plime.com : Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Follow up to:http://www.plime.com/l/11970/1/

“This is just like Pearl Harbor,” one of the men said.

The other asked, “What is Pearl Harbor?”

“That was when the Vietnamese dropped bombs in a harbor, and it started the Vietnam War,” the first man replied. picked by DerAlt1 8 months ago

tags Dumb Stupid Hostile Americans Knowledge

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T1000

8 months ago

« dollyllama : So you think living in a bubble is the way to go and that global problems can't become local problems?

Maybe they would travel to Europe if they learned more about it. Maybe they wouldn't be the average working stiff if they could do long division. Maybe if they spent some time exploring the world around them, they wouldn't have such a narrow frame of reference from which to make decisions, like voting morons into office.

Are we sure he does know? He seems unable to navigate an icy patch of pavement. I'm not going to give him credit for pointing out a foreign country on a map until I see him actually do it. (relax, I'm kidding about that last part, sort of)

I don't think that global problems become local problems, I think it's the other way around most of the time. I guess it goes both ways...

Anyways, even if there is better education, some people just don't have that intellectual curiosity, and that's OK with me, they can work at McDonald's. I think people like that don't vote anyways.

Also, I was at a function with Robert Gates where he was required to pronounce a long list of names, and he got every single one right, even crazy long African ones. Just from that, he seems very intelligent to me. It's the little things that count haha...

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T1000

8 months ago

« gammerus : I agree with you there, learning things like state capitals and algebraic formulas just isn't useful knowledge for the average person, but what is so depressing is the stigma associated with intelligence. Knowing that Juneau is the capital of Alaska will not help me a get a job or retain one unless I plan on teaching at a 4th grad level, but having the desire to learn about the world around me is still a pretty valuable trait regardless of my employment.

Yeah...It seems that a lot of times being aware of the world around you only makes you good at Trivial Pursuit and being "that guy".

Ha, I probably spend too much time on Plime reading about crazy and interesting stuff instead of getting homework and studying done...

quote #3

T1000

8 months ago

« aclister : The article did state that only 23% of "those with some college" knew where Iraq was. Perhaps 77% don't need to know but you would think just out of interest they'd pull out an atlas (or look it up on the internet) before putting the XBox back on.

Perhaps in between rounds of Call of Duty 4 they would be persuaded to find out where their virtual battlefield might be?

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10	ieldanth

8 months ago

Perhaps if they added a feature where you had to navigate from a base in America to the battlefront...

...oh and no cheesy 'God Light' to show the way either.

quote #5

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30	dollylla...

8 months ago

« T1000 : I don't think that global problems become local problems, I think it's the other way around most of the time. I guess it goes both ways...

Certainly both ways.

Anyways, even if there is better education, some people just don't have that intellectual curiosity, and that's OK with me, they can work at McDonald's. I think people like that don't vote anyways.

Yes, we'll always need people to take the McJobs but that's not exactly where these people end up. And they do vote, the evidence is sitting in office.

Also, I was at a function with Robert Gates where he was required to pronounce a long list of names, and he got every single one right, even crazy long African ones. Just from that, he seems very intelligent to me. It's the little things that count haha...

I really was kidding.

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