Those worldy Americans
In nations where democracy reigns and leaders are elected by the people, it has been said that the country is given the leadership it deserves. I'd always thought that this was an interesting concept, though was somewhat dubious about whether or not it always held true.
Then I saw the video below, and suffice it to say, I no longer question how George Bush could have been reelected president of the United States. Thanks to friend and commenter Nicole for sending me the clip.
12 comments:
sweet baby j. please tell me that there was massive amounts of editing going on here . i fear not.
That would be really funny if it were satire. But...OMG!
I'll be nice and say that you can find just as many uninformed people in any country, it's just more fun to pick on Americans.
OMG!! I'm dying over here. Can someone please get me a glass of water?
hmm... and I get no credit... :(
Sh#t, that's not good. I've been to many countries in the world but not America. I've chatted with Egyptian taxi drivers about Margaret Thatcher, village barbers in the south of Sri Lanka about the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and waiters in Mombasa about the Arab/Israeli troubles. Is this really what the most powerful country on the planet is populated with??? OMG!!
I have to say that I am not sure I'd be able to locate anyone in norway over the age of 10 who would think a triangle had four sides... but when it comes to Americans, it is much more fun to pick on them... mostly because the uninformed in America really are painfully uninformed, aren't they?
Imagine if these people actually KNEW about the rest of the world.. probably that would make things even worse.
If it weren't for the triangle line, I would completely believe in its authenticity. WHAT LIVING THING DOESN'T KNOW HOW MANY SIDES IT HAS??? That has nothing to do with world events! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go learn me some facts.
Yes, Jessica, I can guarantee that there were big bunches of editing, or at very least, judicious selection of interview subjects (us southern hemisphere types can pick soft flabby thinking US targets from 30 metres); lisoosh, you are SO right, and the danger with this, as I've learned through experience, is that there are any number of young Americans that are convinced that it's cool to think that their peers and leaders are, without exception, beyond hope... This is dangerous. And untrue. But fun to exploit, I will admit.
This has provided us with ENDLESS laughs this weekend. "Queen Elizabeth's money" has to be my favourite answer in the whole thing.
I missed the video because it has been "removed" from youtube... but the comments give me a general impression to go from.
I don't know if you can find "just as many" uninformed people in other countries. I'm sure that every country has a percentage of their population who are insufficiently educated or who have little or no awareness or understanding of other countries. As an American, I have to say that my impression is that it is something of an epidemic here. I wish that were not the case but I have to say that while the answers to the standard "can you believe people are this dumb" type surveys taken in the U.S. are frightening, I don't know a lot of Americans personally who would have any difficulty with the standard questions. When running those quentionnaires, the "easy marks" CAN easily be spotted and selected to skew on the lower end of the spectrum.
Re: what finnspadre said - I think that people do get the impression that disdain for our leaders is fashionable... it's not really that. Just under half of us did not vote for our current leader and feel uncomfortable being represented by him in the global community. A lot of us are unhappy with the actions of our current administration, it does not mean we are not proud of our country and do not have political leaders we are confident in. There are a lot of things about my nation's history and government that I love and am proud of. But like everyone in every country - there are choices my government makes that I disagree with strongly.
Hopefully the U.S. will improve in terms of better educating the masses and having greater global awareness. I have to admit experiencing discomfort when, before a recent trip to Scotland, a fellow American whom I consider fairly intelligent asked me, "They speak English there, right?" - Obviously we DO have a long way to go but please remember - a great many of us are nothing like that.
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