Comments on: “No idiot or insane person shall enjoy the right of suffrage” (NJ Constitution)

By: Kristina Chew, PhD

Kristina Chew, PhD — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 21:23:48 +0000

Note to TANGENT: Yes, that is the origin of the word----"idiot" is from idiotes, which means a "private citizen." From my post The Rise of the Idiocracy:

The idio- in “idiocracy” is from the classical Greek idiotes, meaning a “private citizen” and the root word of “idiot” (familiar in autism circles in the notion of the “idiot savant”).

By: natalia

natalia — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 18:06:51 +0000

TANGENT
iirc, and resident classicist proffesor can please correct me, but i think i heard in a history class once that “idiot” in the greek, originally was not associated with intelligence but instead meant the people who didn’t participate in democracy. (this is kind of ironic but it implies a behaviour, a choice, not an inherent quality)…
is that a true origin of that word?
i still find “idiot” useful as an insult to someone doing something stupid (ie: something you yell in traffic, with the car windows shut, at the guy who just cut you off) — implication: they are being an idiot, but not a word that should be applied intrinsically to a person.
/TANGENT

By: matching tracksuits » Blog Archive » Autism Vox » “No idiot or insane person…”

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 11:43:44 +0000

[...] Chew at Autism Vox points out really disturbing language in state constitutions. Incoming Links (via Tecnorati):No results found No results were found forhttp://matchingtracksuits.com/2007/01/08/autism-vox [...]

By: David N. Andrews MEd

David N. Andrews MEd — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 10:30:58 +0000

Does this mean it’s a free for all against JBJr, then?