Listening to all this, my mind flashed on something a political science professor had said on an American election day many years earlier. The word "idiot" comes from the ancient Greek for those who concentrated solely on their own affairs and took no part in community life. Choosing not to vote, he said, was a decision to stay silent. People who made that choice couldn't consider themselves citizens in any meaningful sense. Was that what we wanted?
I tend to use the word "idiot" to denote individuals whose impact of on public affairs is obstructive or openly malevolent.
For example, anyone with a "repeal concealed carry" sticker on their car.
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