Why/How are Americans Kept Ignorant?

Well, we could also follow the news about the huricane charlie and the other one I forgot the name of, in Dutch news.

I can also remember a few days ago when the American's captured a so called important person, connected to Al - Qaida in Pakistan which was everywere in the news. But, and I don't know if the American people also saw that, but in our news, there was also someone from England, from the BBC and was claiming that this so called important person, isn't that important at all, infact, he is not directly connected to Al - Qaida and it doens't make any difference if he was caught or not. But the American goverment want to let believe everyone that captured another important person. Did any American news angency report about that?

I will try to find a link about what im talking about.

[edit on 20/8/2004 by rai76]

I was just talking about the ignorance of the people in the U.S. (not all of you im using a blanket term) , not the other countries. reason why is because We as a republic can change things. But if we dont know whats going on what are we going to change? Ignorance is bliss and the blissful dont ask questions.

btw I was born,raised and still livin in California lol


[edit on 8/20/2004 by s13guy]

[edit on 8/20/2004 by s13guy]

well, i'm american, and i've lived about half my life in america and half in europe and asia. and from my experience, i've noticed that compared to the average citizen in europe and developed asia (but particularly europe) the average american has a much less detailed understanding of what is going on outside US borders. maybe it's a facet of the countries in europe being so intertwined, that one naturally hears more about one's neighbours. especially in the age of the EU, where it's always in the news. and non-americans tend to have a grasp on US politics at the cabinet level as good as any american.

i think as well as geography it's also due to the media here in the US. i'm sorry, but it's simply terrible. ads have little place in news, especially not every 5 minutes. the news does tend to focus more on domestic issues than issues outside the US, which is understandable to a degree. but the sensationalism is just unbelievable compared to other countries.

but, that said, there are of course many, many exceptions to the rule.

-koji K.

Originally posted by s13guy
I was just talking about the ignorance of the people in the U.S. (not all of you im using a blanket term) , not the other countries. reason why is because We as a republic can change things. But if we dont know whats going on what are we going to change? Ignorance is bliss and th blissful dont ask questions.

btw I Live in SoCal lol

[edit on 8/20/2004 by s13guy]

[edit on 8/20/2004 by s13guy]

wrong everyone has the ability to change things to think otherwise is short sightedness. even if this wasnt a republic we could still make change if we wanted to. but we are a republic and most people dont want to make change even now. either because they dont have the time as they are too busy to know whats going on or they are trully content with how they live. of course there are some that simply do not care.

now im not going to say im all educated and enlightened. im average at best but i always ask questions. i was instilled with this desire to learn, it stemmed from reading but its developed into something more than just reading books. i like to learn about different cultures and parts of the world. i may not have a lot of time but i still try. of course i can only speak for me and what i do and how i am as a person, not as an american. i despise labels anyway.

Originally posted by ThePrankMonkey

wrong everyone has the ability to change things to think otherwise is short sightedness.

Originally posted by s13guy

We as a republic can change things.

Originally posted by ThePrankMonkey
hmmm i wouldnt say america or americans are ignorant any more or less than other people that live in other countries.

like we do on this board countries and people who live in them believe they have a real keen bead on things and sometimes views someone else as being ignorant.

i feel there is a large difference between being ignorant and simply being unaware. i cant and wont speak for anyone else but myself but i've seen these stats that so many americans cant find such and such country on a globe or cant recognize the picture of a certain public figure. it think its embarassing but i dont feel that accurately reflect in anyway how educated or uneducated americans are.

as someone said previously americans are busy. after all we have a government that takes an outrageous sum of our gross income as if its entitled to it. as if we have a debt with the government we are forced to pay on a weekly or bi-weekly basis which is only pauid off once we die. therefore we must work 8 9 10 11 12 hours a day, two or even sometimes three jobs. even with a simply 8 hour a day job you factor in lunch time. thats 30 minutes or hald an hour, now its a total of 8.5 or 9 hours. then there is a commute, lets say 30 minutes one way, which is average for those who dont live near downtown for example. that another whole hour eaten up going to and from work. now we're at 9.5-10 hours. now lets factor in getting up and getting ready for work. lets be conservative an say and hour. wow, already we're up to 10.5-11 hours. but we're not done yet! we also have to get the kids ready as well, tack on an additional 30 minutes. now we have spent 11-11.5 hours so far and we arent done yet! now we get home and we have dinner. but we've been up and doing things for almsot 12 hours now....sheez! but lets tack on an hour for dinner both cooking a simple meal and eating it. 12-12.5 hours. now you gotta make sure your kids do their homework, you gotta do daily house chores, you gotta do shopping. even just spending some time unqinding from the day if you're lucky will eat up at least 30 minutes. so we americans spend about 14 hours at least on the move. at least that often on a daily basis. so we dont often have time to learn about whats going on in islamabad or bangladesh. its hard enough to find out whats going on in our communities. now keep in mind what i described above on covers one job, assuming its a monday through friday gig. if you add even a part time job or school...well you're time becomes even more precious and becomes something of a competition, do i do the things i need to do on a daily basis to live and get by or do i take time out of my schedule because someone else in the world thinks im ignorant because im not always up to date on what goes on in the rest of the world?

ignorance is ignorance IMO and there are no such thing as "less ignorant" and i seriously doubt the rest of the world has suddenly become enlightened enough to call anyone else in another country ignorant.

i could say those who are not fully aware of how most americans live are ignorant but that wouldnt be fair to call them that they simply are not aware. but i guess to assume something and then make presumptuous remarks in kind could be construed as ignorance personified. ignorance is simply not knowing something, no no no, it is also a state of mind where we sort of make things up as we go along to fill in the gaps in our education of something and then assume it to be true. that is true ignorance. i dont see how americans are any more guilty of this than anyone else, this isnt to say they are less guilty but i dont see how any else has the highground in this issue.

The PrankMonkey's got it... it's not that people are ignorant, it's more that they're concerned with putting food on the table for their own families, and trying to keep a roof over their heads. I mean it's hard to worry about your what your nieghbor is doing when you can barely pay your own bills.. Thanks to Republican economics, where the wealthy are only concerned about keeping their money and helping their "buddies" get richer.

Id have to disagree with prankmonkey. I agree with wht Netchicken said

Originally posted by Netchicken
Being masters of manipulation of public opinion. People really don't want to know about world event, they want to watch Oparah, and reality TV. Give them the mental bubblegum they want.

thats the prob in a nutshell =]

remember ignorance is universal,not just limited to the USA

Americans are kept ignorant due to the jewish control of mass media

Here is the list of total work hours for 2003:

Country Time period Employment Status Average hours
Australia 2003 Total employment 1814.4
Austria 2003 Total employment 1550
Belgium 2003 Total employment 1542
Canada 2003 Total employment 1718
Czech Republic 2003 Total employment 1971.7
Germany 2003 Total employment 1445.5
Denmark 2003 Total employment 1475
Spain 2003 Total employment 1799.7
Finland 2003 Total employment 1713.4
France 2003 Total employment 1431
United Kingdom 2003 Total employment 1673
Greece 2003 Total employment 1938
Ireland 2003 Total employment 1613
Italy 2003 Total employment 1591
Japan 2003 Total employment 1801
Mexico 2003 Total employment 1857.1
Netherlands 2003 Total employment 1354
Norway 2003 Total employment 1336.8
New Zealand 2003 Total employment 1812.7
Poland 2003 Total employment 1956
Portugal 2003 Total employment 1676
Slovak Republic 2003 Total employment 1813.9
Sweden 2003 Total employment 1564.4
United States 2003 Total employment 1792

So I wouldn't support the opinion it's because they have to work a lot more than others. In my opinion the USA is a society where people enjoy easy-entertainment more than other countries.
Watching American TV always gets me a headache as I have the feeling I watch TV for braindeads(nothing personal) - so it's a cultural thing. They love spongebob, we love to know more about the world.

ok now you care to site the source and explain how they came up with those figures???

stats without a source and explanation is awful suspect.

OECD - Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

www.oecd.org...

www1.oecd.org...

Search critery used in my data query:

Labour Market Statistics - DATA
Average actual annual hours worked per person in employment
Selected criteria:
Country : Australia , Austria , Belgium , Canada , Switzerland , Czech Republic , Germany , Denmark , Spain , Finland , France , United Kingdom , Greece , Hungary , Ireland , Iceland , Italy , Japan , Korea , Luxembourg , Mexico , Netherlands , Norway , New Zealand , Poland , Portugal , Slovak Republic , Sweden , United States
Time period : 2003
Employment Status : Total employment

I hope the OECD is a trusted source

[edit on 21-8-2004 by shoo]

Remeber that one? I know alot of people here in the USA are ignorant. They don't really want to know what horrible things are going on in the world, they are occupied with unimportant things, such as where to go on my next vacation or how can I save for my retirement? Unfortunately these things may not occur if people don't wake up and smell the coffee. We are all interconnected and what is happening will affect us all. It is all in the big plan of the PTB to control all of us, not just the USA. We are constantly told things that are not true, we are frightened always, who is going to attack next? Why are you fat? Need pills? We will take your stress away, leave it to us. Give me the pill that makes me ignorant and then I can float through the day happy and without a care in the world, who cares if it all goes to he** tomorrow? Today I will be able to function like all the rest. A little harsh and unsympathetic, but what is important here, we all are! We allow TPTBs to control our lives, it has gotten out of hand. I am no one and have no power to do anything earth shattering that is the saddest thing, maybe I can wake up a couple of people and share some info that may help some of us to survive what is about to befall us all. I will continue to search the news and the internet and hopefully gain a little truth somewhere about what the heck is going on here, maybe be somewhat prepared for whatever is next.

i dont think its americans that are ignorant its just humans in general, i went to europe and people #ing hated me when i wore a 9/11 twin towers shirt that was very patriotic, expecially in france people, they hate us. the only countrys that i have been to that people actually didnt hate me was in australia and canada those are some nice people.
but any europe country is probally more ignorant than america except for germany, when my mom went there she said that the people were really nice, but shoo makes me think otherwise... so maybee america is ignorant because we hate all europeans, maybee were ignorant because we could kick any countrys ass, maybee we are ignorant because we think were better than every country out there. well atleast we think that because its true. i guess america is ignorant, but atleast we could kick any other countrys ass in a second.

[edit on 21-8-2004 by DanTodd]

Your news stations lie to you for some reason.
When Bush was in the U.K. for his state visit Fox news delayed transmition for several hours.
They were showing crowds from the morning as people were arriving ,then claimed it was in the afternoon.
When they showed Bush walking through London they said it was live footage ,yet it was dark in the U.K.

Originally posted by DanTodd
when my mom went there she said that the people were really nice, but shoo makes me think otherwise...

Thate reminds me of Forest Gump, who too?
- relax. I just posted some statistics and my remark about TV wasn't personal against Americans at all.

Japanese TV is braindead for me as well and Americans will think it's for braindeads as I think it is. It's a cultural difference how media is done and everybody thinks different about it.

Originally posted by shoo

So I wouldn't support the opinion it's because they have to work a lot more than others. In my opinion the USA is a society where people enjoy easy-entertainment more than other countries.
Watching American TV always gets me a headache as I have the feeling I watch TV for braindeads(nothing personal) - so it's a cultural thing. They love spongebob, we love to know more about the world.

You know who watches spongebob Little kids and gay people. This coming from person whos country loved David Hasselhoff as a singer

Originally posted by ShadowXIX

Originally posted by shoo

So I wouldn't support the opinion it's because they have to work a lot more than others. In my opinion the USA is a society where people enjoy easy-entertainment more than other countries.
Watching American TV always gets me a headache as I have the feeling I watch TV for braindeads(nothing personal) - so it's a cultural thing. They love spongebob, we love to know more about the world.

You know who watches spongebob Little kids and gay people. This coming from person whos country loved David Hasselhoff as a singer

i used to watch spongebob....

Originally posted by Ashlar
Americans are kept ignorant due to the jewish control of mass media

Really Ashlar....?
Are you spouting again? Need a spoon to catch the dribble that is coming from your lips/finger tips?
Got a link to any reliable source that can confirm your assertion?



seekerof

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
You know who watches spongebob Little kids and gay people. This coming from person whos country loved David Hasselhoff as a singer

So Dan is gay or a little kid
- that Hasselhof incident is a shame and long ago