Urban Dictionary: MOOK
A term coined by Douglas Rushkoff in an episode of PBS’s “Frontline” entitled “The Merchants of Cool.”; Mooks are archetypal young males(teens-early 20s) who act like moronic boneheads. They are self centered simpletons who live a drunken frat-boy lifestyle(or are frat-boys). Examples can be found anytime someone watches “Jackass.” Rushkoff claimed that the media glorifies this ideal and stifles natural self expression, however, some people might argue teenage boys have always acted like morons(its actually a long-standing stereotype).
I'm only going to take issue with the Rushkoff claimed that the media glorifies this ideal and stifles natural self expression. I disagree on two counts.
1. I think peer-pressure has far more effect on human behavior, particularly among children and teens, than anything on TV, and I think there's often been an anti-education/intellectual current among kids. It's rebellion against authority and the drudgery of school. The smart kid always gets a comeuppance.
2. Yes, the entertainment media does embrace the idiot. But if you showed kids (particularly teens) as commonly clean cut, attentive, and level-headed, there'd be a hew and cry that it's Bullshit. Yeah, we laugh and groan about Beavis & Butthead, but there'd be just as much argument if the shows were filled with Opie Taylors (from the Andy Griffith Show).
And the fact remains--Beavis & Butthead were consistently funnier than Opie. So were Laurel & Hardy (who weren't the brightest bulbs on the block), the 3 Stooges, Bob Hope in most of his movies, Bertie Wooster and anyone in the Drone's Club--you name it. People laugh at the idiots. The only difference is that we're in a youth culture now and the idiots tend to be teens.
Maybe if you make a great sitcom of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein or Richard Feynman as a teen, you might have a chance at changing things.
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