The Meditative Idiot
Though they criticize the Idiot for being “thoughtless,” the School-Master and the Bibliomaniac grow nervous when the Idiot becomes meditative. They fear that “he is conspiring with himself against them.”In an attempt to disrupt the Idiot’s meditations, the School-Master and Bibliomaniac ask him what he’s thinking. The Idiot merely states that he has a business plan. He considers sharing it with the Bibliomaniac and a Mr. Pedagog. All he “requires [is] capital and the assistance of those two gentlemen to launch it on the sea of prosperity.”
When asked what area he will pursue, the Idiot says, “Journalism.” He believes that, if he pursues his current idea in journalism, his exploit will be worth millions. Should any of the gentlemen present consider investing, they will double their money by the next year.
The Idiot explains that he will start a new newspaper. However, the new paper isn’t the key. Rather, the idea that the paper contains is the key: “I propose to start a new paper in accordance with the plan which the idea contains,” he says.
The paper will be a daily paper, but his will be different from any other daily newspaper. The Idiot even mentions the unique invention of the “evening post”: “I know of an evening paper the second edition of which is published at mid-day. That’s an old dodge, and there’s money in it, too—money that will never be got out of it.”
Every Day Ethics
The Idiot goes on to say that his newspaper seeks to break away from the ideas that the others follow. Rather than focusing on and highlighting all of the bad that happens, his paper will focus on the good, or “telling what hasn’t happened.”For example, the Idiot says that his newspaper will say something like: “‘Superintendent Smithers, of the St. Goliath’s Sunday-school, who is also cashier in the Forty-eighth National Bank, has not absconded with $4,000,000.’” By stating this, the newspaper doesn’t give fame to vices, but rather highlights the virtues of “Superintendent Smithers.”
Through this story, Bangs showed how the supposed “thoughtless” Idiot possesses simple ideas that successfully grasp the basic human desire for good news and virtue. His “thoughtless” ideas seek to build up the human character by highlighting characters worth emulating.
In “The World Crisis Vol 2: 1915,” Winston Churchill encapsulates the significance of Bangs’ story when he said: “The conviction came into my mind with absolute assurance that the simple soldiers and their regimental officers, armed with their cause, would by their virtues in the end retrieve the mistakes and ignorances of Staffs and Cabinets, of Admirals, Generals and politicians.”
Thus, by being simple, the Idiot rises above those who seem to be his superiors. His simple-mindedness finds the beautiful every day ethics which breath light into the mundane world.
