I think the punchline goes multiple ways at once: “the protesters were stupid thinking this would help”, “the protesters were stupid in how they tried to protest”, and “everyone back then was stupid because it’s Waterworld now.”
My understanding was more: people are stupid for buying the media’s narrative despite the world being destroyed by what the protest was trying to tell us about, including the thing these people are supposedly upset about protecting.
I think the punchline goes multiple ways at once: “the protesters were stupid thinking this would help”, “the protesters were stupid in how they tried to protest”, and “everyone back then was stupid because it’s Waterworld now.”
My understanding was more: people are stupid for buying the media’s narrative despite the world being destroyed by what the protest was trying to tell us about, including the thing these people are supposedly upset about protecting.