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"The Marching Morons" is a
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univers ...
story by American writer Cyril M. Kornbluth, originally published in ''
Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...
'' in April 1951. It was included in ''
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two ''The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume Two'' is an English language science fiction two-volume anthology edited by Ben Bova and published in the U.S. by Doubleday in 1973, distinguished as volumes "Two A" and "Two B". In the U.K. they were ...
'' after being voted one of the best novellas up to 1965.


Background

In the "Introduction" to '' The Best of C. M. Kornbluth'',
Frederik Pohl Frederik George Pohl Jr. (; November 26, 1919 – September 2, 2013) was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satellit ...
(Kornbluth's friend and collaborator) explains some of the inspiration to "The Marching Morons". The work was written after Pohl suggested that Kornbluth write a follow-up story that focuses on the future presented in the short story "
The Little Black Bag "The Little Black Bag" is a science fiction novelette by American Cyril M. Kornbluth, first published in the July 1950 edition of ''Astounding Science Fiction''. It is a predecessor of sorts to the story "The Marching Morons". It won the 2001 Re ...
". In contrast to the "little black bag" arriving in the past from the future, Kornbluth wanted to write about a man arriving in the future from the past. To explain sending a man to the future, Kornbluth borrowed from David Butler's 1930 science fiction film, ''
Just Imagine ''Just Imagine'' is a 1930 American pre-Code science fiction musical-comedy film, directed by David Butler. The film is known for its art direction and special effects in its portrayal of New York City in an imagined 1980. ''Just Imagine'' sta ...
'', in which a man is struck by lightning, trapped in suspended animation, and reanimated in the future. In "The Marching Morons", after the character John Barlow is told how he had been in a state of suspended animation, Barlow mutters, "Like that movie."


Plot

In 1988, real estate agent and
con artist A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
John Barlow is placed in
suspended animation Suspended animation is the temporary (short- or long-term) slowing or stopping of biological function so that physiological capabilities are preserved. It may be either hypometabolic or ametabolic in nature. It may be induced by either endogen ...
after a freak accident. He is revived in the distant future, in a confusing world filled with hypersexualized advertisements, vapid entertainment, and people who exhibit erratic, nonsensical behavior. Shortly after being revived, Barlow is introduced to two men who tell him that the current state of society is the fault of the " morons," the world's vast population of unintelligent people, who greatly outnumber the much smaller population of intelligent people. These men explain to Barlow that the most urgent crisis of their time is the population problem ("Poprob"). Historically, people of higher intelligence often chose to have few children (or no children at all) for pragmatic reasons, while people of lower intelligence, compelled by their sex drives, had larger families and reproduced in greater numbers. By the far future era in which Barlow has awakened, this unbalanced trend has been carried to its logical extreme, with a total world population of five billion morons (with an average IQ of 45) living under the supervision of three million members of an elite, intellectual upper-class who secretly govern world affairs. The simple-minded morons cannot be left to govern themselves or else the world will descend into chaos and war. As a result, the elite minority are effectively "enslaved" by the moron majority, working themselves to exhaustion while trying to maintain global order and stability. Controlling the morons' population growth is impractical for several reasons, but unless some corrective action is taken, the inevitable outcome will be the collapse of human civilization. All attempts to solve Poprob have failed, and the elite hope that Barlow, as a man from a different time and with a different perspective on the problem, might be able to offer a novel solution. Barlow has an idea, but he refuses to elaborate until the elite agree to formally name him
dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in time ...
of the entire world, promising him wealth, power, and fame. Taking inspiration from his knowledge of
fraudulent In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensa ...
real estate deals, propaganda techniques employed by Nazi Germany during
the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ar ...
, and the myth of lemmings drowning themselves in the sea, Barlow devises a plan for the orderly extermination of the moron population. He orchestrates a massive propaganda campaign encouraging the morons to migrate to the planet
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
. The overcrowded cities that the morons inhabit are to be dismantled and their
steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant t ...
used to construct fleets of rockets ostensibly intended to ferry people to Venus; in reality, because the "rockets" (disguised passenger planes) are not actually capable of space flight, the morons will simply be flown out to sea and killed. To allay any suspicion,
forged Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die. Forging is often classified according to the temperature at which ...
postcards are sent from Venusian "colonists" to family members who remain behind, describing Venus as a tropical paradise. The
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washin ...
, under the control of the elite, promotes the colonization of Venus as an extension of
manifest destiny Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. There were three basic tenets to the concept: * The special virtues of the American people and th ...
and guarantees Venusian settlers permanent
land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use ...
on the planet. This sparks widespread
nationalistic Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
fervor as the various nations of Earth all adopt similar approaches and race to reach Venus in order to stake their own claims. Barlow's plan is a complete success; Earth is gradually emptied of morons and Poprob is solved. While reviewing his
ledger A ledger is a book or collection of accounts in which account transactions are recorded. Each account has an opening or carry-forward balance, and would record each transaction as either a debit or credit in separate columns, and the ending o ...
, Barlow comes across an entry for an unauthorized project called "Poprobterm." When he demands an explanation, his assistants lead him to a waiting rocket, force him aboard, and immediately launch the rocket into space; the sudden acceleration crushes Barlow against the floor, killing him. The elite, disgusted by Barlow's ruthlessness and cruelty, have disposed of him as part of the "final cleanup" of Poprob.


See also

*
Fertility and intelligence The relationship between fertility and intelligence has been investigated in many demographic studies. There is evidence that, on a population level, measures of intelligence such as educational attainment and literacy are negatively correlated wit ...
*
Flynn effect The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the 20th century. When intelligence quotient (IQ) tests are initially standa ...
*
Eugenics Eugenics ( ; ) is a fringe set of beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter human gene pools by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior or ...
and
Dysgenics Dysgenics (also known as cacogenics) is the decrease in prevalence of traits deemed to be either socially desirable or well adapted to their environment due to selective pressure disfavoring the reproduction of those traits. The adjective "dysgeni ...
* ''
Idiocracy ''Idiocracy'' is a 2006 American science fiction comedy film directed by Mike Judge and co-written by Judge and Etan Cohen. Starring Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, and Terry Crews, the film tells the story of Corporal Joe Bauers (Wils ...
'' * ''
Harrison Bergeron "Harrison Bergeron" is a satirical dystopian science-fiction short story by American writer Kurt Vonnegut, first published in October 1961. Originally published in ''The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction'', the story was republished in th ...
'' * ''
The Space Merchants ''The Space Merchants'' is a 1952 science fiction novel by American writers Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. Originally published in ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' magazine as a serial entitled ''Gravy Planet'', the novel was first published a ...
'' * '' The Gene Bomb'' * '' A Day Without a Mexican'' * '' The City Without Jews'' * '' Search the Sky'' * ''The Man Who Sold the Moon''


Sources

*


External links

*
"The Marching Morons"
at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
* "The Marching Morons" at
Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital libra ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marching Morons, The 1951 short stories Short stories by Cyril M. Kornbluth Dystopian literature Overpopulation fiction Eugenics in fiction Works originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction Fiction about time travel