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Peoples opinion on this Video

eenu

eenu

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 11, 2006
1,157
0
Manchester, UK
I'd just like peoples opinion on this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCkYfYa8ePI

Now having spent A LOT of time out in the states i know these people exist in large numbers but hell i know there are plenty of very well rounded american peeps too.

Whilst i know this video is biased and it isn't displaying stupidity as much as lack of education/current affairs i seriously don't think you could go to many countries and have such a bad response from so many people! (Note i am saying people like this are from everywhere)

I'd just like to have input on this, i'm not trying to offend anyone but i seriously can't grasp that people like this walk the planet regardless of where they are from and i'm interested to know why america has such a large concentration....

I'll put my hard hat and stab vest on now and wait for the abuse :eek:
 
The last few seconds of that video explain a lot. I'm not intending to offend anyone from Texas, but I lived there for a year and I've never seen a more concentrated amount of ignorance in a population before. It looks like the whole video was shot in Texas.

I was born in a small town in southern Oregon 25 years ago, and I knew the answer to every question in that video. There are many reasons as to why so many Americans are ignorant, I don't even really want to go into them all. I've had the opportunity to visit Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Bolivia, Italy, and France. I believe the best thing for Americans to do is leave the country for a little while, it teaches you a lot. Just living in different places makes you less ignorant than living in the same spot for 30+ years. Since my birth, I have lived in: Oregon, Washington, Kansas, Colorado, California, Texas, and Michigan. It is amazing how open your eyes become after traveling and living in many places.
 
You see the Americans i know that are well rounded are those that have left America to travel (We will leave their warped views on how America won WWII single handedly out of it :D ).

I seriously believe though an average Brit could not leave Britain but be aware of the geography of the world and current affairs to a far higher level than some Americans that haven't left America. Where is the ignorance coming from? is it media lead or a cultural thing?

Sorry this whole concept just really interests me.
 
eenu said:
You see the Americans i know that are well rounded are those that have left America to travel
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Glad to know someone agrees with me!

eenu said:
Where is the ignorance coming from? is it media lead or a cultural thing?
Click to expand...

IMHO, American ignorance comes from a conglomeration of many things that have merged to leave American at it's lowest cultural point. I think we have become too comfortable. A lot of it is because of oil. If we weren't so frantic to have oil, we wouldn't be meddling around in everyone's business all the time. It is a vicious cycle. Our need for oil makes us bullies, because we are bullies makes the world not like us, because a lot of people don't like us they cry out "death to America", because we don't like that we need oil to "take them out". And around and around we go.

But I think the comfort American's "enjoy" is the leading cause. There is nothing to push (or motivate) people to learn more about their world. I'm privileged to have grown up in a family that valued the entire world, and not just one country that has only about 5% of the entire word's population.
 
Well to me the people they are interviewing are white trash and uneducated people. And obviously this biased, not everyone can be that stupid in one country. I would say that here in Connecticut I only know a few people that are that stupid.

There are people like this because they don't really care about things going on around them, just what directly affects their lives. They don't care about the bigger picture. How does a little country in the middle of central asia affect them, it doesn't, so why would they be concerned with knowing about that country.
 
Wow, people are really stupid.

Isn't it amazing how arrogant Americans are when it comes to how the whole rest of the world should be just like us, when we are, in fact, a shining example of ignorance and stupidity in many cases.

There are some bright people here, but for the most part people are just plain uninteligent and uninformed. What's really scary is that these people vote. Hey, maybe that's how we ended up with Bush.
 
I guarantee that if you went anywhere in the world and asked those same questions you might get the same responses, Don't just make it a stupid American thing. Im sure there are a good amount of Brits that don't know either.

Also how much editing did that go thru, they are not going to show the people that gave the right answers but instead splice together all the "idiots".
 
we (americans) have the largest economy in the world, the most powerful military, a currency and language that is almost universally accepted, we head all the brettonwoods institutions or at least have veto power, and the majority of americans feel that the world owes them something due to WWII and the rebuilding of europe/ marshall plan (We like to forget about Russia's and other countries substantial role in the war)

in short we are the spoiled children of rich parents who feel that since daddy is rich and powerful that we by inheritence will be too. we, due to our self ingratiating nature see little to no value in other cultures or countries. it is not that Americans are stupid we are simply spoiled, closed minded, and jaded. It would never enter into the mind of most americans that empires can and do fall and its best to know and understand your neighbors in the world when that time comes.

also

we are pretty much the bullies of the world especially with Bush II as such it is not important that we know the name of all the dorks at the front of the class or who they are as long as we know that they are relatively weak and can easily be hit with a paper football.
 
I think that is off base a bit. The WWII generation was fighting for something and probably saved the world from doom. I think the Vietnam generation is when everything went to hell here. The I don't care about war generation, Love not War and the hippie movement is when you would say it went down hill. The baby boomers are the ones that don't care and their kids are now starting to take power.
 
This is proof of a failed school system, coupled with mass media propaganda and an unwillingness to learn the truth by the American's depicted.
I agree 110% that most people from the south are ignorant and- well, ignorant. (See Fark.com for "Florida" tag.)

Personally, I can answer all of those questions w/o thinking and I do my part to educate my community and the people I meet from other countries.

I will concede that ignorant Americans can be found over the majority of the land, but the educated that live in cities are the majority of the population.

But surprisingly enough what no one talks about is how the richest most powerful nation ever to inhabit this world gave up its freedom of financial independence to a bunch of bankers when they created the Federal Reserve. The F.R. is a private bank and all the income tax collected every year only goes to pay the interest we now have to pay on our own money.

Why would we do that? Why let a bunch of bankers steal our wealth and control our purchasing power, interest rates, and the rate of inflation?

We are a sovereign nation with the right to print our own money. But instead the Federal Reserve charges us interest on our own wealth. No other powerful nation has private banks running its economy. Just America. :rolleyes:
 
killr_b said:
But surprisingly enough what no one talks about is how the richest most powerful nation ever to inhabit this world gave up its freedom of financial independence to a bunch of bankers when they created the Federal Reserve. The F.R. is a private bank and all the income tax collected every year only goes to pay the interest we now have to pay on our own money.

Why would we do that? Why let a bunch of bankers steal our wealth and control our purchasing power, interest rates, and the rate of inflation?

We are a sovereign nation with the right to print our own money. But instead the Federal Reserve charges us interest on out own wealth. No other powerful nation has private banks running its economy. Just America. :rolleyes:
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Does The Great Depression ring a bell.:rolleyes:

Ask my grandparents about how much money they had. Or anyone had for that matter. That generation saw what poor was. Why do you think they wanted better for their kids.
 
MacNut said:
Does The Great Depression ring a bell.:rolleyes:

Ask my grandparents about how much money they had. Or anyone had for that matter. That generation saw what poor was. Why do you think they wanted better for their kids.
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Are you full of propaganda or just- you know what, no.

Do some research and read between the lines.
 
MacNut said:
So your saying this country always had money? Do you want to see another stock market drop.
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You don't even know what you're talking about.

The Federal Reserve is a sham on the American people.

But you would rather live in your propaganda fed world…
 
Ok so lets get rid of the federal reserve, You do know that interest rates are how people make money right. It helps to make the stock market run.
 
MacNut said:
Ok so lets get rid of the federal reserve, You do know that interest rates are how people make money right. It helps to make the stock market run.
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England uses the gold standard and their economy seems just fine…

The stock market crashed due to "over expansion and poor speculation…"
 
Back on topic... the main reason for Americans ignorance is that the teachings in school have gone from political to more of a we have to be the best in math and science to keep up with the rest of the world. When that happens we forget about current events.
 
MacNut said:
Back on topic... the main reason for Americans ignorance is that the teachings in school have gone from political to more of a we have to be the best in math and science to keep up with the rest of the world. When that happens we forget about current events.
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HAHAHAHAHA

The reason for Americans ignorance is that they believe every thing they read. No, wait- they don't read. It's because they believe everything they see on T.V.
 
killr_b said:
England uses the gold standard and their economy seems just fine…

The stock market crashed due to "over expansion and poor speculation…"
Click to expand...
The stock market crashed because there was no money in it. When people saw the market fall they all took there money out that didn't exist. The banks had no money to pay the customers and the economy just collapsed in on itself.
 
killr_b said:
HAHAHAHAHA

The reason for Americans ignorance is that they believe every thing they read. No, wait- they don't read. It's because they believe everything they see on T.V.
Click to expand...
Just blame the media as a whole as it is all owned by the same people.

You have a freedom of the press, the problem is that the press is owned by a few groups. Then they have to go after the story that brings in ratings so you are not getting a true view of anything.
 
MacNut said:
The stock market crashed because there was no money in it. When people saw the market fall they all took there money out that didn't exist. The banks had no money to pay the customers and the economy just collapsed in on itself.
Click to expand...

I will forgive your public education. I don't want to upset you. I only want to help you. I didn't know any of this until my Uncle brought to my attention the fact that since I had never researched any of it myself I couldn't say I knew anything about it. Well, now I do. Trust me brother.
 
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