← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Ed Toner
Thread ID: 6305 | Posts: 7 | Started: 2003-04-24
2003-04-24 10:42 | User Profile
[url=http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_23-4-2003_pg3_2]http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...23-4-2003_pg3_2[/url]
Op-ed: ââ¬ËAmericans are as stupid as pig dribbleââ¬â¢
Brian Cloughley
I was reading Brysonââ¬â¢s ââ¬ËThe Lost Continentââ¬â¢, in one of his more caustic paragraphs he noted that the National Endowment for the Humanities had ââ¬Ëtested 8000 high school seniors and found they were as stupid as pig dribbleââ¬â¢
Some emails critical ........................
2003-04-24 14:15 | User Profile
Cloughley's point is not wholly without merit, but he's kinda full of it, too.
**Then I remembered there had been a similar survey conducted last year by the National Geographic magazine, that I had filed away somewhere, probably under ââ¬Ëpig dribbleââ¬â¢. I dug it out, and now, alas, see where Mr Briody stands, alas with all too many others, in general knowledge of his planet.
The survey was conducted in the 18-24 age group of nine countries: America, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico and Sweden. The results are startling and gravely depressing but explain a great deal about American citizensââ¬â¢ attitudes to the great big world out there ââ¬â or such of it they know about. In the US ââ¬Ånearly 30 per cent could not find the Pacific Ocean; 56 per cent were unable to locate India, home and 17 per cent couldnââ¬â¢t find earth; and only 19 per cent could name four countries that officially acknowledge having nuclear weapons.ââ¬Â
Respondents were asked to name the country in which the Taliban and Al Qaeda movements were based (the survey being conducted at the height of the US war on Afghanistan). Sweden and Britain came in at 84 per cent and Italy at 82. The others scored over 70 except Mexico at 63 which is respectable given its modest education standards. America, which had been attacking Afghanistan for months and had troops fighting in that country, was lowest, at 58 per cent.
A question about the population of the United States produced abysmal scores all round, with only Sweden over 50 per cent. But everybody beat America, of whose respondents only a quarter got it right. There are many other examples, and the message that comes through, to be as kind as possible, is.... pig dribble.**
Since he later gets on his high horse denouncing 'racism', naturallyCloughley never stops to find out, or even ask, how many of those 'typical American high school students' are inner-city blacks or Third-World flotsam or mestizo jetsam. Not that he's entirely wrong, but still...I'd like to know.
2005-10-06 12:40 | User Profile
Even the adults are stupid. [url]http://www.compfused.com/filedl1/06bhfspueb/where-to-attack.wmv[/url]
A reporter is out asking the general public who the US should attack next. Take note of the map's placement of countries. Third world status here we come.
2005-10-06 13:19 | User Profile
The trouble with this kind of evidence is that anyone smart isn't featured. So, a very skewed picture is presented. But, yes, people are very stupid. If you can't even find the place on the map, what other than pure stupidity would make you think you're qualified to say that the US needs to attack that place?
2005-10-06 13:33 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Happy Hacker]The trouble with this kind of evidence is that anyone smart isn't featured. So, a very skewed picture is presented. But, yes, people are very stupid. If you can't even find the place on the map, what other than pure stupidity would make you think you're qualified to say that the US needs to attack that place?[/QUOTE] Just think Happy Hacker, those people vote; they help drive our government policy. Scary huh?
[B]Edit: [/B] Well, what do ya know. I just happened to run across this article by Fred Reed. Fits well with my Third World here we come statement from above. [url]http://www.fredoneverything.net/HollowedOut.shtml[/url]
2005-10-06 14:52 | User Profile
In the US "nearly 30 per cent could not find the Pacific Ocean..." This is truly obscene, but somehow I'm not surprised. Most people in every nation are stupid, but in America that stupidity finds fertile soil in which to take root and blossom into astounding ignorance.
I mostly blame American culture, which values mindless athletes, actors, and pop singers much more highly than "nerds" who actually develop their intellects and strive to produce work of value. The only reason this nation is so strong is because of a tiny minority of intelligent people on whose coattails everyone else is riding.
2005-10-06 17:38 | User Profile
do they still send beavis and butthead in USA:biggrin: