Idiocracy Is Right (But Not Why You Think It Is)

XKCD, one of my favorite webcomics, ran one about a month ago called "Idiocracy" after the movie. Basically, it "shows" that the movie is laughably incorrect, in that the general populous is not getting dumber; rather, the standard for "intelligent" is getting higher, dragging the "mediocre" benchmark up with it. While many of these comics are delightfully insightful, witty, or otherwise engaging, this one got me thinking, and I have my rebuttal.

Quite simply, you are correct; the standard for intelligence has gone up- quite drastically, in fact. Someone I know put it thusly; "2000 years ago, you were a fucking genius if you could read or write". The average intelligence hasn't gone up or down, but rather the perceived brilliance of individuals has become more obvious. The problem with the argument is that the requirement for average intelligence has gone up. For example, 2000 years ago, reading and writing was a skill reserved for (usually) royalty, the rich, and those who showed a great aptitude. Now, it's taught to everyone in free, public schools. Driving a car would have made Aristotle shit bricks; hell, the EXISTENCE of mechanical transport would have blown his mind.

So when someone doesn't understand why a retail worker can't materialize a Wii console out of thin air, I can see why people leap to the conclusion that people are "getting dumber". I think the real problem is a lack of good parenting. I'm a retail monkey, so I see all of it. I've seen parents buying kids candy every time they ask for it, and the ones who tell them no. I see kids that are free to run around the store, doing as they please, and I see the byproducts of this- the teens who, later in life, go around the store and knock things over, steal, hit all the "Help" buttons throughout the store, and the like.

I think parents, who often lack in "common sense" themselves, pass this inconsiderate nature onto their kids twofold. That might be the single biggest factor in the "people are getting dumber" thought movement. It makes sense, really- in the movie, the dumb people breed indiscriminately while people of intelligence wait until they are in good financial position, but wait so long that one or both become infertile. Such is the case in my scenario- social stigmas prevent intelligence from breeding. Abortion's negative stigma forces many to keep babies fathered from rape, accidents, or "that one time in Cancun". Sexual education in the nation is less effective than "pulling out", as most of the "education" is abstinence only, which has been show to be completely ineffective against teenage hormones.

In short, we as a people are not doing enough to keep people from becoming the dystopian drones that Idiocracy depicts; it will not be from lack of intelligence, but rather the wasting of it.