Stupid Americans

by Mackin 61 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  yesidid

  The title of this thread says more about it's New Zealand author than 300,000,000 Americans.
• 

  Soledad

  How many sides in a triangle?

  Who is Fidel Castro?

  Name a country that begins with U

  Is this for real? Lord please don't let me ever meet these people! stupid indeed!
• 

  Mackin

  It always interests me how defensive Americans get and how seriously so many of you take yourselves.

  Nowhere did I state or imply that ALL Americans are stupid, I just posted a link to a comedic video that shows SOME stupid Americans. You all jumped to conclusions.

  If I had posted a similar video entitled "Stupid Australians", all the Aussies would have laughed their asses off and posted sheep-shagger jokes about Kiwi's, which I would have found funny. Down under we haven't forgotten how to laugh at ourselves.

  Mackin
• 

  Abaddon

  I have to agree... how over-sensitive can you get?

  Think about it American posters... you got out of a cult, therefore you are probably NOT stupid.

  Please note 'stupid' is being used in its everyday usage where it can refer to lack of knowledge as distinct to a poor level of intelligence..

  As this is the case one has to point out;

  • Only 37% of young Americans can find Iraq on a map—though U.S. troops have been there since 2003.
  • 6 in 10 young Americans don't speak a foreign language fluently.
  • 20% of young Americans think Sudan is in Asia. (It's the largest country in Africa.)
  • 48% of young Americans believe the majority population in India is Muslim. (It's Hindu—by a landslide.)
  • Half of young Americans can't find New York on a map.

  http://www.nationalgeographic.com/roper2006/findings.html

  And there's this;

  Before chalking up this line of questioning to knee-jerk anti-Americanism at an avowedly left-wing gathering, consider the facts: Americans notoriously fail tests on geography and international issues. Most recently, Americans ages 18-24 placed eighth out of nine countries (beating only Mexico) surveyed in a 2002 National Geographic study on the topic. Fewer than 15 percent of US respondents could find Iraq or Israel on a map.
  All of the other countries also scored better on identifying the US population than did its own citizens; nearly a third of Americans thought the country had between 1 billion and 2 billion residents. (The correct answer is about 300 million. But young people abroad didn't only know more about the United States, they also "had a stronger grasp on some issues that are beyond their own borders compared with Americans." Sweden, Germany, and Italy took top honors. Why? Their high levels of international travel and foreign language abilities, which the study found were predictive of a good score, are obviously easier to achieve within Europe for logistical reasons. Still, the disparity is depressing. Whereas 89 percent of young Swedes speak at least one other language and 92 percent reported having traveled abroad in the previous three years, two-thirds of their American counterparts are monolingual, and only 21 percent reported leaving the country in the last three years.
  
  A 2001 study by the American Council on Education found that in terms of both international knowledge and interest, "travel abroad had the strongest positive impact on international knowledge," more than studying a foreign language or following the news.
  
  According to a Stanford University report by Leon Panetta, a former member of the President's Commission on Foreign Laguage and International Studies and former White House chief of staff in the Clinton administration, "as citizens of a historically and geographically isolated giant, Americans remain far behind nearly every other nation's populace in their foreign language abilities and in their knowledge of the world around them."

  http://www.irincarmon.com/lettheworldseeyou.html
  

  If in doubt, take Oprah's test;

  http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/tows_2002/tows_past_20021105_quiz.jhtml

  So comments about American ignorance of the world are as true as the male human:sheep ratio in New Zealand or of the fact Australian men from Queensland consioder a clean T-shirt formalwear, or the fact that the English say sorry a lot.

  The difference is that the Kiwi, the Ozzie and the Brit don't take themselves so fricking seriously and would agree and laugh... they wouldn't immediately assume the rest of the world didn't like them and was out to get them...
• 

  Robdar

  Oh, boohoo. Mackin wasn't getting enough attention so he decided to start a flame war. How boring his life must be.

  Typical really. Start a thread with name calling and insults and then get offended when someone answers the call. Really, Mackin, you should learn to laugh more at yourself.

  So, Mackin, how many sheep are now calling you daddy?
• 

  Robdar

  Really, Abbadon, you watch Oprah?

  The difference is that the Kiwi, the Ozzie and the Brit don't take themselves so fricking seriously and would agree and laugh... they wouldn't immediately assume the rest of the world didn't like them and was out to get them...

  That's because the world isn't out to get the Kiwis, Ozzies and Brits. How much anti-Kiwi sentiment have you run into lately? How much anti America?
• 

  nicolaou

  Mackin did not start a flame war, he wasn't name calling and he didn't insult anyone he just posted a very funny video clip. Stupid people like that exist in every nation, heaven knows there's enough of them in the UK! Just try laughing at yourselves for once!

  Bloody Yanks!
• 

  Robdar

  he wasn't name calling and he didn't insult anyone he just posted a very funny video clip.

  Oh, so "Stupid Americans" isnt name calling? I see. To reach that conclusion you must be drunker than most other English men. Or maybe all that dreary weather is blurring your brain, Duckey.
• 

  Dansk

  I'm surprised no one has commented on Norm's post, which is right on the button. Ignorance is not the same as stupidity.

  Ian
• 

  LittleToe

  Warning: Generalisation with Extreme Prejudice to follow...

  From my own experience (on this Board, and from visiting the place) most Americans I've met take what you say literally before taking a second swipe at it to find the humour (the only caveat being in a situation where the circumstances are already humorous like at a Comedy Club or a conversation where the jokes have already broken out). It makes for a culture that is only a little more advanced than South Africa, on the "Humour scale". I find it ironic, because some of the funniest shows have come from that country. It's like its either switched on or switched off, rather than a steady flow from one to the other.

  Nationalism is a serious business, and you'll be hard pressed to find an American who can consistently take the p*ss out of his own country with you, without him eventually getting his feelings hurt by taking it personally. I think it's to do with social conditioning from birth.

  It can be endearing, though, when you crack a joke and they take a second or two to get it, before guffawing. Maybe Brits, and a few other nationalities, just start from the default position of anticipating humour, rather than switching to it. Gawd only knows how drab and dreary our lives would be if we didn't, after all we can't talk about the weather all day... can we???

  ..we can? Oh, yeah, we can!