brilliant rabble-fodder

[GoodTaste]

What does "brilliant rabble-fodder" mean? Does it mean "good fodder for a crowd who have no brain to think about the truth of things"?


--------------------------


Richard Dawkins tweeted 4h:
If Reagan [quoted in The Power Worshippers] were trapped on an island with only 1 book, he’d take the Bible: “All the complex questions facing us at home and abroad … have their answer in that single book.” That’s either dismally, droolingly stupid or brilliant rabble-fodder

 

[GoesStation]

"Fodder" is food for animals or, metaphorically, ideas that appeal to a group of people. A rabble is a disparaging term for a large group of people. "Brilliant rabble-fodder" is an idea which has been very well selected to appeal to a large group of people.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Those are all good answers. About the hypen:

We don't see the whole sentence, but fodder might be a noun there. If it is, there shouldn't be a hyphen.

But if it's part of an adjective, like "That was a brilliant rabble-fodder speech she gave today," then the hyphen belongs there.

 

[GoesStation]

Rabble-fodder is a compound noun in Dawkins's evocative phrase. He omitted the final period ("full stop" in British English). It needs the hyphen.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Rabble-fodder is a compound noun in Dawkins's evocative phrase. He omitted the final period ("full stop" in British English). It needs the hyphen.

Thanks! Funny language, this one. You never know.

At least, I never know.