Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Don't Want To Be An American Idiot
Thanks to this video, I am now officially as embarrassed for my country as I have ever been in my entire life.
I am serious. I am mortified by this. We're a bunch of fucking idiots.
(Tip of the ballcap to the Atheist Jew)
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Okay ...
You could go to England or Australia or anyplace in the world, I'd bet, and create a piece that made the interviewees -- and the country -- look just as stupid. Notice he was out on the streets, and not trolling around on the grounds of a University. He was probably even picking people who looked a bit unbuttoned, and there was certainly a lot of editing later to put together the final piece.
That being said, yeah, those were some pretty ignorant people. And some stupid ones too.
That business about "I'm John Howard" -- it should be pointed out that he was actually LYING to those people. It might be funny, but it was also mean-spirited. And there are reasons in human psychology, not in Texas, for why someone might go along with such a charade in a group setting, even if they had strong private doubts.
Right this second, I can't remember what the leaders of either Australia, New Zealand, or even Canada, look like. If someone was presented to me in a large gathering as John Howard, even if I didn't fully believe it, I'd probably keep my mouth shut and go along with a smile.
Note to everybody: As a native Texan myself, I have to say that Bush is NOT a Texas native. He's a carpetbagger who was born in Connecticut. In that sense, which Texans do care about, he's not "from Texas." He has also never been seen/photographed on or even near a horse, being reportedly afraid of them.
Country that starts with a U: If you're asking in the framework of "knowledge of the world," Usbekistan or Ukraine should get you extra credit, seems to me. If you were to go to England and ask people on the street, "Name a country that starts with a G," I'll bet you'd get a LOT of blank looks.
The religion of Israel: Well, yeah, it's Judaism. But that large number of Israel residents who ARE Muslims are in the news fairly often. If I were a teacher testing 9th graders on this question, I'd probably give partial credit for that other answer.
Finally, I'm always a bit suspicious of the idea that this piece is based on: "having specific facts in your head equals intelligence." It's not strictly true. If you were to quiz me on sports right now, or even Great Literature of Western Civilization, I'd sound like a complete retard. Among people who know me, I'm famous for "What sport are we talking about?" And I never cared about most "literature" of the past -- most of the time, I was more interested in the literature of the future (science fiction). :D
But if you asked me about whether it's good to believe in invisible supernatural thingies, or whether it's better to compliment or criticize people you know, (or, heh-heh, the downside of recycling) I'd know the answer, and I could even tell you WHY.
I can't even talk to old friends in Texas about politics anymore.
Rick Mercer did that
Rick Mercer has a regular feature called Talking to Americans in which he convinces not just ordinary people but also professors and politicians that Canada is a weird place. He got Tom Vilsack to congratulate Canada on moving from a 20-hour to a 24-hour clock. Among his targets are Ivy League universities; he got professors at Harvard and Princeton to say things as outrageous as the 20-hour clock thing.
Filming in England
I agree with Hank that some editing must have occurred to put this segment together, however, I know if you went out with a camera crew in any street in England (and I dare say anywhere else in Europe) you would have to interview many thousands of people over the course of a week or so to get that many stupid responses. You would struggle to find anyone in England who wouldn't recognise Australia on a map.
The clip reminded me of a survey of american college students who were asked to point to France on a world map. The most popular answer (not the majority answer, but the most popular) was Canada.
Let's face it Hank, you're living in a country where over 45% of people believe the earth is less than 10,000 years old. In Europe we have a good old chuckle about that one.
Did you say Kurdistan?
One thing that bugged me is that with his accent I could easily mistake Kyrgistan for Kurdistan.
Not that Kurdistan is a country, of course. But would you expect an Aussie whose ancestors were all thieves and debtors to stop wrestling crocodiles, watching Neighbours, drinking Foster's and eating Vegemite sandwiches to make that distinction?
--
"Ponies are atheists, you know, technically."
- Me
G'Day Mate!
Heheh... nice. :)
Cameras on the streets
Also, having worked in the news business, and having been a political activist, I know just how much of a disconnect there can be between what you MEAN, and what makes it into the story.
Last time an out-of-the-blue camera was shoved into my face, I was coming out of a grocery store in my little California mountain town. The guy said brightly "Hi! We're asking people what they think about the recent earthquakes here!" and, considering that his report was going to be more tempest-in-a-teapot alarmist shit, I just said "Not me, buddy" and walked away.
As I said on my blog when I posted that video
I'd like to meet that man at the very end who says this about Shrub;
I didn't think anyone with the little amount of brainpower could breathe on their own much less talk...
Wait for me Jim. And make it a double!
vern
vgblog@thegillfamily.us
http://vernsblog.thegillfamily.us:8180/
How much brain power does it take to ejaculate?
Maybe we're lucky and he didn't reproduce.
--
"Ponies are atheists, you know, technically."
- Me
Jay Leno does that same schtick weekly.
But just in case, anyone know of any countries that accept citizenship applications over the internet?
--
"Ponies are atheists, you know, technically."
- Me
I have seen that segment
He also seems to only show those people who give spectacularly stupid answers, probably because the right answers would not make for good TV. If you do enough interviews and editing you could pretty much support any viewpoint you wished to.
Forget about it
There used to be a few countries that you could pay to get a citizenship, but after 9/11 they all instituted residency requirements. On the other hand, why don't you want to go live in a country where fewer people think the world ends at their national borders?
While we're at it, I didn't get the "country that starts with a U" either. I was thinking of Ukraine or Uzbekistan. But in my defense, "The United States of America" starts with a T.
Shocking but ultimately meaningless
Alright, the film maker found a handful of idiots in Texas ignorant of world geography, politics and culture. So, just how representative are these people of U.S. citizenry in general? We don't know, and the film does not help us come to a conclusion. Remember what this crew is doing is hardly a scientific sampling. Consider the fact that people who gave the right answers to those questions he asked or recognized that he was not the prime minister of Australia could easily be edited out of the film. I would wait to be mortified until you see the sample size and the full statistical measure of ignorance. This is a soundbite not a survey.
American ignorance
The figures supplied by National Geographic (an American magazine) show that 65% of the people could not name 2 countries bordering USA, and 70% of university students could not find Iraq on the map.
Nearly 70 years ago the great American writer H.L. Mencken neatly summed it up when he wrote "It is impossible to underestimate the intelligence of the American public".
That at least
is informative (although the sample size is not given) rather than just sensational. Even though you didn't site any statistics for similar questions in other countries I strongly suspect that this country would compare poorly. So, the geographic knowledge of Americans is abysmal. Two follow up questions flow naturally from that fact:
Why is this so? and
What can be done about it?
Sure, it's not scientific at
Sure, it's not scientific at all. But I'm still appalled if we're seeing 5% of respondents, and I bet it's higher than that. We shouldn't have _any_ average intelligence adults unable to answer those questions.
Indeed
That anyone is so ignorant is unfortunate, but I have long grown inured to the reality that most of my species does not think as I do and has interests and desires which do not coincide with my own. The preponderance of sports interest for example. I can understand playing a game, but becomming obsessively involved with others playing a game is simply beyond my understanding. I suppose it must have something to do with clan identification and rivalry, but I have never understood how you could ascribe such an identification to a group considering the fact that the roster of people who comprise it keeps changing. This is to say nothing of the segment of our species dedicated to carrying out the will of an imperceptible magical being whose will is a nebulous thing glimpsed only through an all too human window. Sometimes you just have to shrug. Some people refuse to lift their eyes to the horizon, let alone to the skies, choosing insted to stare steadfastly at the dirt just beneath their feet. We can only help those who wish to be helped. For the willfully ignorant nothing can be done.
Prey animals
I showed this to my wife; it actually brought her to tears.
What really amazes me is that one can be so incredibly ignorant, and yet be viable in our society. Many of those people were clearly living comfortably. It seems like our whole structure selects for ignorant, complacent cows that can be milked as needed for their political support or consumer dollars. Just keep them fat and chewing the grass, and use them as necessary. Repulsive.
And as to foreign travel: I always say I'm from California. The uneducated don't recognize that it's part of America, and the sophisticated recognize the distinction I'm making.
Well, ...
Well, fuck, that's just depressing.
And you know that at least half those people could recite the Lord's Prayer and the 23rd Psalm perfectly...
Gah - I need a drink. Thanks for depressing me, Brent.
And people wonder why I identify myself as a Canadian when traveling overseas...
Jim Downey
"Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the thought is staggering."
- R. Buckminster Fuller
Ha.
I wouldn't be too sure about the Lord's Prayer/23rd Psalm.
Stephen Colbert had Georgia Congressman Lynn Westmoreland on as a guest, and the guy was pushing a bill to have the Ten Commandments posted in the House and Senate.
Colbert: "What are the Ten Commandments?"
Westmoreland (blank look): "What are all of 'em? You want me to name 'em all?"
"Ummm ... don't murder. Don't lie. Don't steal. Uhhh. I cain't name 'em all."
He only got three of them, and HE sponsored a bill which would make it a law to display them in two important buildings in the nation's capital.
I saw that...
Yeah, I saw that Colbert piece. It was just painful.
And a general observation: while shows like this do indeed deliberately mislead people and select footage to keep their ratings high (I've worked in the media, and been a subject of it far too often), it is nonetheless true that the average person is frighteningly uninformed and incurious about the world. I base that comment on 12 years of serving the general public with a business in a college community with one of the highest education rates in the country. Sure, this sort of thing feeds our biases & stereotypes - but the reality is still depressing.
Jim Downey
"Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the thought is staggering."
- R. Buckminster Fuller