Why People Believe Americans Are Stupid

[Joshua_me]

Maybe if you came from a State with better education, you'd have been able to read my post and understand it .

Get a room, you two.

I'm reminded of last Easter, (I think I posted this here, I can't remember)

Anyway, I was in the grocery store and overheard two 20-something year old
girls talking behind me, and one of them actually asked the other,

"So, is like Easter just like an American holiday, or do they celebrate it all over the world, like Hawaii and stuff ?"



These 'girls' had to be at least 20 years old !

*Sigh*

Sometimes I lose the will to stand up.

 

[metta]

Get a room, you two.

I'm reminded of last Easter, (I think I posted this here, I can't remember)

Anyway, I was in the grocery store and overheard two 20-something year old
girls talking behind me, and one of them actually asked the other,

"So, is like Easter just like an American holiday, or do they celebrate it all over the world, like Hawaii and stuff ?"



These 'girls' had to be at least 20 years old !

*Sigh*

Sometimes I lose the will to stand up.

I have a hard time believing that people can really be that ignorant. I'm wondering if some of them do it to get attention...to fit in...after Al Gore lost...people saw Al Gore ridiculed for "knowing too much stuff". So maybe it is just a way to fit in.

Oh never mind...just trying to understand people that I'm unable to connect with.

[Jessica Simpson and her husband are enjoying a delicious meal of Chicken of the Sea tunafish.]Jessica Simpson: Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish?

[Jessica is inverviewed by Chaunce Hayden of Metro Channel's 'Naked New York']Jessica Simpson: I hate to admit it, but yes, I swear to you, I really thought Chicken of the Sea was actually chicken. That's how I really think.

 

[JSB_01]

See, what's funny is that it was only the tourists from Texas that I was saying were the ones from Texas, the Crack heads and drugs dealers are all the ones you see if you go down to Venice Beach (watch that video again and you can tell which ones are the crack heads and which ones are the drug dealers and they're all at Venice Beach) and Venice Beach is in California.

Earlier you wrote:

THere's a show in Canada called "Talking to Americans" where they go down and ask Americans simple questions to show how ignorant the average person down here really is.

they're not "stupid" exactly.. just completely unaware about the world. It's quite sad how they just don't know anything about anything that isn't directly under their noses.

NOW.. just in the defense of Americans...

That video was shot on Venice Beach here in LA, and most of the people they interviewed were drug dealers, crack heads and tourists from Texas.

"To show how ignorant the average person down here really is." Isn't that a little condescending? Why is it that only the average person "down here" is stupid? How about average people elsewhere? Do you honestly believe that that little clip accounts for most of the average people in the US? Since you now live in the US, how many people do you deem "average," according to the definition implied by the video? Even if most of the people in your area are what you deem "average," how does that provide an accurate picture of the entire US?

All of the people interviewed were made to look like fools. And you claim that most of them were drug dealers, crack heads, and tourists from Texas. So if a Texan leaves his/her state and becomes a tourist, does that make them a different person with a different level of intelligence? Are they not the same person with the same level of intelligence here, there, and everywhere? Tourist means nothing here. Is a New Yorker tourist different from a New Yorker?

I hate to have to give a geography lesson to the Texans here, but apparently it's quite necessary.

Trust me. It isn't.

What I find funny is that the people from Texas are the ones who can't figure out what I mean by that.

I mean I didn't think the average Texan was stupider than the average American until BOTH Texans in this thread were unable to understand what I meant by that

Reading only text can be a tricky thing. It's hard to tell exactly what a person means, and if I still "misinterpreted" what you were saying, I'm sorry. If you didn't think that the average Texan was stupider than the average American until GL247 and I were "unable to understand" what you meant, what do you think of the average Texan now? If someone misunderstand what a person said or wrote, does that make them less intelligent? Can't intelligent people misinterpret information? And since GL247 and I both misunderstood you, did it occur to you that maybe you worded your response in an unclear manner?

(and let's not forget that my Boyfriend is from Houston and works for Nasa as a rocket scientist, ok?)

How can I forget what I didn't know?

 

[provenlogic]

As i always have maintained, and still do now (and i'm sorry if this offends anyone here): 24% of the U.S. population is comprised of stupid, ignorant morons. The other 75% are complete retards with absolutely no worth whatsoever. 0.9% of the remainder is at the very least, salvageable, and the last 0.1% (like me) actually know what the fuck is going on.

If i believed in god, which i don't, i would thank him every day that i was given a mind with an IQ greater than that of a turnip.

 

[tonyboy]

Good clip Dbase.
Very funny it was.
Naturally I'm embarrassed about the idiocy of the US citizens that were on that clip, but in a nation of 300 million one is bound to catch some idiots on film.

My great hope is that the sort of folks we saw on that clip don't vote in Congressonal or Presidential elections. They obviously don't have a clue as to what the world is like, not sense of history, or the place of the USA in this world today.

The political heritage of the USA basically came from Great Britain... on both sides of the Atlantic there was a property qualification for having the right to vote. The United States moved away from that pretty quickly, by the very early 19th Century those qualifications were removed. In Britain it was much more gradual, the voting franchise began to be loosened about 1820, wasn't completley removed (for males) until the late 19th Centuary.
Sometimes I wonder if we should have some sort of restriction on voters. At least I hope that the sort of folks we saw on that clip don't figure they have enough knowledge to vote and don't do so.
At some point in the future it would be very easy for a demagogue to appear on TV and persuade these rather undeducated folk to vote for them. Especially if there were some sort of national or world crisis to take advantage of.

Sort of got of subject here dbase. I think that was a funny clip and thanks for sharing it.

 

[_AJ_]

Making fun of yourself is completely different than making fun of someone else or another group of people.
The "stupid American" joke may have been funny the first time around, or the second time around, or even the third time around, but by the 125,584,369,559th time, it gets a little tiring.
Some Americans are stupid. But why is it that they are the ones that become the butt of every joke? Are stupid people only found in America?

the stupid American joke is a little old and so is this its from the CNNNN days that means 2002 for all you people who don't live here or haven't seen it before

i have seen heaps of comedians who make fun of Australia who aren't Aussie's if it was funny i laughed and if it wasn't i didnt but i never got upset about it its always just a joke and if you cant take it dont watch it

 

[Lostlover]

When is there an TV station called CNNN?

Shame on you for not seeing the hoax of this video.

 

[TriBi]

^ There seem to have been quite a few people posting in this thread with a sense of humour approximating that of a turnip...

 

[Soilwork]

"To show how ignorant the average person down here really is." Isn't that a little condescending? Why is it that only the average person "down here" is stupid?

well... there's a difference between "ignorant" and "stupid", but I think we already touched on that.

maybe I need to use words with fewer syllables?

All of the people interviewed were made to look like fools. And you claim that most of them were drug dealers, crack heads, and tourists from Texas. So if a Texan leaves his/her state and becomes a tourist, does that make them a different person with a different level of intelligence? Are they not the same person with the same level of intelligence here, there, and everywhere? Tourist means nothing here. Is a New Yorker tourist different from a New Yorker?

OK, this is such a mess that my head is hurting.

When I said that thing about the tourists...

Someone had said that it was ignorant people from LA and New York and that if you went to small towns, you'd find smart people.

I pointed out that that video may have been SHOT in LA, but they used nothing but drug dealers, crack heads and Texan Tourists. I disagreed that it was ignorant people from LA, when I'd say the only people FROM LA that they interviewed were all crack heads and drug dealers.

the rest were tourists, and the only ones who identified what state they were from were Texans.

Shall I draw you a map?


Look, this really isn't interesting enough to argue about. I was being flippant and I really don't care. If you're offended that I said you were from Texan and therefore a crack head, I can't control how you read.

 

[JSB_01]

the stupid American joke is a little old and so is this its from the CNNNN days that means 2002 for all you people who don't live here or haven't seen it before

i have seen heaps of comedians who make fun of Australia who aren't Aussie's if it was funny i laughed and if it wasn't i didnt but i never got upset about it its always just a joke and if you cant take it dont watch it

Well, excuse me for trying to argue against the "stupid American" stereotype...
You may not have gotten upset. But we're not all like you. And not everyone is like me. I'm just providing an alternate view. It would have been funnier if people didn't take it for cold, hard fact.

 

[Soilwork]

But, No reason to insult all us Texans either!

I must admit though, I'm still trying to figure out what he meant when he asked the question from which state is KFC from! I would have thought Kentucky Fried Chicken also!

1) I didn't insult all Texans.

2) He DID mean Kentucky Fried Chicken.

 

[JSB_01]

well... there's a difference between "ignorant" and "stupid", but I think we already touched on that.

maybe I need to use words with fewer syllables?

OK, this is such a mess that my head is hurting.

When I said that thing about the tourists...

Someone had said that it was ignorant people from LA and New York and that if you went to small towns, you'd find smart people.

I pointed out that that video may have been SHOT in LA, but they used nothing but drug dealers, crack heads and Texan Tourists. I disagreed that it was ignorant people from LA, when I'd say the only people FROM LA that they interviewed were all crack heads and drug dealers.

the rest were tourists, and the only ones who identified what state they were from were Texans.

Shall I draw you a map?

Look, this really isn't interesting enough to argue about. I was being flippant and I really don't care. If you're offended that I said you were from Texan and therefore a crack head, I can't control how you read.

Fine. To quote you (and to be perfectly honest) reading what you wrote "is such a mess" that my head is hurting. But I guess me being unable to understand you puts me at fault. And you not being able to understand me also puts me at fault. But I won't insult your intelligence (I wish you would have extended that courtesy.) I know that a misunderstanding is simply that: a misunderstanding.

 

[Soilwork]

(the idea was that that guy was so stupid that he couldn't figure out which state Kentucky friend Chicken was from)

 

[Soilwork]

No, most of those questions were so simple.. that's why it's so embarrassing that they didn't get it.

 

[Soilwork]

The sad fact of the matter is that if you went to Canada and interviewed people, you'd have a MUCH harder time finding so many people who were unaware of the world around them.

I highly doubt you'd be able to label Australia as North Korea and fool many people. I also doubt you'd find many who would advocate bombing a country they'd never heard of and I dont' think you'd hear things like "He's from Ontario so he must be right".

You certianly wouldn't have someone guess that the currency in England is "Queen Elizabeth's money" or "Real Canadian money."

Although not everyone in Canada would necessarily know the three countries of the "Axis of evil", that's an American concept, and since we're not in the "Coalition of the willing" you might have some people who would forget Poland (but you'd also get a lot of people who'd get that joke).

I don't think the average American is anything.. I've only really met so many, and in the circles I run in, people are willing to admit they dont' know the things they don't know. And none of them think that countries that strat with "U" include "Utah" or "Utopia."

But I do know that I've been to a few countries, and Americans seem to know the least about the world around them and although I get the humor in that piece (I'm willing to bet they found plenty of people who know John Howard isn't young and hot), I do think it under scores a common thing many of us foreigners living in America have witnessed.

 

[Nishin]

I find people who write "your/their/then" instead of "you're/they're/than" and vice-versa stupid.

 

[Sam Blum]

Just so that you all know: The guys who made up the CNNNN mini-series, who run the programme, The Chaser's War on Everything on ABC TV, are satirical comics. They are well known here for their ballsy, inspired and rather insightful 'digs' at politicians, retailers, CEO's and anyone else who dares to publicly bullshit.

That said, I'm sure you all understand that, 1/ Nothing was said or done to the USA. public that isn't done here at home to anyone and everyone available to the guys, and 2/ the amount of bullshit dumped on the world by the USA makes Americans sitting ducks for a quick laugh.

No harm done.

 

[botboy03]

Jeeze. I thought it was funny and I saw it as a joke. Its sad but true. America seems to be blessed with lots of idiots walking around. Until the Australia Golden Shower video, I didn't know what the Australian Prime Minister looked like. But I could name several countries that start with U, my first thought being Uruguay and then the USA. Also the United Arab Emirates is another one.

 

[botboy03]

I knew the "Axis of Evil" was, the "Coalition of the willing" however I had to go and look up.


Oh, and by the way. I'm the Prime Minister of Canada, Tim Horton. Would you like to meet my defense minister- Pierre Poutine?

LOL, can I get some Timbits, Mr Prime Minister? A big thank you to gsdx(Neil) for educating me in the ways of Canada through his stories.

 

[DavidNY]

I find people who write "your/their/then" instead of "you're/they're/than" and vice-versa stupid.

I think every society will have its uneducated and, dare I say, basically low class people who are just not educated and not clued in. But what strikes me as amazing is how many so-called educated people in America don't know even the most basic things about the rest of the world, or science, or their own history, or about even damn English for crying out loud!

I remember when I moved from India to NY at 18 and went to the college I had applied to to find out what was going on about my admissions...I went to meet the head of the foreign students' office to see about the status of my application. To my amazement the guy kept insisting that I enroll in remedial English classes for a while before enrolling in regular classes. I thought the man was joking. After all, HE was the guy who'd made about half a dozen subject-verb mistakes ("There's two things...") and quite a few other just daft mistakes ("You should OF done this..."). I know I hadn't made a single mistake and I knew my damn English SAT marks were about 200 points higher than the average for the college. I couldn't believe what I kept hearing when I would try and explain to him that my English was fine, thank you very much. He kept saying "In AMERICA, we...", or "Your English may have been okay for India, but in America we..."! I didn't end up having to take the course out of sheer insistance and I became an English teaching assistant at the college the following fucking year, but I still could never shake off how odd that damn American confidence was.

I really think that's part of the reason why even educated Americans can come off as so clueless. Throughout college, I kept coming across people who thought Africa was a country, or couldn't name 2 world leaders beyond Bush and Blair! I mean, come on! And the worst part was a total lack of any embarassment or any realization that a reasonable mediocre education should do better than that! At some point Americans have to see that their ignorance might have worked once when everything in the world was seen through America's eyes and everything had a price in dollars...But that's just not the case today and certainly not anywhere near the extent that it was even a decade ago.

I've even met college going Americans (in New York, mind you, not some small town in the middle of nowhere) who're actually proud of the fact that they don't know a damn thing about the countries they support their nation waging war against! "Hey, I'm A-MER-ican!"

Hmm, anyway, glad I got that out of my system!