Frits Van den Berghe - De idioot bij de vijver

The village idiot is, in strict terms, a person locally known for

ignorance Ignorance is a lack of knowledge or understanding. Deliberate ignorance is a culturally-induced phenomenon, the study of which is called agnotology. The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware, or ...

stupidity Stupidity is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, or wit, an inability to learn. It may be innate, assumed or reactive. The word ''stupid'' comes from the Latin word ''stupere''. Stupid characters are often used for comedy in fictio ...

but is also a common term for a stereotypically silly or nonsensical person or

stock character A stock character, also known as a character archetype, is a type of character in a narrative (e.g. a novel, play, television show, or film) whom audiences recognize across many narratives or as part of a storytelling tradition or convention. Th ...

Description

The term "village idiot" is also used as a

stereotype In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...

of the mentally disabled. It has also been applied as an

epithet An epithet (, ), also a byname, is a descriptive term (word or phrase) commonly accompanying or occurring in place of the name of a real or fictitious person, place, or thing. It is usually literally descriptive, as in Alfred the Great, Suleima ...

for an unrealistically optimistic or naive individual. The village idiot was long considered an acceptable

social role A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, moral obligation, obligations, beliefs, and social norm, norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behav ...

, a unique individual who was dependent yet contributed to the social fabric of their community. As early as

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

times, the "village idiot" was treated as an acceptable form of disabled individual compatible with then-prevailing normative conceptions of social order. The concept of a "village savant" or "village genius" is closely related, often tied to the concept of pre-industrial

anti-intellectualism Anti-intellectualism is hostility to and mistrust of intellect, intellectuals, and intellectualism, commonly expressed as deprecation of education and philosophy and the dismissal of art, literature, history, and science as impractical, politica ...

, as both figures are subjects of both pity and derision.Dols, M.W., 1987: Insanity and its treatment in Islamic society. ''Medical History'' 31, 1-14. The social roles of the two are combined and applied, especially in the sociopolitical context, in the European medieval/Renaissance

court jester A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...

. The village idiot has become a character archetype, similar to an oaf or comic relief in narrative structure.

References

External links

Developmental disabilities Stock characters Stereotypes Social classes Slurs related to low intelligence Ignorance {{Society-stub