The Idiocracy of America (Opinion)
In “Idiocracy,” which takes place 500 years in the future, America suffers from famine. Every public service has been entrusted to selfish business interests. A fruit drink company controls crop irrigation, and the country’s crops are poisoned by the fruit drink. In the meantime, the public is kept in a state of abject ignorance and distraction by demolition derbies, drugs and debauchery. The nation is saved when an average Joe, miraculously resurrected from the distant past, reintroduces clean water to the crops, thus saving the nation. He is hailed as a genius for his sheer insight.
Which brings us to the American idiocracy in 2021. Our most important public functions are entrusted to corporate sponsors. Our entire political system is designed to let corporate money do the talking, through campaign contributions and corporate lobbying.
Instead of starvation caused by fruit drinks, today’s disasters are due to man-made climate change caused mainly by the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas).
“I know they have the climate part here, and that worries me,” Manchin said. He continued, “Because if they remove fossils, and I’m finding there’s a lot of language in the places where they remove fossils, which is very, very disturbing, because if you put your mind to it. in the sand, and saying that the fossils (fuels) have to be eliminated in America, and they want to get rid of it, and thinking that is going to clean up the global climate, it won’t clean it all up. “
The American people and the peoples of the world deserve better than an American idiocracy. The United States is dangerously close to becoming a failed state. Yet the positive message of the film “Idiocracy” should also be clear. Our problems can be solved, if and when an average man – even a Joe Manchin – stands up for the common good against the interests of business.