I really do think that the innocent and naive "idiocracy" was a theme that George really tried to pull off in the PT without being too heavy-handed with it, but it just came off as really bad acting in the end. I think I remember GL at some point even commenting on it yet I can't recall where I saw it. I seem to remember him saying something about how the Jedi of the PT (along with everyone who looked up to them) were ignorant in the ways they taught about love, empathy, compassion, and attachment. It turns out that while some attachments are bad, especially the forbidden kind, that the right kind of attachments are in fact a good thing and that passion is fuel for a hero so long as it isn't out of control.
Luke, Leia, and Han are proof of the concept of how without the love they shared for each other they wouldn't have as much passion and drive to save the galaxy. This is why I believe that while Luke wasn't the chose one, he was in fact the greatest Jedi ever because he was the first one to say "Fuck you Ben, Yoda and all Jedi ever, I'm going to save my friends on Bespin because I love them!" And it turns out that while Yoda's foresights were correct about it being a trap and his FEAR about it came out in his speech to Luke before he leaves, in the end Luke's confrontation (and failure) with Vader actually turned him into a much greater Jedi in the end and could have never matched the experience he would have had if he'd listened to Yoda and stayed on Dagobah for more rock lifting and vine climbing. This is why I feel that a huge percentage of fans consider Empire the greatest movie of the three because we get to see how Luke's passionate failure at Bespin is actually the reason why he becomes the greatest of all Jedi. It's the most accurate depiction of real life struggle told in the most exotic way.
The PT, with it's idiocracy or bad acting, for me has always been a good representation of the dark side and honestly based on some people's attitude's about their quality I really do think that these movies have succesfully turned a large portion of Star Wars fans to the dark side of fandom aka pissed-off purist critics who don't realize what's really happened here. It's the most genius thing GL probably never planned on doing: give them something to hate to test how much they really love SW. It's like he's inadvertently testing us to see if we remember what he'd taught us in the OT "hate is the path to the dark side" and most people failed hard at that. It's the ultimate ruse! He turned us to the dark side instead of Anakin!