Stupidity became more acceptable in recent years for various reasons. To set an exact date would be difficult, as with all social trends, due to the vague nature of the phenomenon. Also it must not be forgotten that stupidity has always existed to some extent, and one should not glorify and gloss over the past as the golden era when everybody worked hard and were morally superior beings to the present savage components of society.

It is easy to think that stupidity, or at any rate, a lack of hard working ethic and a lazy decadent outlook of life, originated with the youth movements of last century. The beatniks and hippies and so forth worship the simpler things in life, and despised monotony and the life of an average ‘square’. Of course this is as biased as the common view of them, but the fact remains that much of the youth of the latter part of last century were heavily influenced by such ideals of freedom, easy living and not conforming and being ‘square’.

This being said one could easily go on to examine these various movements and their effects on present day life and the present stupidity and laziness rate, but that would be to ignore the past and to allow oneself to be deceived by a nice convenient thought, that one of the golden age of hard working upstanding people. A golden age which never existed. If one looks at books from the 19th century or the early 20th century one will note many characters who are hardly upstanding, hard working, or intelligent. And many of these characters are successful types.

True, many of them are the villains of the stories, and many are satirized and laughed at for much of the narrative, but the fact remains that successful people, in a society that still has a class system of some kind and no equal starting point for all individuals, will often remain stupid, lazy and decadent people, often morally not very upstanding either.

And it must not be thought that laziness and stupidity for successful people began in the 19th century. Looking at Robinson Crusoe, for instance, one who rejects normalcy and the middle station of life, goes adventuring, and finds it difficult to live a hard working life. He is an example of the hippie type, the rebellious youth who hates conformity and idolizes the simpler pleasures of life. This youthful nature to rebel against conformity is one of the major origins of the present stupidity epidemic.

Looking at the youths in The Hunchback of Notre Dame one sees yet another example of how the good old days were not so good after all. The young have always rebelled against authority and conformity, and will not likely stop doing so for many a year. But this is not the only origin of stupidity and laziness. One of the other main origins in the social class system, that is the nature of society which allows certain individuals, by way of inheritance or a superior starting situation and context, to live a more easier life than others but gain similar or more reward and status. This unfairness would be a hard thing to counteract unless society were to turn to a system like communism.

The other main factor is the media and pop culture, which takes advantage of these two phenomenons and utilizes them to influence the youth demographic. Fame, wealth and decadent habits are glorified. Acting in an immoral, lazy and unintelligent fashion is also idolized by todays youth. And so the media, whilst not an originator of stupidity, tends to it as a gardener does to a bed of flowers, and has made them grow well.

So, stupidity did not at any point in time become universally socially accepted. But certainly the media has in recent years done much to make it more so, and to make the enemies of stupidity such as hard work and study seem boring and unpopular. Thus the media is mostly to blame for the trend, although it must not be forgotten that the media is democratic and is thus controlled by the people who back it.