Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Bill Maher challenges the idea that the US is a smart country on Fox News. After being called a pinhead by Bill O'Reilly, he comes back with a defense of his statement by referencing some interesting statistics. ... What do you think?
I think Bill is a great entertainer that makes us look at ourselves and want to be better, if we have any esteem for ourselves. Those with poor self esteem will always look for a reason to think someone else agrees.
Interesting that so many of those items were about government. When I was in junior high in the 1970s, we lived on an Air Force base in California, and California required that all 8th-graders pass what was called the Constitution Test before going on to high school. We spent something like 6 or 8 weeks in our social studies class JUST studying the Constitution. I thought it was fascinating and got 99-point-something on the test. I can still recite the preamble ("We the people ...") from memory, and I still remember all those facts about the government.
Don't know if California still requires the test for moving on to high school ... somehow I doubt it.
Incidentally, I also find it sad that it's "a sign of hope" that HALF of the people asked knew that Judaism pre-dates Christianity? So half thought it was the other way around?!! And 18% believe that the sun revolves around the earth?!!
I'm with Karen. I remember learning the very same things.
I also remember we had to memorize the whole Gettysburg Address in the 6th grade.
Unfortunately, we really do have a lot of uneducated folks coming out of our modern educational system.
I am not a fan of Bill's, but in this case he is correct.
Craigslist is one thing, a major television production that is using an advertisement, repeatedly, for an upcoming weeks show and uses a bold font that takes up half of your television screen with GRIZZLY CRIME instead of GRISLY CRIME is inexcusable.
I can see if someone doesn't care to learn the finer points of history and politics. But if you know nothing about our system of government, our rights, or the fact that we are a republic, not a democracy, you should not vote. Therein lies the problem, and explains why criminal politicians get reelected over and over again.
I can see if someone doesn't care to learn the finer points of history and politics. But if you know nothing about our system of government, our rights, or the fact that we are a republic, not a democracy, you should not vote. Therein lies the problem, and explains why criminal politicians get reelected over and over again.
Very good post. I concur completely. Yet no matter how many times that is pointed out you still get an argument from many. Why I have no idea. Maybe it's a failure of our education system.
Location: Currently I physically reside on the 3rd planet from the sun
2,220 posts, read 1,877,427 times
Reputation: 886
Bill Mahr is an arrogant, ignorant jerk.
No, Americans are not stupid.
They have been failed by our education system and indoctrinated with political propaganda for the last three generations.
They do not know how our government works and have been taught the founding fathers were a bunch of low-life schumcks.
They are not aware of the excesses the Executive Office takes or how Congress is lying down on the job and allowing this to happen. Whenever someone points this out the backlash from the mainstream media and political ideologues who support a more intrusive government demonize and discredit them - including Mr. Why-Dont-You-Shut-The-F-Up-You-Are-Part-Of-The-Problem Mahr.
The only reason he is bitching now is because he's getting his ass nipped by the taxes he encouraged.
I remember back in the 70's, patriotism was re-labeled nationalism and compared to nazism.
Individualism came under attack at this time also, somehow an American Value, Independent self-Reliance became a liability, not an asset.
It is no secret how we got to the place where people believe the government has $$$ to give them and they are entitled to this money.
What they have not been taught to acknowledge must less understand is government has no money other than that which it confiscates from it's citizens. Any money coming from government to the citizens is wealth redistribution.
This is not to say, taxes are not necessary. Taxes are necessary to build and maintain the infrastructure we all rely on as a society. Social programs are also reasonable but must be maintained within sustainable limits. Finally, government needs to encourage small business (not pander to big business and international interests), this is supporting the citizens, getting the F'ing red tape and regulations off their backs to they may create their own success and maintain their independence, not become dependent upon government.
Stupid and ignorant are two different things. Stupid and ignorant people exist everywhere. Where America does poorly is knowledge of the outside world. Being from Canada my international interactions are usually with Americans so the stories of ignorance are higher, but my feelings are that there is a bigger proportion of ignorance is the U.S. than elsewhere. That said I have had to explain to some from England that I don't live by a lake with a red canoe going by, or to a Dutch person that we have menswear stores and that I don't have to pick up my ordered parcel at the local trading post.
American stories of ignorance. Friend from Atlanta who I travelled to France with told me his co-workers thought Paris had only gas lamp for streetlights and no electricity. Same friend coming back from Vancouver to Atlanta said same co-workers when shown his photos had a hard time comprehending that Vancouver was in Canada...I mean there was no snow and it's a city !!!
After working on a passenger service rail line I met many Americans who knew more about Canada than some Canadians, but those aren't the fun stories to tell.
There are different kinds of intelligence. I have a fairly high IQ, but I had parents that prioritized education and gave me the means to cultivate that IQ. I'm 36 now, and people whom I know are not considered smart by traditional standards continually surprise me with their innovations and wisdom. I don't put much stock in IQ.
Our problems as an American society are that 1) we do not prize critical thought as valuable skill (or teach it intensively in schools) and 2) most Americans are very uninformed despite the proliferation of information resources (which is really what Maher's examples indicate). Apathy, the distractions of modern life and the tendency of biased parties to package their views in appealing, spoon-feeding-ready soundbites all contribute to this problem.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
