Overheard at the theater (or real-life IDIOCRACY scene)

One of my grad-school colleagues developed what he humorously called, and which became a bit of shorthand, “Old’s First Rule of Politics,” (His last name was Old. Still is, I guess.) Anyway, Old’s First Rule of Politics was “the people are stupid.”

Here is a conversation between two people, as related to me by a co-worker. Woman 1 and Woman 2 are both in their late 20s, in the bathroom after watching FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS at a Georgetown theater.

So, like, that movie was so depressing
That was, like, during World War 2, right?
Yeah, I think so. It was like 1937, wasn’t it?
Something like that. But I’ve never understood why we were in Japan
I think it had something to do, like, with the Japanese invading Hawaii or something
I so have to go home and look this stuff up on the Internet.

My co-worker’s words: “It made me want to weep.” I blame Old’s First Rule. Or Mike Judge.