My God he was eloquent. What happened?
Let me brainstorm some:
happened to everyone:
-private television (infotainment, commercials) -> cerebrally active consumtion of books got replaced by passive consumtion of tv shows that got ever more stupid as the demand increased
-social media in general (twitter, facebook, youtube etc.) -> multiplier of the above - had a chance to turn passive into active consumtion but also reduced attention span futher
-mobile phones in particular (selfies, sms, whatsapp) -> mobile phones helped tremendously to reduce the intellectual horizon of many individuals to a point in space (me, myself and I)
special case USA (within western hemisphere):
-replacement of biology with bible studies in schools - but no worries, as with most USA trends, copycats are coming up in european countries (soonTM)
short and quick summary:
media and education created idiocy
idiocy creates idiocracy