26% of Americans don't know who US fought to gain its independence

I suspect Obama voters are disproportionately over-represented among the ill-informed...but suspecting that is so much less fun, than if such a study actually had been done... It would be interesting, wouldn't it?

Man, I seriously hope you're joking.

Bush for 8 years? Palin having the possibility of becoming VP or even Prez if McCain croaks?

Obama is just a sock puppet but geez dude, people like you really scare me.

Oh really? Im sorry I doubt the validity of that survey, because I highly doubt over 1/4 of the people I ask in any store wouldnt know that. And quite frankly its sicking how UnAmerican Americans are, to put down and portray to others that their fellow Americans are dumber than they really are.
I hear all kinds of ridiculous so called surveys, some that say a huge percentage of us cant locate Canada on a map. Oh really?! Ill take a map to a grocery store and see how many people CAN. Because I lived in the United States for 27 years and havent met one single teen or adult who is not mentally retarded that didnt know where Canada was.
And if we dont deal with other countries bashing Americans, we go ahead and bash ourselves, with these flat out lies and slanted surveys, that must have been taken in the most retarded part of the entire country or some inner city slum where the drop out rate is high due to severely underfunded schools, or were they surveying illegals who claimed to be American without seeing any legitimate paperwork? They probably lumped them into Americans. Yeah I can see that tainting the survey. We have the highest level of illegal aliens who know nothing of American history so they come up to them and ask them to take a survey on behalf of America. Are you American? Si Senior. Sure yeah right. I'm sorry I dont believe that statistic because that would mean over a quarter of Americans have not received a GED.


[edit on 4-7-2010 by eyeofthetiger]

I had the same problem with some people at work last night. I asked them the same thing just to see how they would answer. Most of them thought that the country we fought against for our independence was Mexico. One person just didn't plain know. And then before I knew it (I don't know how it happened) the discussion turned into a religious discussion involving the BP oil-slick disaster out in the gulf being an act of god punishing us.

reply to post by eyeofthetiger


One time I was on a vacation in Florida when I was about 13. I met some girls from that area who became my friends for the time I was there. They were 13, and 14 years old. One of them asked me where I was from, when I answered 'Canada', the other said "Oh, isn't that over by New Mexico?". She had no obvious mental defects, just complete geographical ignorance of her continent . If you need more proof grown adults can be astonishingly ignorant regarding simple facts, check this thread out: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Like I said, these polls are hogwash. We don't even know who they polled, do we? They could have polled 100 newly arrived Chinese Immigrants and asked them the question in a vague way, like "Who was America at war with in the late 1700s?"

reply to post by Mumbotron


Wait, according to some people in a video on page one that is Iran or North Korea.

I have read the threads have people claiming Australia “moved”. My geography is not the greatest but certainly I understand that it have not changed that drastically since maps were first made.

I think the biggest majority believe it is some sort of time jump or dimension crossing. Many also seem to be missing parts of history and the dates involved. I suggested once this might be to drugs being put into the body willingly or unwillingly due to our food and water sources, prescription, and illegal drugs. I was attacked for “saying everyone was a druggy”, when that simply was not the case. Everyone else simply ignored my posted. I decided not to go back to that thread because to try to suggest something reasonable was unbelievable.

Raist

A few more examples of why I think we are seriously in trouble. As I mentioned before though, I would bet this could be found worldwide. The last video is a small example of that.

Raist


[edit on 7/5/10 by Raist]

Who cares who we were independent from these days, Seems like were in the same boat that we were in under great britains reign over the people. We are surely dependent

reply to post by Raist


A lot of these videos mean nothing. A scared model is unable to properly form a sentence? Shocker.

Are you smarter than a fifth grader? Most of these shows are pre-screened. They want people to look stupid, it's better for ratings, so they grab the dumbest people they can find. Hardly objective evidence.

And as I said before in this thread, those "Are citizens dumb" videos are hardly subjective. They cut out all the answers that don't fit the "stupid people" category. Some of them are even doctored to make a person answer a different question and appear dumb. It's easy to change in the editing room the question "What religion is Italy" to "What religion is Israel" and make it appear to be a wrong answer when they say "Catholic."

If you believe these videos somehow prove the degradation of our societies intelligence, than maybe you are correct, because you are evidence of your own claims.


[edit on 7-5-2010 by WolfofWar]

reply to post by WolfofWar


I would also like to add that in that middle video(Are you smarter than a fifth grader), she is clearly acting dumb for effect.

reply to post by WolfofWar


I believe I said I think it to be a worldwide event, not just an American one.

Funny you should bring up my intelligence though. I was not the one unable to answer the questions correctly, those people were. I even spoke to co-workers about the issue (mentioned in another post here) they either did not know or laughed it off without care, only a few showed interest in anything other than sports or reality TV.

Yet my intelligence is lacking?

Raist

reply to post by Raist


If you believe these videos at face value and believe they are proof of a weakening intelligence in society (and note I'm talking global society, I never mentioned America) then yes, I am questioning your intelligence.

Common sense goes a long way, and I'm not talking about Thomas Paine.

reply to post by WolfofWar


When I can ask people around me I can see they match the video quite well.

I am looking at real living society in front of me. Yes, I believe that as proof of a weakening intelligence in society.

I do not need videos to show me that people appear to be stupid. I simply can look at the people on the street, in store and those I work with to see they are. The video though is a good example of many of the people I encounter.

Raist

Duh, there is nothing surprising about this poll...

I'd be shocked if 26% of 'americans' even speak english.

Seriously?
Do these people forget their names too?

How is that even possible

But hell, I shouldn't be surprised, this country is over-flowing with mindless zombies fixated only on celebrities and how they look or how they are going to get laid tonight.

Come on, this is knowledge Americans are born with!

Or were all these people mentally handicapped?
I can let that slide.

Oh and this disturbingly reminded me of the movie "Idiocracy"

[edit on 08/21/1989 by Alexander the Great]

reply to post by Raist


I have asked people around with similar questions, some much harder and I've gotten the correct answers on a wide margin. What does this mean? nothing, because it's not empirical evidence. It's eyewitness accounts and not a very broad eye witness testimonial at that.

Latest figures done by scientists in the field of calculating intelligence have actually found a trend that indicates that there is a growth of more intelligence people in the year 2005 then there was in 1900. In fact on average if 1900 the average IQ score was in the mid 70s, it's borderline for mental deficits. This entire trend and the reasoning behind why it is occurring can be read in "What is Intelligence" by James Flynn. It's a good read by a rather brilliant man who has over 40 years in the field of this research.

reply to post by WolfofWar


So wait you say this poll is hogwash but you go on to mention latest figures?


As for the testing revolving around IQ they could have been picking and choosing people just as any poll has done.

As for my eyewitness accounts, they might mean little or nothing to you but those accounts mean quite a bit to me. I can compare them side by side with the videos posted in this thread and see a great likeness between them. People have been too wrapped up in garbage and no longer care about the past. I have had several ask me in the last few days why it matters; the past is over, that we need to only look toward the future. I found myself just walking away from the conversation at that point because they were not interested in learning; they wanted to talk about the latest fight, which I had no clue about.

Raist

reply to post by Raist


A poll is a small segment of the population skewed for political purposes. This man spent over 20 years researching IQ trends and accumulated a massive amount of data for it. Yes, there is a difference.

reply to post by WolfofWar


How is he choosing who to test though? Where is he doing this research? I could spend 20 years in an area near a very well to do university and show an increase in IQ or I could go and spend 20 years in a rundown area with nothing more than a failing public school and show the opposite.

You mentioned they could have asked, “Newly arrived Chinese immigrants”. They might well have asked the average Joe in a city near you or I.

Difference how so?

Raist

the less we know the more we will go along with them striping out rights