play. Blood samples exposed as false and planted by two of the most
renowned forensic scientist in the world.
The defense expert and the prosecution's
were in agreement! And the Mark Furman gloves that did'nt fit, one found at the scene
and one at Simpson's house. The most jaded
racist wouldn't buy that!
Furman, Detrctive Vanarken and the whole
LAPD were exposed as an organization incompetent in the investigation of crime scenes, because they had never practiced it.
No need to to plant material. They were so ignorant of the science from not having practiced it they thought they could go to the
evidence room, retreive blood pour it around
and fool chemist, scientist and electron microscopes. They exposed a special police unit for torturing and framing people that had to be disbanded and prosecuted.
NBA star Jason William mowed down his poor whited chaufeur like a rabid dog in front
of witnesses. Compare the facts against
Robert Blake, Joan Benay Ramsey, Phil Spector.
Doesn't prove O J didn't do it, Jason William enjoyed a race reversal but it proves
that a black person today in the justice system
is not much better off than the SCOTTSBORO BOYS
The thing that set me off was when Bill had
a racist write in and ask about an apology
from Al Sharpton and Jessie Jackson for the
Duke Lacross Players. For demanding an investigation? Kobe was in his hotel room
with a billion reason for a hustler to hustle
and they prosecuted. A true liberal would
have straightened the caller out.
PHIL DONOHUE, RALPH NADER, MICHAEL MOORE
in 1950s america blacks were executed for a white rape charge and white on black not even investigated.

[Flynnstone73]

Dude get a grip!

[Simplicio]

Most people tend to obey authority. This was proven in Stanley Milgram's 1974 study, "Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View". Also, when people are afraid they are more easily duped and controlled. Terrorize the people and you got 'em.

[pungo]

mmm yes.

[biwee]

Citizens of this country are as DUMB and UNINFORMED as they want to be......and, too, they can want to be informed and knowledgea­ble....the­re is a choice. There is no punishment for stupidity, bias, hypocrisy, and bigotry, unfortunately. As a retired military officer, Vietnam volunteer, and Vietnam veteran, I choose to try to learn the TRUTH. Examples: the TRUTH about the USS Liberty, and Sabra and Shatilla (which sucked me, and others, BACK into Lebanon, after the PLO evacuation from Beirut). Bottom line, do not trust the various major media outlets in this country.....but, do trust in your Glock!

[Mighty]

To answer your question directly Bill, yes. It don't put all of the blame on the American public. Many people work very hard. Some of them two or more jobs. They are doing their best to raise their families and don't have much time to read up on politics. That doesn't make them all bad people but this is where our economy has gone. People have to spend more and more time working just to keep afloat. To that end they wind up finding a party or candidate that seems to represent them to the best of their ability to know.

Then it becomes an issue of trust. However as we have seen with Bush he has used that trust to the point of wearing it out. Hence his abysmal poll ratings. I think in a small way this had beneficial effects. It shook people up and made them "reassess" their trust in our leaders. It forced them to take time to look more deeply than before. The trust has worn out now they want some proof. I think this is a good thing and why in general the public is looking for alternatives to the republicans in general in the next election.

The fact that so many are looking at Rudy tells me people have had it with the social conservative stranglehold on the republican party. The "blind faith" of the religious right is about all that is supporting Bush now. Thankfully the rest of the country is not so blind.

[Newsaroo]

Have too many Americans become gullible, ill-informed idiots who have elevated feelings over facts and replaced critical thinking with a blind sense of trust for authority?

Exactly right Bill... so, snap out of it!

[sabz423]

Werd. The two-income trap and media vapidity are jointly responsible for our nationwide political apathy.

Keith Olberman & Bill Maher!

[aba]

If not the American public, who? What you say is true, they are out there busting thier butt, and it is hard to find the time to read up on everything that has tour this country down.Between work and Reality shows, who has the time.

[vertium]

I understand fully the fact that people "work very hard. Some of them two or more jobs.", but that doesn't excuse the ignorance they maintain.

I work 60+ hours each week, I have a family and hobbies, but I still make time to be as informed as possible on the issues facing our country and the planet on which we live.

I wonder how many of those people who work so incredibly hard also find time to watch "Dancing with the Stars", Faux News, "American Idol" and other meaningless entertainment? If people don't WANT to be informed, you can't make them. If people WANT to be informed, you can't stop them.

For those who are too busy to become an informed electorate, I suggest listening to a news channel on the radio while traveling from one job to the next (instead of the crap that passes for music today). Or, perhaps a newspaper while at the McDonalds where a gullible idiot is giving blowjobs in the back while you're eating your Egg McMuffin and having a cup of coffee.

In the end, there's no (none, zilch, nada) excuse for being poorly informed in today's world unless you live in a cave in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan.... oh, wait... even HE's well informed as to what's going on in America. There are REASONs that people are poorly informed (laziness and apathy), but they do not excuse the situation at all.

[mommamia526]

I have just been fast-scrolling through this and have yet to see the case made by either Bill, or the commenters, that it was the *Idiocracy*, *the American Public*, which brought and judged this case, or any of the precedents which were involved in being able to bring and make this case. Hello? Anyone out there? Anyone from the American Public YOU KNOW, who filed this case in court, presented this case before the Judge, and WAS the Judge in this particular or most other cases? As I stated earlier, you can bring a case, as an individual, I do not know how one would do that as *The American Public*, without someone representing *The American Public*, after all *The American Public* is not yet a corporation, a.o.. The REAL ISSUE is that Americans have no voice, because they have allowed *large entities* and certain *interest groups* to take their voices away from them. So much for a *Democracy*. The real idiots are in the courtrooms, judges for example.

[tempfate]

Totally correct momma but the reason we have no voice is because we gave it up a long time ago, a broken people are a submissive one, who wouldn't take advantage of that.

[aba]

That is true, more proof we live in a Jerry Springer world.

[LatinBrat]

We are increaasingly becoming conditioned to submit. By whom? Republicans? Mass media? Maybe, but I think the culprit is plain old laziness on the part of the individual. Especially women. As a female in my mid-thirties, I have found the discourse of some of my peers is as limited as it was when I was in high school. I'm the mother of sons but if I had daughters I would feel even more compelled to make certain they were well informed, well spoken, intellectual young women. Don't even get me started on the insidious and ridiculous feminization that's so prevalent in our culture today. We are expected to conform to an obfuscated version of patritism where anything other that blind Bush love is considered subversive or even treasonous. Almost makes me want to be Canadian if it weren't so darn cold.

[knerd]

Bill--If you haven't already, put "Milgram Experiment" into your favorite search engine.

We all need to grow up and leave Mommy and Daddy.

[thehuff]

This being the USA, I wouldn't doubt for one minute that Louise and Donna are sisters and the exterminator "boyfriend" is actually their father. We'll probably find out that this is the case in a year or two once the three of them have had a child and are living in Mexico together.