i think some people are really stupid.
did you ever see a show here in america called "Street Smarts"?
it basically runs on the same format and it is funnier than hell.
hhy
Hahaha MJ-12, half of all Americans are obese too! No offense to you Americans out there, I got nothing against ya, but really, sometimes the government and the way how half your population is worth our population of SHEEP in stupidity levels really makes me think how "the world's superpower" is gonna really rule the world!
P.S. - anybody else think that the American government in particular tries to police the world too much? I don't think that Gore would've made a difference either (except the fact that he's not the missing link between man and ape).
Later
-FT
" Well, half of all Americans have less than average intelligence "
Wait, how can that be? Wouldn't the average intelligence then be lowered (unless you're talking in global terms, in which case Americans are stupid as hell).
I don't think Gore would've done any better. The U.S. government definitely polices the world- way too much.
It's interesting what people will say when they have a camera and microphone thrust at them - no matter where they're from.
From this day forward I declare my body its own sovereign nation. [:D]
Frist of all, I hope everyone here is aware that you could go anywhere in the world and illicit such responses and that's a fact. I don't think Americans are less intelligent than any other general population, maybe less informed, but the word intelligent generally has to do with the capacity to learn, etc.
I have traveled around the world and have spoken with the average citizens in many countries and most people don't have a clue what's going on outside of their own little world of their career, etc. I mean if one were to go to almost any country in South America (and this is just an example) you could illicit such responses and maybe even more humorous ones....BUT if you went to a University campus and spoke with grad students (and this is true for any country) you would get a different, albeit just as skewed response.
Anyway, I found this post to be very funny and the fact that there is such a focus on America is really just a form of flettery in the end. When was the last time a US comedian went to Canada and did something similar? Oh yeah, never because no one here cares (and maybe that proves we are stupid and ignorant![:)]
Anyway, I found this post to be very funny and the fact that there is such a focus on America is really just a form of flettery in the end. When was the last time a US comedian went to Canada and did something similar? Oh yeah, never because no one here cares (and maybe that proves we are stupid and ignorant!
Chances are Canadians would do much better.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/11/1120_021120_GeoRoperSurvey.html
Heres the test, I easily got through them all.
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/
Maybe, but it all depends. If Canada had a population of almost 300 million people chances are the average would drop significantly....
I just took the quiz (and missed one) and I don't see how this quiz would prove how intelligent people are...I don't even know if that's the claim, but either way what it seems to test is general knowledge of politics, geography, etc. I will be the first to admit that US citizens are very ignorant in this regard. Until i left the US to travel I too lived in a glass bubble....we are a very egocentric community.
One way or the other, if this is survey reflects the results of stratified or systematic sampling then it is the least accurate kind of research. It would be interesting to see a totaly random sampling.
Finally, I don't care if this survey had US as the top scorers on it, I don't think you can make such sweeping generalizations about human intelligence with 20 geo-political questions.
Anyway, has anyone here ever seen Jay Leno's "Jay Walking" bits? He goes around and asks people questions and then they show the funniest responses....it is hilarious.
zx
It took the children 40 minutes to locate Canada on the map!
Marge, anyone could miss Canada, all tucked away down there.
--Marge and Homer Simpson
the more people you have in a country, the more gullible people you have. i agree with peaceful warrior about other countries and their citizens. people seem to be busting on america a lot more since the iraqi situation where anti-american demonstrations were very common. it gets on my nerves when people make fun of our citizens and i find that the people who are going around trying to instigate such responses are as ignorant as the people whom they question in one way or another.
the less intelligent or more gullible members of a country should not be manipulated in ways that make people think less of that country. there are some elected politicians who werent elected because of their brilliance. if we saw more of other countries, such as france or canada, for example, im sure we would find some government officials that really stuck out for their seeming lack of intelligence.
as far as that test, i suppose its online. the US has more internet-using citizens that any other country on earth. the internet is readily available to almost anyone who wants it. in the part of the country i live in, computers are every bit as common as tv's and phones. in other countries, such as, canada, however, it might be a little bit harder to get such readily-available access, therefore slightly limiting the availability of the internet. of course, this limit would only keep the 'lesser' members of society off the internet, providing that country with an online community slightly more well-rounded.
if the canadian population had a percentage of internet users equal to that of the united states, the results of that quiz just might be more accurate. [}:)]
As timeless said, im definatly not anti-american. I'll let my pro-iraq war stance be a testament of that.
As for the test, there are somethings which should be cleared up:
1) 3000 people from various counties took part. Im not a statician but gallop polls work the same way I believe, according to the law of stats.
2) Country population has nothing to do with the survey. It would be impossible to calculate everyone's response so they take a few and using statistics, vary the value accordingly.
3) The internet had nothing to do with it, only the sample questions(there were more than 20 questions I believe) were on the website. The test was taken in person.
4) Ringo may of been the least talented Beatle, but he more than made up for it in charm.
5) I never implied the survey showed lack of intelligence, rather lack of knowledge concerning the rest of the world.
I took the sample questions just now. The one I got wrong was Afganistan, which is not in Africa. Many of the map ones required looking at all four choices and throwing out the obviously incorrect ones. This was the only way I guessed Israel's location, for example. My knowledge of geography and climate is severely limited. The worst part is that I cannot think of a single good reason at this time to change this.
well, i didnt see the tv show, and i dont even know who the host is or anything about him, so ill just go with what you say about him.
as far as the canadian children, are they randomly tested? tested from school maybe? or from home?
the children would still fit into this statement: "if the canadian population had a percentage of internet users equal to that of the united states, the results of that quiz just might be more accurate."
here's my reasoning:
the last i checked, the US was ahead of canada in educational standards. the last time i checked, we were third, only behind japan and germany. but then again, this was the last time i checked. i've been looking online for more recent surveys to prove we're still ahead, but i wasnt able to find anything. i am confident, however, that we are still ahead of canada.
if the tests of children were indeed truly random, and were held somewhere public to supply a wide variety of children, such as a school, then the test is inaccurate in the face of official international documents regarding the educational standards of the different countries of the world, or at least according to the last documents i saw, a year or two ago.
otherwise the tests were NOT truly random, which goes back to what i said before about the percentages of internet users from each country. the canadian children would have to be in families that have access to the internet, which would be a smaller percentage of canadian families than the percentage of american families.
so maybe the host is patriotic. maybe he's not out to make americans look foolish. but from what ive read here, about there being stupid people out there (in the US), those comments were most obviously inspired by what was written in the original post or else some other such tv show, radio program, internet site, etc. the US is one of the more educated countries of the world, and its important to keep that im mind when you talk about how ignorant some of our politicians are, and random people off the street.
i wonder, too, how many people they had to go through on the street to get all those ignorant responses. surely those mentioned weren't the only ones asked, probably not even a small majority.
i make fun of myself, i dont even take myself seriously. but somehow it just bothers me when people poke fun at america, especially with whats been going on in the world. we had to go to war with iraq and our men have been dying over there, and north korea wants to start a nuclear stand-off (they've even used the term stand-off when telling south korea to stay out of it. they have a madman running their government, to make things better). so im just a little sensitive about those sort of things now, i guess.. i dont mean to be a butthead.
so now intelligence is based on what you deem important in life? there mustve been some standard common to each country to compare the countries.
Dear No Leaf Clover,
This is not about intelligence. It is about the education system and how the education system is setup. That is all.
Why do these things really bother you? Why do you see yourself as US or THEM. It is all WE together in this world. Isn't it?
Getting swept up in US and THEM type discussions or even arguements is generally an exercise in defensive reaction that wastes valuable energy and only leaves most feeling tense or badly.[:(] If you see something you do not like then do something about it in your realm of influence i.e. your children. I know I have a globe for my child and teach her things I feel our education system is weak on.
Deepest Regards,
timeless[:)]
heh.. i guess i got a little carried away [:D]
'kay, just to reiterate myself, THIS IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE DEMEANING TO ANYONE! i was hoping that people (americans) wouldn't be hurt by this, and that other people (americans and non-americans) wouldn't start insulting the americans freely.
after all, i'm sure there were many americans who knew stuff about canada, but it wouldn't have made the show funny to air that stuff, right?
and no_leaf makes a very good point too, come to canada and we have our own stupid politicians (MOST of canadian politicians shouldn't have been elected, imo).
i just thought that it was funny how people answered questions that they had no clue about, or that especially the university students/professors at those "prestigious" places (ie, harvard, princeton, etc) also had no clue what they were talking about, even when the questions related to their own field of study.
i just wanted to post something funny, so please no more offending comments. [:)]
~kakkarot
(and i'm gonna go back and fix some of those glaring spacing errors. sorry about those too [|)])
LOL [:D] no offense taken by me. [:D]so no worries there. I actually found your topic rather hilarious. [:P] where can I see this show or is it only up in Canada because I think that that's really funny about the "Canadian national anthem" LOL. I found the best part to be about "The National Igloo" LMAO. I've got a few online friends who would be rolling on the floor laughing and also some American friends who would find that funny also. LOL Yes, I'm an American I just know how to take certain things lightly. goodlight.[:)]
PS. well.... it's about TIME that you all started having the same 24 hour clock that we Americans have LOL [:P]J/k
as far as the canadian children, are they randomly tested? tested from school maybe? or from home?
the children would still fit into this statement: "if the canadian population had a percentage of internet users equal to that of the united states, the results of that quiz just might be more accurate."
The internet had nothing to do with the test. Read the article.
Here's the full survey, which explains the methods used and the exact number of people tested.
http://geosurvey.nationalgeographic.com/geosurvey/download/RoperSurvey.pdf
So that isn't the Canadian National anthem? jk. that Anthem was awesome!
I am American, but I have only lived in America for a couple of years. The rest of my life was spent in Africa, Asia, and Europe...next I'm planning on living in Tibet for a while. I still can't get over the ignorance and conceitedness of so many people in America. And like someone mentioned before...the amount of overweight people. i spent most my life in Africa, so it was quite a culture shock to see so many fat people (or are we to call them horizontally challenged?). Millions are starving to death around the world, yet America throws away tons of food every day.
I am not proud to be an American, and often when in different countries, I try to keep people from knowing that is what I am (by wearing Canadian flag shirts [:)] ) No one seems to hate Canada.
I'm trying to find a Iraqi flag to hang on my car (the way Americans always hang American flags everywhere incase they forget where they are, or what it looks like) but I doubt people would know what it was, they'd probably think it was a sports team.
Speaking of sports teams, I don't see how they like American football and baseball better than Soccer and Rugby. A lot of good movies do come out of America though...and the Simpsons...where would the world be with out the Simpsons?
All people are the same.. americans waste because we have more to waste. Its absolutely ridiculous to hear people saying "im not proud to be american" and acting like Americans are not worthy of respect as much as all these other countries youve travelled to. I've travelled to many countries too.. and what did i learn? PEOPLE ARE THE SAME EVERYWHERE. People conform to their society. If a society thinks women are inferior people in that country think women are inferior.
In america waste is allowed we have tons of restaurants.. we're overweight and flaunt our wealth. Show me a country full of wealthy people where all the wealthy people of that country dont waste (when they have things to waste) and dont oppress the poor.
This type of believing you're somehow so openminded for appreciating other countries but dissing your own is just as silly as doing the opposite.
There are starving people in america.. Do you think other countries are so open to other cultures too? There are people in american who appreciate other cultures, there are some who think American culture is the only one worth knowing.
When You're in a society you see more of its faults. In Iraq many believe the people in America are going to hell because of how are women are "allowed" to act. All countries have faults and almost all think their way is the right way.
Get real already people are the same.. its what they've experienced in their lives that make them a certain way.
What strikes me more as "stupidity" isn't people who dont know random facts. I dont see shows like street smart and say "how dumb people are". Its certain people's ideas more than their ignorance of facts that sometimes amazes me. For example, a really intelligent guy on Jeaporady might have really illogical views like gays are going to hell. Or God will punish you for not accepting Jesus.. Or a man has the right to hit his wife.
That's ignorance and stupidity.. not the fact they couldnt answer certain questions involving facts.
goingslow- Well said!
everyone- I know that this is the Astral Chat section and that relatively anything goes...but...
To the non-americans- we Americans are a diverse group. My father was an immigrant from Europe as were my grandparents. I have relatives in Canada, Argentina and Italy. You will find every race, creed and color in the United States. We are multicultural. I speak three languages. Most of the people in Southern California (where I live) speak at least two. There are people with all ranges of intelligence, aptitude, caring, spirituality as well as those with the more negative human aspects-just like anywhere else.
Please don't knock us at a spiritual website, try a political one. You may say you're only joking but it sure has an undercurrent that harbors a different feel.
One thing I will say: Americans defend their country more vehmently than Canadians.
hey nerezza or however its spelled,
if you read my whole post, youd understand that i said that statement would apply IF the test was internet based. according to what you said, its not internet based.
so since it isnt internet-based it was innaccurate in the face of official international documents comparing scores of school systems around the world, in which we ranked 3rd behind japan and germany but NOT canada. (i doubt canadians go wild with learning AFTER they graduate)
i got a little carried away and i've even posted that i did... you don't have to keep analyzing what i said.
*sigh*
I give up.
It seems to me that what matters most is if the show is funny.
There is nothing unusual about talking with americans where I live, here in Iowa. It is unavoidable.
So there is more material from the show which could be posted to this thread?
A while back I read that some people were given no external cues as to what time or day it was. They slipped into a 25 hour day. I don't know if it is true or not, but a 24 hour day seems unnatural to me.
Here you go Tom:
http://home.attbi.com/~wwwstephen/americans/
Actually clips from the show.
quote:
Originally posted by Tom
A while back I read that some people were given no external cues as to what time or day it was. They slipped into a 25 hour day. I don't know if it is true or not, but a 24 hour day seems unnatural to me.
Actually, yes, I was just chatting with a friend about a study in which a number of persons were put in rooms with no clocks and no concept of day or night. Eventually, all of them started random cycles, sleeping when they got tired, which varied greatly from day to day.
][\/][
Very funny. I watched a couple of them just now.
Someone told me that the letters of my home state (Iowa) actually stand for the phrase "idiots out wandering around". We just recently had to replace the gold dome of the "old capitol building" (the state capital was Iowa City, but it moved and the University of Iowa got the building). There was an accidental fire which melted the old dome. I don't remember how it started beyond that someone was doing something stupid and had been warned to stop doing it before the fire.
Hi, I thought it was funny just as I think Jay Leno's questions to people on the street get funny responses. Its the "Who's buried in Grant's tomb?" kind of thing.
If they were asking teenagers - well, they are generally ignorant and proud of it. They get a lot smarter as they grow up, somehow.
Anyway, consider that if you are "average". 50% of the people you meet are dumber than you are and 50% will be smarter. Not that intelligence has anything to do with knowledge acquired in life.
I suppose we will just have to "Blame Canada" for that!
quote:
Originally posted by Jenadots
I suppose we will just have to "Blame Canada" for that!
Don't get me started with the South Park quotes. I may want to better myself but I'm not above watching that show religiously and collecting the episodes.
][\/][
anybody see it last night? it was just WAY to cool to not post about[:D] (sorry to all the americans on the forums) (don't feel like you have to read it all at once)
basically Rick Mercier (of "This Hour has 22 Minutes") went around america asking americans stupid questions and getting them to say silly things about Canada. FOR INSTANCE, he convinced Govenor Tom Bilsak from Iowa that canada runs on a 20 hr clock and would soon be switching to the "american standard" 24 hr clock, and even got the govenor to say "Congradulations Canada on getting the new 24 hour clock."
Other things he's done:
He got a bunch of americans to sing Canada's National Anthem (or rather, what he SAID was Canada's national anthem)
Oh Canada, A great big empty land,
We look to america, for a helping hand,
with bannock bread, and caribou eggs,
the true north big and cold (brrr),
oh canada, we are on top,
we're close to ... the north pole,
fermez la bouche, mangez poutine,
can-a-da, a lovely winter dream,
oh canada, la la la la,
LA, LAAAAA.
He's gotten random americans to say various "Congradulation, Canada, ..." which i'll list some of:
"for getting a McDonalds"
"for getting 800 miles of paved roads"
"on becoming a part of North America" (more on this one later)
Govenor of Arkansas: "on preserving your national igloo"
"for legalizing insulin"
"on getting FM radio"
"on getting a volunteer fire station"
"on getting grade nine"
"opening a university"
"getting a second area code"
"getting one million people"
"allowing the irish to vote"
Group of Americans: "Hello Canada! our eskimo neighbors to the south."
And now for some of those questions i mentioned: (Q - rick is talking, not neccessarily asking a question, just talking. A - answer to something rick said)
Q: You think Taft, Nixon, and Mulrooney are not prime examples of the best american presidents?
A: i think there's others that show more american spirit
(for those who don't know, mulrooney is/was a canadian politician)
Q: Do you think that america should be bombing bouchard?
a: Yes
q: Should nato be bombinb bouchard?
a: yes (bouchard is another canadian politician)
q: do you think america should line up the ground troops and send them into gille de sep? (another politician)
a: yes, america should line up the ground troops.
q: and send them into gille de sep?
a: yes
q: do you think that america should be bombing saskatchewan? (talking about how russia had invaded chetnia and saskatchewan.)
a: absolutely
(same topic) q: what about ground forces? do you think ground forces should be sent into saskatchewan? that might be safer.
a: if that's what they're gonna have to do, then that's what they're gonna have to do.
========
another cool thing that rick did was to create petitions for stupid things like the following petition that he got people from Columbia University NYC to sign:
"... given that 2001 has been declared the year of the senior citizen, we demand that the government of canada discourage the tradition of placing senior citizens on northern ice flows and leaving them to perish."
q: so what are you studying again? (to a person who wrote their name on the petition)
a: history.
q: right, very good.
---
q: (to another person who signed the petition) and you're a prof here?
a: yes
q: how many years?
a: nine
q: you like it?
a: yeah.
========
q: in the year 2000, we'll (canadians) be part of North America. Is that a good idea?
a: i don't know.
========
at harvard university:
---
q: are you a student here at harvard?
a: yes i am
q: and what are you studying?
a: biology
q: well that's good, this is sort of a biological question. We're down here getting student reactions to the fact that the canadian government has decided to resume the calgary seal hunt. What's your reaction to that?
a: i'm against that. actually i'm interested in conservation biology.
---
q: are you a professor here at harvard?
a: yes
q: well, we're down here getting reactions to the fact that the canadian government has decided to resume the saskatchewan seal hunt (notice that before it was calgary seal hunt :P). What do you think of that?
a: well i think it's bad, myself. i'd like to see that stopped.
q: so we might see you up there some day visiting the seals on the ice flows?
a: who knows. good luck.
========
========
princeton:
---
q: actually, did you hear that the prime minister Tim Horton just got a double double?
a: i don't know what a double double is.
q: that means he has the support of both sides of the congress in canada.
a: wow.
q: what are you studying?
a: politics
(for those who don't know, Tim Horton is a donut shop. i don't know what the double double REALLY is though.)
---
student: "I'm studying political accounting here at Princeton and cangradulations to Prime Minister Horton on his double double."
========
========
Berkley:
---
q: canada's new prime minister, Jean Chretien, is one of the few black leaders in the G7. He's canadian african.
a: finally, the industrialized nations are getting to the point where they can elect a minority and it's nice that it's happening in our hemisphere.
(prime minister jean chretien is actually french canadian, so he's white.)
========
q: so do you think there's any point in canada having a navy if we don't have access to an ocean?
a: i don't know. i really don't know. i'd stick to the air, then, if you didn't have water.
================
and finally, the best part of the whole show (in my opinion.) it starts off with rick talking to some americans, and then he gets a group of americans to all say the response at the same time.
q: as you know in the states, they're going to bring in a dollar coin. now in canada, we've had a dollar coin for about seven years, and about two years ago we brought in a two dollar coin and now we're introducing a five dollar coin. our one dollar coin is called the looney, our two dollar coin is called the toonie (it's REAL name is the dubloon, but everyone calls it a toonie anyways).... (goes to a different group of people)
... now we're about to introduce the five dollar coin, which has a maple leaf on it and a wooden texture so people have taken to calling this coind the woody.
a: Congradulations, Canada, on getting your first woody!
================
TOO FRIGGIN GOOD!!! the show is awesome.
if you want more i can get you more. let me know what you think :D
~kakkarot
(there, much better, eh? [8D])