Stupid is as popular does

Are we an idiot culture? Not that we as a society are made of idiots (you know, mostly) but that we see them as the opitomy of what is the widest reaching voice of the people? Because really, I'd rather not have that the voice of my generation.

I mentioned this in my webcomic idea post, but there are so many of the things out there whose main character is a complete moron. So stupid that you wonder how they even function. And yet somehow they not only do so but excel, often more so than say you or me.

And somehow, no matter how idiotic or insulting or selfish an act they commit, rarely will someone call them on it. Yes, occasionally a side character will mention how incorrect they are acting, but also usually does that same conversation turn into how sweet and caring and how they don't realy mean the MC is. Like somehow getting punched in the gut is okay as long as they kiss your cheek at some point.

Ctrl+Alt+Del is probably the most well known offender of this. The main character Ethan is little more than a man-child, hurting himself constantly and just as often endangering others, but those around him somehow talk themselves into it not being his fault and they're the ones who need to be more understanding. He's for some reason the jilted one, even though it was his fault (usually through his own actions).

Nerf This is just as bad, with a MC who is less man and more child. Chase has less coherient thought than cross-eyed epileptic watching ping-pong, tennis, and air-hockey mid-sezuire. Yet not only do his friends and girlfriend love him through his many, many faults, but he can get away cancelling his bestfriends honeymoon because he couldn't go.

There are plenty others on the web, but those two just pop out and annoy me the most. But it's not like stupid is limited to the digital domain, they've been around a lot longer. TV has the most idolized of idiots anywhere.

The Simpsons. Gee, who could I be thinking of? Homer is forever the bumbling, legally mental dullard that somehow is the most likible and beloved cartoon character for too many years. Yes, it does have it's moments, but so do anything given enough time. Meaning right and having a good heart, I'm sorry to say, does not forgive your immediate past idiot actions.

Family Guy and American Dad!, follow the same vein of moron fathers. A somewhat saving grace to these two are that the rest of the family, and good deal the extended cast, are just as stupid so there's more of balance. But still, so much selfishness stops being funny at a certain point.

Actors like Will Ferrel, Jon Hedar, Seth Rogan, Rob Schinder, Ben Stiller, there's a Hollywood laundry list of just... idiots. Though very few women in such roles (unless the cast is at least 90% female) mind you, because you can't have a stupid woman, that's just sexist.

And I don't want to sound, despite the preceeding paragraphs, that I want or can't enjoy anything except smart humor or characters. I don't. I like stupid just as much as the next person; one of my favorite cartoons is Dave the Barbarian a nonsense cartoon of bumbling idiots. But then again, I hate Spongebob, which has the same thing. Its that I think stupid needs to be smart in it's own way.

I think my main problem with the concept is that the idiot is so beloved. I know they're meant to be funny, and in reality they'd never get away with a quarter of the shit they get up to, but that's not really a reason to let them just be brain dead. You can only push a stupid character so much until the audience asks, "Why is he doing that? Why do his friends tolerate him?" And that's what I'm finding myself asking again and again lately.

There's little balance to the cast. The stupid one is so overpowering, and too often an expy of the writer/creator, that even if you try to counter them with an antithesis of them the stupid one still wins. The rival becomes someone the MC is meant to overcome, to prove that they can be stupid because they've somehow earned it, even if they really don't. Or the counter is so underplayed that they're nothing more than setup for the moron to do or say something more stupid.

This is turning more into an angry rant than I'd like, but it's so annoying to me that there's this general perception that to be funny or attention getting, you need to be a halfwit dolt who, because he's written that way, still gets to keep his friends and loved ones even though he shouldn't. That you can't have smart main character, especially of a comedy, because you may insult the intelligence of someone, and it's better to appeal to a more base attention block than what you really meant.

I'm not saying everything has to be smart. I just wish that stupid was so marketable.