I cannot believe you just posted this. I had just typed up a loooooooong rant I was going to post in the forums about how stupid people are (all people, but mostly, from my perspective, Americans).

I erased it because it was just too rant-y.

My realism gland kept trying to tell me that this was clearly down to the editing, but I was still overcome with the occasional wave of despair that even with the editing you need at least some people that stupid to begin with.

Haha - very well put.

I can *guarantee* you could do this exact show with *any* country out there.



Some just take longer to get the raw footage than others :)

I'll admit, I couldn't say who the Coalition of the willing and the Axis of Evil are, but all the rest of them were pretty simple.

It would be interesting to interview people of other countries and see how well they do with these questions. I can imagine that you would find (with creative editing) the same people no matter where you film.

I agreee that it comes down to editing, but before we go giving the citizens of our great country the benefit of the doubt, remember we DID elect Bush to a second term.

I know that this has been posted here on Plime before, but I think it was a year ago and I'm too lazy to find it now.

Yes, it does come down to editing.

I still prefer Rick Mercer's 'Talking to Americans' to CNNNN's clip here.

I had to look it up. The Coalition of the Willing are the supporter of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Axis of Evil would be Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. He was basically asking if we remember anything that Bush says. He coined the terms.

Oh God.
How do you find these people?
Did they just clean up a bunch of cracked out homeless bums?

I honestly couldn't keep watching.
It really makes me distraught that people around the world are watching this and forming opinions about Americans through it.

That's a bit unfair, attributing stupidity as the force behind your political opponents. (I know you meant it as a joke, and I'd laugh it off, but it's been done. raped. and done again.)

Why can't their subtitler spell?

Ah, that I WERE joking. From the good ole boys who voted for him because he's southern, to the "Bible thumpers" who voted because he's a Republican, and finally the "soccer mom's" who believed only he could keep them safe (who's watch did 9-11 happen on?) stupidity played a MAJOR role in both Bush victories. An extended family member, who will remain anonymous, voted for him "just because" without really knowing where he stood on the issues.

In all likelihood these are bull. I know it is cool to talk about how dumb people are, but this is just so over the top.


All this tells you is people will say whatever they think the person with the camera wants them to say or what they are instructed to say or behave.

You ask some of those questions of random people and I can promise you everyone will know how many sides are in a triangle, who fidel castro is, etc.

I cringe every time I see this video. The one line that had me laughing like a complete idiot though is from the guy with the headphones on.

"Ok. I'm a little bit mixed up over the Palestinians and the Israelis. Ok. Which one is throwing the rocks?"

This is very similar to the "Jay Walking" segments that Jey Leno does on the Tonight Show. Every week he goes into the streets with a camera and asks random people very simple questions, then shows their ridiculous answers on his show (I'm actually not sure if this is still a regular part of the show, but I imagine it is). He swears that it isn't difficult to find these people, and that getting enough stupid answers to fill three minutes on the show isn't a time consuming process in the least. And I don't have any reason to doubt him.

The vast majority of the population (of the world) is poorly educated and uninformed, and I think it would be pretty easy to put together something like this anywhere you went. Do you really think you'd have to search for more than an hour to find one guy who thinks a triangle has four sides?

The one that was most shocking to me was when they were putting the numbers on the map.

Australia is extremely recognizable (or so I thought), but people just put the numbers on it because it's labeled "North Korea" or "France," etc. I mean *NORTH* Korea is south of South Korea?

I've lost hope for humanity.

Does anyone remember the show "Street Smarts"? These questions were hard compared to those asked on that show!
They used to make them read a word off a card and define it. One of the words was "impotent". Guy reads it off like "important" without the "r", then goes on to say that he's a very "impo-tant" person. They really squirmed when they showed them "orangutan".
Man, I miss catching that show!

THat was one of the few quotes i found understandable, honestly, that guy seemed the most knowledgable. I saw him as asking who was starting the conflict, not literally throwing rocks.

I would love to see them interview all of us intelligent people here on Plime. We could form our own "smart nation" of Plimers and live happily ever after.

I felt like it wasn't necessarily intelligent questions, but questions that involve staying informed. What the f**k? The axis of evil is more of an opinion than a fact. Plus, the most educated people wouldn't listen to Bush, as they would be sickened by listening. Yes, Americans tend to be materialistic and self-centered, yet this whole stupid thing is just a large generalization you could put on any country. This is complete bulls**t (this coming from pretty big liberal. Maybe instead of f**king around and questioning the people, and pretending that their answers are correct, you could do the good thing and help them. You aren't accomplishing anything by making fun of them... but then I forget that the producers accomplish millions of bucks. So who's the stupid materialistic asses now? Go provide some education, you nitwits.

Okay, huuge rant--directed at the Australian producers, rather than plimates.

That's a bit overly generalistic, not to mention entirely simplistic.
I've yet to meet one person who voted form him because of where he's from.
"Bible Thumpers" voted for him because his platform is more inline with their political beliefs. Not uncommon for any voter.
And national security against a terrorist attack was/is an issue. It HAS happened before. I believe it'd be far more stupid to claim we don't get attacked by terrorists.

And, I admittedly voted for him, 2nd time around.

I'm not southern, or a "bible thumper," or a soccer mom who wanted to feel safe.
Frankly, I really didn't like Kerry. It was lesser two evils choice, and I know I'm not alone in this.
Call that stupidity if you will, but welcome to our party system.