I'm Shocked! 18% of Americans Believe the Sun Orbits the Earth!

My coworkers were wondering about where Earth was in space and nobody knew, I was just minding my own business so they told me I could do that for homework and go find out which constellation or whatever Earth is in.

I told them, "I know where we are!" They say, "Well where are we?" And I say, "There isn't really a constellation for us. We are in the Milky Way. We are a dot."

Everybody laughed. They thought I was being sarcastic and had told a joke. Then they started making their own jokes about 3 Musketeers and Snickers bars. They think I'm "out there" a little I guess. Well at least they are fun and nice enough to laugh at my "jokes"

Oh well

Id be more worried about the 12%.
See, if 18% cant understand basic principles of the EARTH and SUN, how do 30% still follow bush?

It must be a very unique mind to understadn basic principles, yet still support shrub.

YouTube Link

Just a little treat for ya'll.

Tell me what you think.



[edit on 2/22/2008 by bigbert81]

I'm not shocked.

Until a person makes me think otherwise from opening their mouth and communicating, I assume everyone is probably stupid (in person), its operating proceedure for society. it works out, no misunderstandings, i wont sit there and explain something regarding the depth of _whatever_ is being discussed only to get confused looks and awkward face expressions like they don't understand.

When I was in elementary school, kindergarten through 5th grade, and even 6th through 8th grades, there was always a prevailing feeling of .. being dumb was cool, not doing your work was good, not knowin the answer was cool, and no participating was the way to be. But even then, even then, when push came to shove I did my assignments, got the grades to pass, kept them quietly so no one knew I was "smart". Being smart wasnt cool at all, at least for a boy. Girls however, we all thought their life dream was to be "smart" at all times .. kinda funny how less women pursue a study into the extreme levels of education to earn a doctorate degree or what not. By then, at that age, other things become more important than stupid school work, just like our boyish stuff was more important as kids. There's plenty who do, (women who become doctors) just statistically, since their are more men involved to start with at that point, the vast majority of people who seek such a high education in America end up being men. It's like .. (my guesstimates) 7 out of 10 doctorate holders are men, 3 are women. Sound right?

And so i grew up with this prevailing thought that being smart was not cool.

But secretly I knew I had no choice, I'm not a genius (I don't think I am by any shred, I'm not that deluded) .. but I am naturally intelligent. It's from that really early education being pushed onto me by Mom when i was just a toddler, getting me through the deception of games to learn the alphabet, and how to spell, long before most would've, and always being in some advanced "english class" in public schools.

Funny, after dropping out of high school, then getting my G.E.D, there I was, in public school, state community college (I pay for it but you know the state helps teh school), taking college level english, even though I had never completed an english class post ninth grade. According to them, I had a college level reading and writing ability based on placement testing. Good thing I dropped out of high school or wouldve had a Diploma and an S.A.T. score which I would've undoubtably bombed bad, thus probably getting remedial english in college. But no, I had no S.A.T., so I had to get the "college specific placement testing" for that particular college, which was quite indepth and did go to a level of difficulty in some subjects. I admittedly didn't do quite as well on, but that test kind of ..proved once and for all, to me, that intelligence and capabilty with a language ie; communication or expressing oneself came from something inbedded very, very early in life, before puberty, and then this base form is used to learn the higher levels there-of. without the base, you cannot understand the higher levels.

And so .. 80% or more of society, they never got the base to begin with, and can't hope to understand. They were told just go to school sit down shut up. They believed all they were told. Thought nothing for themselves and the realm of possibility, were too busy being pushed by their primal urges to mate and thus have the fly gear and the most expensive shoes.

So when you see stats like that, it's just reflective of the deep, ugly fact that doesn't like to be shared that the vast majority of society really is stupid, dense, have little to no schooling, or desire to learn outside of school via the two eyes attached to the front of their learning receptor. They all bought into what I assume most of us here at ATS bought-out of early on .. which was this culture of ignorance on purpose.

peace MIMS

I am originally from Singapore although I am now a US citizen. Anyway you would be surprized at how many university educated people here in the States don't know where Spore is located. Telling them S.E. Asia doesn't help either.

I sometimes wonder why I wanted to become a citizen because so many supposedly educated Americans are dumb as a box of rocks.

You know what I find super ironcic. That the only time algebra and above math comes into use is in my life is video games! The only time I've ever had to apply algebra was in MMOs and RTS games. As for real life I have never every had to find the slope or use pathagorens theorim ever. Half the crap we learn ins school is completely useless to 99% of us. So why the hell are we litteraly learning rocket science.

reply to post by Zealott

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probably because 90% (bs number) of "rocket science" is simple geometry...

honestly, i actually have used the "useless" stuff i learned in school in life so far.
i've used algebra to help me budget things
i've used the pythagorean theorem to figure out some landscaping

and honestly, a lot of the "useless" stuff just helps you be a more well informed human being.

reply to post by Heronumber0

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your examples make NO sense. Alcohol is both good and bad for you because it is okay in moderation. If you drink 1 drink a day, your cholesterol is improved, and your risk of heart disease goes down. if you drink excessive alcohol, you gain weight, destroy your liver, and possibly harm yourself while intoxicated.
No one knows how many people bird flu will kill because that isn't strictly science. knowing that would be predicting the future.
And global warming is the same thing. you are talking about predicting the future. but there is scientific consensus that greenhouse gases warm the environment. People who do not agree with this statement are on the fringe. they could be correct, but are not in the scientific majority.
You say that we should teach people about "life's impact on the environment" but if you think that global warming is not scientific belief, then why the hell should we teach about the impact on the environment?

Scientists KNOW that the earth revolves around the sun.

I can forgive a small percentage of people for not knowing that the earth revolves around the sun, because some people never took physics, or heard about the history of gallileo. but those people SHOULD know these things because the story of gallileo shows that you should question what is "known".

I'm not shocked. You get enough responses and do enough editing, you can prove a percentage of the population believes the sky is green. It's video, so what else is new.
Besides, I've been on ATS here for a bit, that percentage sounds about right, really.

YouTube Link

Trust me......they were all educated. They're just dum.

The funniest part is, no body on this board has been to space far enough out to see the "sphere of earth" for themselves, yet the ones who don't believe pictures and a group of 7 people at a given time, out of the population of the entire earth 7 called and chosen, but the ones who use there senses are crazy? (Ok maybe a few more then 7, but not much out of 6 billion served?

Oh, but wait...all the scientists....can't go against science, only science or "true" science isn't practiced now a days. Other funny thing is, Scientist learned from scientist who learned from scientist, but yet again....no experience. Theory is practiced and is now what we call science. Don't mean to rant, but it's true on the big issues...all postulations.

Everyone wants proof on this site, so it's my turn and this should be cake for all of you. I'm ready to hear your space stories and get some personal reflections on your time there. Now, I'm not talking about those who've been ufo'd away, but everyday folk who travel to space and work up there and can see the big round globe in all it's glory. I'm talking about a true scientist, not numbers...experience. A true Psientest.

This is an easy one, but remember you need verifiable proof that you have gone. Ufo guys, I believe you, but I want only those employed by NASA or private venture, in business and such THAT GO TO SPACE...no mystic connections.

Peace

I won't comment on the video, or how many people they had to ask, but I do believe the earth/sun responses. You have been to almost every single state, great, but unless you are a social worker, or a vagabond, you probably found yourself relating to relatively average, or above average people.

There are a lot of "not too bright" people in this country, but they are NOT the people most of us socialize with daily, or work with, or have indepth conversations with. Even the internet is becoming beseiged by them. Not to be cruel but I recall one thread in which the op wanted to start raising chickens, and he asked in all seriousness "do chickens have sex?". That was his first question.

Honestly if the question was presented in written form to the mass populace I am sure that would be confusing enough for 18% to get it wrong.

[edit on 10-11-2008 by Sonya610]

Although am I wary of statistics like this ,I have also read that over 20 % of people in the US do not know the sun is an actual star.
I think there could well be a correlation between wilfull ignorance of scientific knowledge and the rise of religious extremism in America-particularly from the fundamentalist christian crowd.

reply to post by letthereaderunderstand

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What are you banging on about? Could you try to rephrase that post in some form that makes sense? I'm sure you have a decent point, but that was just gibberish.

I have been shocked at some people I've talked to not knowing this.

BUT in defence of these people, in many cases, they are actually clever , intelligent people, they just never had interest in the subject or never thought about it. It does not automatically mean they are retarded or dumb, it's like thinking your dumb for not knowing how to build a computer. It's all about what you have learnt.

Even if some are dumb, it does not make us better than them. Being dumb does not effect who you are as a person, their morals, a dumb person can easily be a better more respected person than a evil intelligent person for example. Let's not go around judging people.

Anyway if they don't know about the sun it does not mean they don't know other things 10 times better than you. Assuming they are dumb based on just this fact alone, well maybe that makes you a little dumb too lol, no offence.


Just looking at things from all sides.

Peace.



[edit on 10-11-2008 by _Phoenix_]

reply to post by dave420

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Banging...dude I laugh every time I see that. Yeah I'll rephrase my question.

Proof. I want verifiable proof that the world is round...for the dumb peoples sakes. I don't want pictures, I don't want video, I don't want theory, I don't want "your an idiot". I want to witness for myself Proof that the earth is a globe and that the sun isn't in the sky.

I want someone, anyone, who has gone far enough out from the surface of the earth to see its Globe. Again, i don't want ufo abductees, or nasa engineers, or scientest who haven't been to space. I want real people who have really been far enough out to witness.


I want more then two people to verify this with evidence we can all agree on as valid. Don't answer unless you've gone to space or your answer isn't valid.

In short. PROVE THE EARTH IS ROUND and PROVE THE SUN ISN'T IN THE SKY, not with big numbers or models.

Again, call me dumb all you want, but don't let that be your defense, have actual proof and I'll be the happiest dumb guy in the world.

Peace

Come on,
Religion isn't a factor in what is obviously poor education.
How would they know that the earth revolved around the sun if they were never made to listen and learn in class. We've got tons of confident happy high school graduates that can't do basic math,speak English or spell the most basic words. Holy cow, throw science into the mix and they don't know what to think. Four syllable words give some of these kids' cramps.
Ignorance is universal.

Let me clarify. The opportunity to be ignorant is universal.

What is really sad about this: I’m not shocked or surprised.