I saw this on a bumper sticker on a car at a food co-op. It was one of those cars that is near completely covered with bumper stickers. On the inside, the rims of all the windows were lined with flowers:
Burn fat, not oil
Idiocracy
I never heard of the movie Idiocracy until recently. I watched it last night. The peak of cinematic artistry it is not, but it made a deep impression on me. The vision of the future portrayed in the movie seems disturbingly realistic as I think we see the beginnings of that future all around us in our day to day lives. I am haunted by this film.
I encourage everyone who has not seen this movie to rent and watch this movie.
Below is a very short and excellent review of the movie I found.
Unless the question in bold was meant to rhetorical or the “Fox” as in “Fox News” is not related to “20th Century Fox” I find it ironic that the author thinks the dumbing down of America is a real trend but can not figure out why “Fox” sabotaged the success of the movie. “Fox” is obviously ( and frequently ) ridiculed in the movie.
IDIOCRACY
by Pete Vonder Haar
If you haven’t seen “Idiocracy,” the latest film from Mike Judge (the creator of “Beavis and Butthead,” “King of the Hill,” and “Office Space”), you’re not alone. Fox released the movie in a scant seven cities (three of them in Texas, none of them New York) with no advertising or fanfare, making the anemic marketing push behind “Office Space” seem almost “Armageddon”-like by comparison. Judge completed the movie in 2004, and has been dealing with the studio’s unwillingness to pony up for special effects or promote the finished product ever since. Given all this, it’s hardly surprising that Judge has hinted strongly at the possibility that “Idiocracy” might be his last studio film.
Taking all that into account, one might assume “Idiocracy” is a real stinker. It isn’t. It elicits so many laughs, in fact, that you have to wonder just what Judge did to piss off the suits at Fox so much that they would willingly torpedo one of the only genuinely hilarious movies to come out this year.
“Idiocracy” is the story of a remarkably unremarkable U.S. soldier named Joe (Luke Wilson) who wakes up after a flubbed cryogenics experiment in the year 2505 to discover an America so dumbed-down he’s the smartest man on earth. He’s joined by fellow guinea pig (and ex-prostitute) Rita (Maya Rudolph) and the two attempt to navigate through a land where the most popular TV show is called “Ow! My Balls!” and the President of the United States is an ex-wrestler and porn star (Terry Crews).
Judge’s hypothesis is that the rampant breeding of humanity’s slowest witted members will lead to an inevitable decline in the population’s median IQ, resulting in lawyers attending law school at Costco while anyone speaking with proper grammar and syntax is ridiculed as “faggy.” Some might find this a harsh assessment, though I personally think he’s being optimistic. America’s fascination with shots to the groin has been evident since the salad days of “America’s Funniest Home Videos” in the ‘80s, while the Wal-Marts of our great land have been choked with the spawn of mouth-breathing trailer park dwellers for decades. 500 years? Try 150, less if Britney squeezes out any more of K-Fed’s progeny. We already have a President who lacks the ability to speak in complete sentences and a populace largely incapable of choosing books unless some billionaire daytime TV talk show host tells them what to read. How much further down is there to go, really?
“Idiocracy” isn’t as accomplished a film as “Office Space,” which is – after all – one of the best comedies of the last 20 years. There are barren stretches, and scenes where things seem…unfinished; where Judge probably wanted to do more but wasn’t able. The look of the film is less big budget effects spectacular and more made-for-cable, though it’s unfair to blame Judge for this.
Wilson is at turns incredulous and exasperated, while Rudolph is also quite believable (and much hotter than I remember from “SNL”). At 84 minutes, brevity is indeed the soul of “Idiocracy’s” wit, as Judge wisely realizes there are only so many ways he can make fun of Starbucks (which has become a “full service” coffee house, if you get my meaning), Carl’s Jr., and characters named after consumer products (Joe’s lawyer and eventual sidekick “Frito,” for example). And if the guffaws don’t seem as plentiful as in Judge’s previous works, it isn’t due to poor quality but rather because each laugh is tempered with the unsettling realization that his vision of mankind’s future might not be too far off the mark.
Farm Animal *RIGHTS* Movement ( farmusa.org)
I’m a political atheist in regards to the “welfarist versus abolitionist/rights” approach to the “animal rights” movement. I’m posting this excerpt from FARMUSA.org ‘s Fall 2007 newsletter to clear up confusion about this organization’s status.
FARM started off as the animal welfare organization Farm Animal Reform Movement. Its founder, Alex Herschaft has had a change of heart and now considers himself to be an abolitionist. He has changed the name of the organization to FARM – Farm Animal Rights Movement
“The world won’t go vegan in the near future, so let’s reduce the suffering of innocent animals though welfare reforms.”
Few people who care about animals can resist a proposition so enticing. And that included myself, when I founded Farm Animal Reform Movement more than 30 years ago. For half of those years, I vigorously pursued campaigns to ban the veal crate and to fund and enforce the Humane Slaughter Act.
However entincing, this proposition is based on several faulty premises. First, our work is not about the world going vegan at any specific date, but about reducing animals suffering by cutting their consumption, one person and one meal at a time. Each friend, relative, or passerby who ” kicks the meat habit” saves 34 land animals per year (in excess of 2000 in a lifetime), from factory farm and slaughterhouse atorocities, as well as countless aquatic animals.
Second, significant welfare reforms would require a great deal of money, land, energy, manpower, and other resouces, and thus, a fundamental restruturing of the meat and dairy industries. This is much more far-fetched than the likelihood of a significant number of consumers cutting their meat consumption.
But the worst consequence of advocating welfare reforms is the public perception that such advocacy sanctions continued abuse and slaughter of animals for food. Sadly, on the campaign trail, welfare reform advocates are frequently forced to deny their animal liberetion ideology.
The statistics are clear: 93 percent of Americans consumers oppose farmed animal abuse and 97 percent continue eating them. Welfare reforms are a win-win situation for consumers and industry. Only the animals lose. We need to send a clear message that the only way to help animals is to stop eating them.
Did I mention that we are now the Farm Animal Rights Movement?
– Alex Hershaft