In Rotterdam there is this wizard. A man with a big wooden cane, completely dressed in white and more than willing to tell everyone he is a wizard. In Eindhoven there is this self appointed priest who rides around on his scoot mobile screaming about the return of Jesus while feeding pigeons. I see them as modern village idiots because they do not live according to the social norms that are set in my local community and because of their deviant behavior they will never fit in. What makes them fit the profile even better is the fact that they combine their different behavior with their own style of communicating. Their communicative skills are peculiar and often misperceived by their recipients. They look act  and talk different but they don't seem to care.  

Influence: social norms and know what's normal

This to me are straight forward examples of village idiots and i'm sure that most people can remember a character that stoot out in the community they grew up in. Interestingly the line of the village idiot With the coming of internet this concept and the perception of the villa idiot has changed.

It happens often, to me at least, that movies or images of people cross my screen that leave me stunned and strangely amazed. In the Netherlands you have countless compilations of internet gekkies (link) or people who gain moderate fame by being or acting like an idiot (rapper sjors). Besides the locally knows people you also have global ''artists'' who make it into the homes of people worldwide.  Recent viral artist are (rapper kwakkwakwak) and my personal all time favorite is Karl Pinkerton.

Some should be protected against themselves and some are actually brilliant actors who make you believe that they are idiots.

Carl pinkelton most listened to the podcast. Matches this. Looks odd and rambles. This was a global fenonemon and turned into a tv show. Idiot abroad? 

Title: The rise of the village idiot
Subtitle: Analysing the social influence of village idiots in the age of internet.
 
Village idiot is maybe a harsh term, I am talking about an unique individual who is depending yet contributing to the social fabric of his/her community. Im talking about people with a peculiar way of living/thinking that point other people of a society on the normative conceptions of social order.

With the coming of internet this concept and the perception of the villa idiot has changed. 
You can find numerous so called 'internet gekkies' or 'artists'. 
These examples have a lot in common with the social value village idiots had.
 I want to check if the rise in connectivity changed the role of village idiots. Because now they can easily find each other and empower one another and even start (sub)cultures. Just a few examples are - flat earthers - brownies - Real vampires- 

First setup:
What is a village idiot?
To wrap my brain about the subject I first want to clearafy the term village idiot. Village idiot is and always had been a degrating title to the person that lives 
Dorpsgek is een denigrerende naam voor een dorpsfiguur die zich niet schikt naar de lokale gedragsnormen en daardoor sterk afwijkend gedrag vertoont. Dorpsgekken zijn over het algemeen niet communicatief vaardig: zij roepen dan vreemde dingen naar plaatsgenoten of plaatsen borden met een onleesbare tekst. Veelal hebben dorpsgekken een bijnaam. Een dorpsgek hoeft niet uit een dorp te komen. Ook zonderlingen uit een stadworden weleens als dorpsgek betiteld.

What is the social role of a village idiot?
What happend when the village idiot became hyper connected?
What are influences on the popularity of peculiar movements on the internet?
The role of the village idiot on the world wide web.
Example of the classic village idiot 
Examples of peculiar opinions getting member/followers on the interent.
Is it going from a passive village idiot to an active opinion builder? 
global influance.. how it spreads