The Marching Morons

[likethebeer]

C.M. Kornbluth's story, "The Marching Morons" involves a man from the 20th Century who wakes up in a future in which the average I.Q. has been lowered to the level of moron (I don't think calling someone whose I.Q. is below 70 a "moron" is allowed any longer, although it used to actually be used

Comments

intelligent people w/intelligent people

[likethebeer]

Kornbluth played with this idea several times. He was worried that an insufficient amount of smart people were having children.

are you saying you're intelligent, or a moron?

Thanks for running down the list of the terms for those with low I.Q.s. "Retarded" has been gone so long that I feel guilty if I even think it, so I'm surprised it doesn't seem as old as I've thought. I had a professor in grad school who was deaf in one ear and he wrote his dissertation on 100 deaf artists. He had ideas regarding deaf culture that I had never thought about before. Cochlear implants were just coming in, which was the beginning of the controversy in the deaf community (I don't know where that argument is now).

'k - must bathe. See ya.

Re: intelligent people w/intelligent people

[likethebeer]

Oh, I figured out what you were saying. I was just f-ing with you. Although I wish I had smart ass days

Re: intelligent people w/intelligent people

[likethebeer]

Sounds as if being a smart ass is an art. That might explain why, when I think I'm being overly clever and sarcastic sometimes, people get angry and complain to upper-management (only happened that one time).

Nice to know you can get along ok w/the words flying over your head, and can see a change in a couple of months.

If I could remember more of what Mirzoeff said & did; although so much of it is in my brain I probably can't tease it all out. He is the professor that talked to us about Lacan, most of which I could not understand. And it's good to know that most of us had that professor. I'd thought the crushes stopped a lot younger & have carried around guilt for, oh, 18-19 years (which just means that everything's right with the universe).

If you hadn't explained the Ravens, I'd not understand just how bad it was. Although I've had the cheesesteak with fries, and, if someone's gotta have a dish that's connected to their personality, that's not a bad one.

Re: intelligent people w/intelligent people

[likethebeer]

Tell your OH friends they'll get the same reception anywhere near Philly.

I've never found those 2 cheesesteak places. I think it's because, around there, you go anywhere and they're all good. It's the first thing I want when I get around Philly - no ketchup, no peppers - just cheese, meat, and fried onions.

What was going through my head when Prof. Mirzoeff sat across from me in his office (talking about, you know, my fricking future) made me sit on my hands. Not total-killing guilt, just a bit of embarrassment. Not like any other student in the program couldn't tell by talking to me. Who else did we have? Henry Drewel - v. nice if you liked men in colorful clothes who spoke Yoruba, one of the languages from West Africa - no, he was cool &, you know what? I learned how to make chicken with milk and flour and stuff because he was having a party for grad students. I had to bring something for dinner (I didn't call it chicken with milk and flour and stuff).

Re: intelligent people w/intelligent people

[likethebeer]

I really can't understand why anyone has Philly cheesesteaks anyway else (although the one with the french fries & coleslaw is an experience I was happy to embark on).

That's the most I'll go into what was going through my head.

I knew I had to make it for some party, just whose finally came back to me in writing about it.

Re: intelligent people w/intelligent people

[likethebeer]

I've been told that there's something in the water around Philly when they make the buns. My ex- came up with a recipe (probably b/c he wasn't from Philly): it wasn't anything like them, but good enough that it was serviceable (and different enough that it was not an insult).

What the hell did you think those thoughts were? Of course they were bad girl thoughts.

Maybe the jogging of memory has to do with all the electrical impulses going down to move the fingers. Like when you forget something, so you walk back to the same place where you last remembered it & then it works.

Re: intelligent people w/intelligent people

[likethebeer]

What - the water's not heading to OH?

Maybe it's the oil refineries in Jersey? No, I bet that water's going to the ocean. I remember hearing this one story about a hot dog factory in Chicago in which they discovered, when a new factory was created, that the hot dogs didn't taste the same. After doing all this stuff, someone finally figured out that the time they had taken in the old factory to get the hot dogs to the baking area turned out to be the secret ingredient; so they had to re-arrange things to bring that time back in.

Maybe the secret ingredient for Philly cheesesteak buns is Aquanet and too much make-up in the water.

"you’d never get to the end of the line": bringing us back to the "Marching Morons".

Re: intelligent people w/intelligent people

[likethebeer]

You still light the water on fire? I thought that went out 30 years ago.

It's been too long since I had hot dogs from a ball park to know how special they are. Maybe the pervasive gloom lends something to the hot dog taste?

We used to get big, fat pretzels at the stadium in Philly when we saw the Phillies when we were kids, as we were leaving the game; they cost my dad a quarter (or, 2 dimes & a nickel). I can't eat Philly pretzels that aren't sweaty and cold.

I don't even have a high school diploma in smart ass.