Laugh, because Americans are stupid.

Post by **halfnhalf** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 9:15 pm

http://www.aztlan.net/stupid_americans.htm

i love it, the land a free and ignorant.

Post by **psi29a** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:08 pm

If you take a close look at the map they are showing, they relabeled the countries, Iran was listed over Australia.

While they should have known better (High-School Geography), however, if it isn't something you deal with every day... you will go with what is labeled.

It is a bit misleading to ask someone to put a sticker/push-pin on a country that is mis-labeled.

Post by **halfnhalf** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 11:22 pm

psi29a wrote:If you take a close look at the map they are showing, they relabeled the countries, Iran was listed over Australia.

While they should have known better (High-School Geography), however, if it isn't something you deal with every day... you will go with what is labeled.

It is a bit misleading to ask someone to put a sticker/push-pin on a country that is mis-labeled.

Thats the ignorance part. Shouldnt an adult know better??

Post by **psi29a** » Fri Dec 09, 2005 11:47 pm

If I was asked a biology question about mitosis, I couldn't answer it. More importantly, if something gave me a timeline of mitosis and labled the stages with valid yet incorrectly sequenced, then I wouldn't know any better.

Just because it is important to you, doesn't mean it is to other people. You think a homeless guy gives a rats ass we are in Iraq, hell, ask him where it is on a map. Same thing for someone who works in a cube farm, or my wife who doesn't watch CNN because it depresses her. She more or less gets her world news from me or friends, she would rather burry herself in Bio books.

Post by **LordMune** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 1:49 am

psi29a wrote:If I was asked a biology question about mitosis, I couldn't answer it. More importantly, if something gave me a timeline of mitosis and labled the stages with valid yet incorrectly sequenced, then I wouldn't know any better.

Just because it is important to you, doesn't mean it is to other people. You think a homeless guy gives a rats ass we are in Iraq, hell, ask him where it is on a map.

Are you defending blatant ignorance? Australia (well, Oceania) is a continent. If you have so much as ever seen a map, only once in your life, from a distance, you should still not be able to identify the large landmass in the southeast as "France".

There's a difference between having in-depth knowledge of mitosis, and knowing where the hell you are, if you will excuse my french.

Post by **psi29a** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:48 am

I'm dead serious, how can anyone be expected to know everything all the time? What is important to you, could be laughed at by someone else. There are people that are to consumed with other things than to remember or care about other countries let alone what is going on in their own country. That is a fact world round and not just limited to USA.

Look at the video, Australia was labeled as Iran. Come on, they where told to put the push-pin in the one labeled Iran. If you questioned it, you would have been cut from the video.

Another thing, some colleges are worthless, even more so with Liberal Art majors. I do not expect them to know their geography because they were too busy getting drunk and taking shit classes. Perhaps I'm not giving enough credit to the majority, who just happen to have a HS education. As shown here, http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p20-550.pdf , about 85% of the US population (25 years of age ambient) has a HS diploma while around 25% have a college degree (same age). I would love to see other countries stastitics.

Summation: People (not JUST americans) can't figure out where shit is. Sorry to say, but picking a few psuedo-random people from the USA is hardly a proper sample size. Just shows you the lack of knowledge of some individuals that can be easily demonstrated just as easily in Iran or in Australia, or any other country.

As for the use of 'you' that you use LordMune, I suggest you follow this next sentence closely. I'm familiar with the world's geography, but even I get confused on say... the Balkans and that general area. So what is it you are trying to say, as it relates to human ignorance or to me in particular?

I don't expect people to know where Virginia is, or Washington DC, or how 'bout Laos or Djibouti. If I handed you a blank map, could the 5 people closest to you right pick them out on a map?

edit: don't get me wrong, i think the video is funny and sad. but I can empathize, there are somethings I know nothing about and I make choices with the information given me.

Post by **Libaax** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 4:52 am

It really depends on the person ,if a person have gone through school he should know his geography.

If not there is something wrong with education system in the US.

Im not saying he should the names of every country in the world but he should know some atleast.

Post by **Killfile** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 4:57 am

While I'm inclined to side with Psi on this one, the fact remains that you could probably pull the same shit with Iraq.

There is a difference between knowing where some obscure corner of the world is and knowing the location of a country you're seriously talking about invading. I don't think that the average American is quite as daft as this video makes them out to be; but I do think that this highlights the increasingly inpersonal nature of war - particularly to Americans.

It is frightening to consider that these people are voicing popular support for invading a country and killing its people and that they can not find this country on a map - even one that is labeled incorrectly.

I'm not suggesting that every American needs to know the location of all 190 some odd sovereign states in the world - but that we ought to at least know our limitations. Americans feel entitled to form rather audacious opinions without first bothering to find anything out.

Just as many seem to think we should invade several countries that they can not find on a map, many Americans have strong opinions about preparations for a Bird Flu pandemic and are stockpiling antibiotics just in case.

Post by **Femto** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:07 am

As great as it'd be to have every person in the US know the location of every country in the world, it's just not happening.

Calling each and every one of those persons stupid just because some random people don't know what they're talking about is the real stupid thing though.

I'd like to see how many of the interviewed people answered in a more educated matter, but were cut out from the video so whoever made that shit could make a point.

Post by **LordMune** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:16 pm

Femto wrote:As great as it'd be to have every person in the US know the location of every country in the world, it's just not happening.

This is true, and I believe this can be said about the denizens of any other country as well. However, even with school draining my life-force and stressed out of my mind as I am, I can still give you the approximate locations of most nations in Europe, Oceania, along with parts of south America and Asia. Plus the (not very numerous) nations of North America.

psi29a wrote:I'm familiar with the world's geography, but even I get confused on say... the Balkans and that general area. So what is it you are trying to say, as it relates to human ignorance or to me in particular?

Again, there is a difference between knowing the political borders of central/east Europe, and having the vague idea of the geographical shape of the world necessary to positively identify the humonguous landmass of Australia.

I'm not trying to troll, what I'm saying is that you would probably never find this kind of random ignorance in my country (although no similar "research" has been done)- I suspect, actually, that the countries exhibiting this phenomena of geographical un-knowledge, can be primarily found in the lesser-developed parts of the world.
And the United States, apparently.
But the U.S.A. is the very definition of a developed country, and these two facts combined scare me. What scares me is that many of the people who voted for Bush probably cannot find the Middle East on a map.

Post by **psi29a** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 4:48 pm

True enough, however it is the electorate that votes the president into power not the people (general public). If you look at some of the stuff that Killfile has been talking about, the Majority seems to have voted against Bush.

Perhaps it is where I live or have lived, I just don't see how people who don't focus on that subject for longer than perhaps once a week are 'supposed' to know off the top of their head where the general land masses are.

To me that is typical human behaviour. If I ask my wife where is Australia then she would be able to give me a good description, if I ask my land-lady (we rent an apartment), I doubt she has looked at a map in 30 years and really just doesn't care. All she needs is a job, a house, a husband... perhaps a few kids. She would be hard pressed to give me details. She may or may not know where on a unlabled map it is.

I guess I don't have such high hopes for humans in general that you do.

Post by **Ruuppa** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 4:57 pm

While it's true that not everyone needs to know everything, it's not a defense against blatant ignorance. Basic geography comes from the first grades of school, and they should have been jammed to your brain by the time you end school.

If this hasn't happened, it's the fault of the schoolsystem.

So we can't blame the individuals for their lack of knowledge, or blatant ignorance, on certain things. We should look at the system, and find out what's wrong with it.

In other words: It's all the governments fault.

Post by **psi29a** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:38 pm

so we blame the government, in this case... which government? Not the United State's Federal Government (bush etc) because a majority of the control of Education is done by the State.

Another point is that the Federal Government (thanks to bush's leave no child left behind act) we are now mandating geography to be a subject to be tested on. The people this film quizzes are those that didn't get tested by the state.

I'm sketchy on the particulars, perhaps the system did fail the older generation. Perhaps the agenda 20 years ago was to make sure we as a people know math, a bit of science and how to read and write.

I'm always surprised at what my little brothers bring home from school these days. What they are learning in 2nd and 4th grade I didn't get around to till 5th & 6th.

Within the last decade, new teachers are not allowed to teach in public school systems without a masters degree in education. This has a two fold effect, better quality teachers and lower amount of teachers. Good & Bad.

Hehe, feel free to argue with me on anything. I have no problem being devil's advocate. There are always two or more sides to an issue. Don't let my arguments tell you anything about me, I do really think people in general are stupid and ignorant. I am one of those people, somethings I just don't care about and am pretty ignorant towards or do stupid shit like stall my car every once in awhile.

Post by **miliambar** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:51 pm

You know its funny, if you listen to that video it sounds like the two girls have a british accent...maybe I'm just projecting. Funny part of this, while I think its okay for people to be confused by a mislabeled map(Although mistaking Australia for korea, iran, or Iraq seems a little extreme ), and I think they should probably take the time to look up information on anything they have much of an opinion on. For me its a matter of life and death, if I had an opinion like that and couldn't even point out where it was located I think that some of my friends would kill me(you know who you are

). Also I don't that someone who wants to attack China is in his right mind...man that's Japan's trademark, if we do that we get sued for infringement.

Post by **Ruuppa** » Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:58 pm

Huh, so it's a state affair. I admit my ignorance on not knowing that

It's a good thing that they're improving the education system now, but they're only improving it now, instead of 50 years ago. Now those with *cough* under-par education are the ruling age-class, and they're making the decisions. In my honest opinion, this is bad.

Post by **Femto** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 1:05 am

LordMune wrote:This is true, and I believe this can be said about the denizens of any other country as well. However, even with school draining my life-force and stressed out of my mind as I am, I can still give you the approximate locations of most nations in Europe, Oceania, along with parts of south America and Asia. Plus the (not very numerous) nations of North America.

So can I.

What's your point?

You're saying that because you can, the rest of your country can do it as well?

Post by **Libaax** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:31 am

I think he means that most people can as well.

Post by **Femto** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:38 am

I think it's idiotic that he's basing the 'ignorance level' of a complete country on nothing but a random interview conducted on the street to a small number of people.

Again, how many people were left out of that interview so whoever made it could get his point across?

Post by **Libaax** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 2:51 am

Yeah but i dont know if Jaywalking thing on Leno is for real but that didnt exactly made those people look good.

But its the same here with this interview, i bet they just showed "not as knowlegdable people" and leaved out people that knew what they asked.

Post by **Ruuppa** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:08 am

Media likes making stereotypes. Like "Americans are stupid." "Canadians are liberal." "French people stink."

Those are the things that appeal to the viewers. Fact usually loses to fiction. People are being brought up by the media, even if they are adults..

Post by **Femto** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:23 am

The french do stink though.

Post by **Ruuppa** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:26 am

Femto wrote:The french do stink though.

And so he has confirmed the validity of my clause.

Post by **Femto** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:28 am

If you think I was serious you need to be banned from this site forever.

Post by **Ruuppa** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:29 am

If you think *I* was serious, you need to re-establish your sense of comedy.

Post by **Femto** » Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:31 am

I'm sorry man, but that wasn't comedy.

That's wasn't even a girl joke.