Why 1/5 of Americans Can't Locate The U.S.

Originally posted by eyewitness86

Americans are dumbed down because in schools they do not TEACH anymore, they prepare kids for tests, standardized tests, that when the kids pass they forget all about. They only learn enough to pass the tests and then only learn about subjects that really interest them. They do NOT teach GEOGRAPHY anymore, but instead try to convince the kids that the political disaters that we generate all over the world are justified, no matter where.

On the upside, a lot of parents are seeing this and homeschooling is on the rise. All the teachers I know who end up having homeschooled kids say that they tend to do the best and are very well educated. Not only is it on the rise, I currently know a lot of parents who are considering homeschooling just for this reason.

reply to post by luis9343


I think the good people of ATS should do that in their home city and post the videos in a new thread! Could be seriously, all you need is a colour printer, bit of time editing country names in editing software and someone on the digi cam.

If I did it, it would be Plymouth UK. I really don't think it will be anything like that here - lots of people round here have or do serve in the military for one reason.

Can't believe these type of shows each time i see one of them lol
I've seen some similar regarding my fellows lol

I'm just speechless.

I guess we can blame the Tv (shut it down now this is an order! your neurons are about to die)

[edit on 26-8-2007 by themaster1]

I am SO glad that I do not have TV anymore. I live in a remote and rural area where antennas do no good and satellite is too expensive after cutting dozens of huge trees to get a signal, and for what? Controlled nonsense.

Anyway, my main point is this: America is different than most Euro nations insofar as religion was not used in the post WW2 era as a solidifying force in their societies. WE here in the good old USA have been told forever that we are : The favorite nation in God's eyes. WE are the best and most free on earth. We can trust the powers that be to protect us from all problems. We can trust the media to be fair and impartial and only report all the facts. There is no need to worry about big issues, thats what we pay the politicians for. When the politicians fail, as always, then we are told that there is nothing to be done because they are all the same.All other nations that do not agree with our policies are just jealous of our wonderfulness and should be ignored. We are NUMBER ONE !! Hoot hoot!! Number one!!Thats makes us..well, right all the time!! See?

When you go thru generation after generation of this claptrap, it sinks in. The USA has a brilliant propaganda network in place and promoted in all churches ( excepting the J. Wits. etc. ) and in all fascets of life. Duty to country is enshrined right up there with duty to God. They even use ministers here as part of the acclimation to martial law program already on place. Many Americans see country as every bit identical to their religious beliefs and they are intertwined irrevocably. To question the ' leaders ' of the nation is tantamount to questioning God himself!!

Europeans have had the blessing of not being lulled to sleep with the lies of established religion as part and parcel of official policies. We actually have cases in the courts right now here that concern the Bush cabals using their preferred religion to pressure military personnel to convert to their way of thinking. Generals in charge of vast commands openly stating that ' their God ' was in fact the right one and the enemy were infidels!!

The Bush cabal is packed with extreme right wing ' Christians ' who use religious litmus tests for filling official positions, as testified to recently before the Senate.They believe that nuking Iran into submission is just another part of the PNAC plan that they openly espouse as NeoCon maniacs. They believe that to force the world into a final confrontation will bring about their desired ' escape ' from this awful world, or will at least thin out the herds so that the people who rule by decree and because of money and might will be able to survive nicely regardless of the aftermath to the populations.

In Europe, people actually get off their butts and MARCH and demonstrate and even RIOT when things go too far with the crooks in power. Americans NEVER do anything but complain and maybe, just maybe, write a letter to the editor of to one of the crooked politicians. Thats all. The middle class, fast disapperaing here, always sits back and assumes that the people ' in charge ' will fix whats wrong. When they do not, the people are helpless. Americans will watch their neighbors being killeed and taken away, and will do nothing. They will allow anything to happen, as long as they keep the beer cold and the TV turned up so the game can be heard.

Uneducated about anything except what it takes to make a buck, thats the average American. they don't give a damn why the twin towers fell, they could care less; after all, that was years ago!! " I mean, if there had been some conspiracy, then ' they ' would have found out and done somehting by now, right? " THAT is the mindset of the average American, trusting that the big boys are loyal and good Americans and not killers and criminals using us for fodder for more and more riches.

The people with the most to lose, and with the best access to news and facts in history, will sit back and allow the networks to tell them what is real and what is not. They trust. They will trust the master until the master puts them to sleep . It is a sad and sickening reality, but we are poised for total defeat and the end of the America that all of history proclaimed as a great and noble experiment; now that experiment has been taken hostage by the forces of betrayal and murder, and the enemy is within. It is too late to put backbone in the souls of a complacent people, and the end is near.

Not one politician will discuss 9-11. Not one ' leader ' will deny King George his constant power grabs; they are giving him license to become dictator and all without a whimper from the public. The con men have pulled the ultimate con job and taken an entire nation with no more than smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand..and a lot of lies.

As long as FOOTBALL and SPORTS and WORK and the Skirts are all in the picture, the average American will allow the entire world to implode around him; we revel in our distractions. Ask every person among 100k at a Nascar event what thery think about Bldg. 7 coming down at free fall speed with all of the characteristics of a controlled demolition, and you know what they will say? Thye will say " Huh "? Thye wil not even know what you are talking about. It it is not on Fox then whats the deal?

Europeans have had a whole different way of communicating and they have totally different values; they talk to each other a lot about current events, they tend to be involved more than us, they know more about the truth and not the lies. Only on America does the media have the nerve to be totally biased and slanted and edit all of the real facts out. 9-11 truth is not allowed to be talked about unless it is being trashed on the main networks. We are being propagandized terribly and just think that it is ' waving the flag '. NUKE em!! Kill em!! As long as you don't screw up and do it during Monday Night Football!!

I am an American teenager and I believe all of this is total bull#. In my area everyone is very intelligent and can easily point out countries on the map. Here in America people enjoy being happy and we typically do not worry about other countries levels of intelligence. In these videos i watched i could easily understand that some of them were joking and they were cutting out the truth. Please stop insulting my country because you truly are ignorant.

Also, constantly mocking Americans makes me believe your jealous of our happiness.

reply to post by ThichHeaded


Ireland is coming out with a free energy system. But Tesla was the first to give us the "electric" car and free energy and wireless. But our Government shut him down. They use his system on Military bases.

All that evil needs to succeed is for good people to do nothing.

Thanks to the OP for an amusing link. I think we all agree that beauty contests, no matter where, are not designed to showcase the best and brightest of any land but are in fact, there to provide us with a little bit of eye-candy.

I love that clip from the New Zealand show asking Joe Public in the US about the different world questions. I am not American, but most of the Americans I have met are far from stupid. The worst I could say about their intelligance is that they can be slightly naive, but coming from a hard-bitten cynic like myself, that is a compliment.

I could take a camera and ask similar questions in certain areas in my own country and get equally stupid responses. Many of you other people from many different countries could probably think of one or two places in your own country that could do the same.

Let's stop the bashing......I know it's fun, but people in glass houses and all that....

Peace out

Originally posted by Jenna
Yep, that one will work much better than the IQ one.

Our school systems are atrocious, but that's what happens when you have no choice about what school you go to unless your parents want to move to a different school system. There isn't much incentive for the schools to do a better job at teaching when they know that regardless of whether or not the students learn, there isn't any other option. They know they will get their state funding each year simply because they know that the kids in their area have no better alternative and will have to return for each school year.

well right off the bat I like her. We know she isnt a socialist, since she said "no incentive to do a better job" because they get the same amount of money either way.

now, do 1 in 5 people not know where the US is? Well I know this, in a senior pysch. class of 30 in highschool, each student was asked to identify where 5 cities were.

ex: Tehran, London, Lima, Reno, Stalingrad.
Out of a list of such 5, 24 students could only name 1 or 0 countries of where the cities came from. 2 got 2 out of 5, 2 got 3 out of 5, 1 got 4/5 and I got 5/5 .

Given what I saw that day, 1/5 not knowing where the US is on a map, if it doesnt label the US as "United States of America" on it, is not surprising.

We posses nearly half the wealth on the face of the planet. We are responsible for nearly all the Research and Development of new Pharmaceuticals and Medical Treatments. If we did not develop it we paid for most of the development. We developed most of the farming techniques that have increased per acre crop yields by up to a factor of 30. We give more aid to other countries and share more technology freely than any other country. We developed most of the technology in use today including the computers you are posting with. Millions upon millions of people risk life and limb to enter our country illegally because our system has so much more to offer than their own.

What does that say about those who criticize us who have accomplished far less, even though they have far longer histories? When you live in glass houses..................

Blain,

Keep dreaming my friend.
USA was great in the old times do you think Europe is third world countries?
Who has the biggest debt in the world?

The dollar just keeps sinking my friend that´s the real truth.

Did you ever travelled outside?
I did and I wouldnt wanna exchange with any US citizen or Asia or whatever in every EU country DE,NL,ES,LUX you live in very high standards. I love to only work 36 hours a week have 30 paid holidays in a year. That´s what counts.
Ask your fellow americans that live outside the US.
And we ain´t talking about rich people ask the middel class citizens.
I know you feel like you have to defend your country but don´t just make up things.
Talk instead about the compassion the US people have incase of disasters.
I admire the spirit of the US people.

Nando out!

Originally posted by MikeboydUS
Im from the United States and live and the United States. I have been all over the world and lived in Germany for three years.

People that live in the US are on average very Ignornant of what I would could consider more important things, like knowing where your country is located on a Map, that Iraq and Afghanistan are two completely different countries, that Israelis are not Arabs, Palestinians are not Jews, Ireland is not part of the UK, the UK isnt just England, that Egypt gets as almost as much aid as Israel, Iraq gets more aid than Israel, and I could go on and on.

Americans on the other hand on average are far from Stupid. I realized this when I was in Afghanistan for a year. Americans may not know whats going on in the world, know history, science, or even read. On the other hand they use all of their potential to memorize the most useless crap on Earth.

People magazine is one. Which has now infected major news media in the US. People know all about the lives of disfunctional celebrities and love to learn more about it. They are encyclopedias of the lives of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Idiots who fight dogs, and various other entertainers and athletes.

Reading your post Mr.Mikey made me thing of the movie "Idiocracy" starring Luke Wilson. (good, funny, movie BTW) Let me see If I can find it for online viewing so you can see for yourself, rather then me explaining it.

Ahh found one. You dont have to download a single thing onto your computer. Its in Youtube format, note that it might take some time for dial up users. Here it is. (its divided into parts, just click the next part below the youtube screen)
The Movie "idiocracy"
idiocracy.uni.cc...

Note that this is actually a movie and not a boring documentary.

Kinda makes you wonder if this is the path our country (and world) is headed
down.
(PS sorry for the excessive quote)

[edit on 26-8-2007 by West Coast]

[edit on 26-8-2007 by West Coast]

to the OP


whatever pod of people they surveyed, the pollsters used a biased group of people, which were selected because of the 'result' the pollsters wanted.

that's my un-researched opinion...

next of all -> geography is not one of the 'Skill Sets' that the consumer class must master....so they are not (as you say) 'Stupid'....

the consumer class of grunt workers are directed to know how to text message to the point of absurdity, phone in 'votes' on American Idol
and other big-Mac/Whopper streams of thought. They are not supposed to know where they're at in geographical terms- - -
There is the consumer product of GPS (global positioning satellite)
[soon to contend with a superior EU version] for knowing one's location

to the location of paid advertisers on one's PC & cell phone that is available
for a fee (either hidden or buried in a 'plan')


Your concern is a misappropreiation of your mental energy..
the matrix is supreme, and your laments are outdated and fit for only
survivors of the collapse of the modern world


thanks

reply to post by St Udio


Hi

That´s the same as I said read my posts.
The problaly only asked around 200 people and used that as an avarage for the whole US.
But REMEMBER that news about that poll isn´t made up it was published in the US.
And thats why they asked that question to those teen misses in the USA on TV or Radio.

Anyway as I stated in the post it´s FUN to watch and that´s it if you feel attacked well you problaly are one of those 1/5th.

Nando out!

Originally posted by PPLwakeUP

I know you feel like you have to defend your country but don´t just make up things.

There is nothing wrong with my facts Is your self esteem so low you have to spend all your time attacking others to make yourself feel better?

[edit on 8/26/2007 by Blaine91555]

Edited to say,
I've nothing against anyone from anywhere. These constant attacks are annoying. My mistake was reading the thread when I realized it was another personal attack on all Americans. Every culture on Earth has contributed to what we are collectively. I'm not going to let myself get sucked into these bigoted attack threads anymore.

[edit on 8/26/2007 by Blaine91555]

Hilarious video.

The stupidity is of course, not an american problem, but a global problem. wouldnt waste my energy defending or attacking americans for their stupidity...its a worldwide issue. The source of the problem and its solution is a change in the education system.

we need an education system which is neither religion nor empirical science based but teaches self-responsible, self-creative and self-determined thinking first and foremost. all other stuff is secondary.

reply to post by Blaine91555


Hi blain

Nothing wrong with my self esteem.
I know my facts.
You don´t if you post such nonsense.
Please post the evidence for your facts.

A hint it all came/comes from Germany/Swiss.
I know about Pfizer lol just look at the name sure is English-American right

Get your facts straight.

But why even bring that up in a discussion about this?
I know why because you somehow feel attacked and you have to post that to give you a good feeling.

I couldnt care less about such nonsense were all fu%$ed by our gov. in whatever country you live in.
My country Spain has the 2nd biggest debt in the world after the USA, the other country I also live in has no debt at all.
In both countries I live good and happy that´s what counts.

Do you have that wealth that Pfizer has?


Nando out!


[edit on 8/26/2007 by PPLwakeUP]

I am absolutely in shock with this report. In my opinion I think the government should make every US citizen over the age of 18+ to do this, and the ones that were incorrect get booted out of the country. As a country we are getting dumber and more ignorant with every generation - and the ignorance is astounding.

Originally posted by TheExaminer

I spent two days randomly asking who our state senator was. Only about 1/25 people knew that we have two of them and only a rare few knew their names.

[edit on 8/26/2007 by TheExaminer]

Maybe some of us are trying to forget!?!

One thing about those on the street interviews.......it's not funny when they give the right answer. Those end up on the 'cutting room floor', so to speak.

I do agree, the public educational system is sadly remiss.......teachers seem to be groomed as 'bureaucrats', taught to be concerned more with rules and red tape, rather than instilling a desire to learn...... Too little esteem is given to the 'bookworms' and 'eggheads', too much emphasis on the friday night football game.......

Just remember, cousin, we are not an alien race.......nearly all of us can trace our 'roots' back to some other part of the world.....( whether we can find it on the map, or not!)........

Originally posted by PPLwakeUP

I couldnt care less about such nonsense were all fu%$ed by our gov. in whatever country you live in.
My country Spain has the 2nd biggest debt in the world after the USA,

Case in point, Mr. wake, every country is less than perfect. America gets alot of unwanted attention in these regards. The thing people need to remember is that americans get tired of americans, just like brits get tired of brits, germans get tired of germans, and so on and so forth. We have them in every country, ignorant asses, arrogant pricks, that we cannot bring our selfs to stand, we all have a common opinion on such peoples. Sometimes, we all let our patriotism get the better half of us (and yes americans are not the only ones who feel patriotic towards there country) Kind of like a futbol game between two different nations. We stand divided, we want to be the victors, and for what? National pride? To somehow feel superior to another nation (which is arrogant thinking in itself)/To feel better about your own, pathetic, worthless lifes? Its like that one saying goes. "Arguing is like the special Olympics, even if you win, your still retarded". Is what gets on americans nerves (and rightfully so) is how stereotypes from another nation try and paint all americans with the same brush. This why americans respond the way they do on a site like this. Because, not all americans are like this, its unfair to judge a population of 300,000,000 people with stereotypical rhetoric/views.