# Embarrassingly Stupid Americans



## wayneL (12 March 2008)

OK the title is not my words, just so nobody thinks I'm rabidly anti-American. They are the words of Dr Joseph Mercola, whom many of you would be familiar with. But I have rellies over there and it draws a line straight through what I have found as well.

Check it out: http://articles.mercola.com/sites/a...-five-believes-sun-revolves-around-earth.aspx



> *Embarrassingly Stupid Americans -- One in Five Believes Sun Revolves Around Earth*
> 
> The title of this article, that an embarrassingly high number of Americans believe that the sun revolves around the Earth, is only one point argued by the Washington Post’s Susan Jacoby, in her attempt to prove that Americans are in serious intellectual trouble, facing a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.
> 
> ...


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## explod (12 March 2008)

Weeeeeaaaalllll,,,       that blows my theory, 

The person who wrote that's got somethin


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## PortfolioPlus (12 March 2008)

Take out "Americans" and insert "Generation Y" and the article (almost) reads true as well.


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## StillStanding (12 March 2008)

I'm living in the US at the moment and have witnessed some fairly strange things. But you have to put it in context. 
People in the US live in a country of around 300m people, which is the worlds largest economy by god knows how much. Many US states have more important economies than some developed countries. They have an army which is, when push comes to shove, invincible. Their country is geographically enormous and endowed with tremendous natural resources. The fact is, they have a hard enough time knowing much about their own country beyond their home state. There is too much information and the complexity must become quite bewildering. With all this I am beginning to understand their ignorance of countries beyond their own.


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## Timmy (12 March 2008)

Looks like an interesting article Wayne but its a bit long to read.  Is there anything on utube about it or on tv?


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## Timmy (12 March 2008)

PortfolioPlus said:


> Take out "Americans" and insert "Generation Y" and the article (almost) reads true as well.




I think you could probably substitute "Australians" for "Americans" as well.


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## Spaghetti (12 March 2008)

Timmy said:


> I think you could probably substitute "Australians" for "Americans" as well.




Yes getting that way.


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## Santob (12 March 2008)

StillStanding said:


> I'm living in the US at the moment and have witnessed some fairly strange things. But you have to put it in context.
> People in the US live in a country of around 300m people, which is the worlds largest economy by god knows how much. Many US states have more important economies than some developed countries. They have an army which is, when push comes to shove, invincible. Their country is geographically enormous and endowed with tremendous natural resources. The fact is, they have a hard enough time knowing much about their own country beyond their home state. There is too much information and the complexity must become quite bewildering. With all this I am beginning to understand their ignorance of countries beyond their own.




Ahh the brainwashing is working!


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## cuttlefish (12 March 2008)

Timmy said:


> Looks like an interesting article Wayne but its a bit long to read.  Is there anything on utube about it or on tv?





lol


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## disarray (12 March 2008)

> Well, it is my goal to help create a fundamental paradigm shift in people’s consciousness about health, and also about empowerment. Because the more you know, the more you will realize that you have the power to impart positive changes in your life, and the lives of those around you.




good luck with that. he's just appealing for the sheeple to wake up to themselves instead of being a bunch of dumbasses getting fleeced by the corporations.

from the outside it seems the american peoples psyche is totally dominated by the corporations. every single aspect of their lives is subject to fierce competition if you can pay, and if you can't you are cut loose. 

corporation executive are receiving OBSCENE amounts of money, even for failure, while the minimum wage worker earns about $6/hour, and the consumer has to pitch in with tips so they can survive.

the elites have vast amounts of money they use to buy congress and the political parties are not shy of taking the proceeds. i think australia making voting mandatory is a good thing because it stops a lot of stuff like that occurring.

the american public is constantly bombarded with information through the media, which is designed to sell products in between entertainment. the authors attention span idea is good, our brains are processing so much information now it gets difficult to filter out a lot of the guff.

when kids watch TV they receive massive bursts of information which their brains have to process, and as they watch tv instead of going outside to play, their brains get wired to accept it, then when they go to school they are restless because there's not enough stimulation.

this lets the corporations sell drugs to the kids for ADHD, setting drug dependence (and brand loyalty) patterns, while junk food corporations permeate all levels of media to sell an image to these wired up, doped down kids to eat more of their **** food and buy whatever this weeks trinket is.

only a severe national crisis will break these patterns for white americans, otherwise they are too fat, too comfortable and too stupid to know or even care whats happening to them.


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## moneymajix (12 March 2008)

*Re: Stoopid*

The U.S. Population is Functionally Illiterate.



*Some startling statistics*

by Robyn Jackson


The following statistics about book publishing and reading were found on www.parapub.com, the Web site of self-publishing guru Dan Poynter. They'll give you an idea of what you're up against if you want to write books for a living.


*1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives. 

42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college. 

80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year. 

70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years. 

57 percent of new books are not read to completion. 

70 percent of books published do not earn back their advance. 

70 percent of the books published do not make a profit.

(Source: Jerold Jenkins, www.JenkinsGroupInc.com)*




*Each day in the U.S., people spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines.*
(Source: Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment banker)




http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html


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## Prospector (12 March 2008)

*Re: Stoopid*



moneymajix said:


> *Each day in the U.S., people spend 4 hours watching TV, 3 hours listening to the radio and 14 minutes reading magazines.*
> (Source: Veronis, Suhler & Associates investment banker)




And no time on the internet?


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## moneymajix (12 March 2008)

P

A press release from the US Census Bureau, December 2006.

According to projections from a communications industry forecast (Table 1110), people will spend 65 days in front of the TV, 41 days listening to radio and a little over a week on the Internet in 2007. Adults will spend about a week reading a daily newspaper and teens and adults will spend another week listening to recorded music. 


http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/miscellaneous/007871.html


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## Aussie2Aussie (12 March 2008)

The politicians are in a class of their own as well.

You will laugh your head off with this interview.

Sorry cant load on the thread, maybe 20/20 could.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z0X6ktpE34


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## Pommiegranite (12 March 2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esbS_vT25GU

I like the above Chaser's geography lessons.

What I also find funny are the Comments and responses on the webpage from American You Tube viewers.


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## 2020hindsight (12 March 2008)

Aussie2Aussie said:


> The politicians are in a class of their own as well.
> 
> You will laugh your head off with this interview.
> 
> ...



happily m8 , lol - ripper
  Lynn Westmoreland Republican Religous freak EXPOSED 

:topic  Whilst at it , this one is also worth a laugh - but one intelligent American - and funny 
 George Carlin - Ten Commandments


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## 2020hindsight (12 March 2008)

..........


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## xoa (12 March 2008)

PortfolioPlus said:


> Take out "Americans" and insert "Generation Y" and the article (almost) reads true as well.




Don't assume your own kids are representative of the whole.


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## 2020hindsight (12 March 2008)

xoa said:


> Don't assume your own kids are representative of the whole.



as if you can generalise (from my personal experience), some Gen Y could teach the other gen Y heaps -  and they could be in the same family for that matter


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## chops_a_must (12 March 2008)

"Is France a country?"

...

"I don't think France is a country."

Are you dumber than an American?

If you don't know what I'm talking about... check it.


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## 2020hindsight (12 March 2008)

George Carlin on "the American Dream"

the table is tilted folks 
It's called the "AMERICAN DREAM"
because you have to be asleep to believe it.


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## moneymajix (13 March 2008)

*Re: Dumber than Dirt ...*

2020

Very Good.


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## prawn_86 (13 March 2008)

Yeh it seems to me as though America (and most Western countries for that matter) are operating Communism/Dictatorships under the guise of capitalism, with a select few controlling the vast majority by dumbing them down.

The pertinent question here is:

How do you beat "them"/help the vast majority become educated?

I havnt been able to find an answer, so the old adage "cant beat them, join them" is what im sticking to.


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## Spaghetti (13 March 2008)

Education has not helped it seems. I watched a program on the Singaporean education system once and how it produced a high level of technical skills but actually suppressed entrepenurial skills. I think we (and the US) have managed the same outcome from over education though perhaps to a lesser degree.

I did find before I FLED the workforce hee hee that the system was churning out manufactured employees. They were a good cultural fit rather than original thinkers. To be honest they all seemed to have the same personality, wore the same type outfits, read the same newspapers and books and ate at the same restaurants. Little wonder we end up with an inability for critical thinking when even the highly educated amongst us restrict their experiences to an acceptable few.

Yes we have been pigeonholed well and truly.


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## PortfolioPlus (13 March 2008)

xoa said:


> Don't assume your own kids are representative of the whole.




Hey buddy, when I made my comment about Gen Y's...it's based upon me personally employing in excess of 200 Generation Y's...so yeah, whilst generalities can often be flawed, I feel I have the right to make a contrast between the generations. Give me the baby boomers anytime. For the record my kids are doing just fine.

But I do thank the generation Y's for one thing (or at least those who worked for me). And that is, that business isn't everything...so I sold out and am happy to have done so.

Now the task is to preserve the capital...and it ain't easy at the moment!  

But I can rest easy...if I blow it I can get the pension and be a burden on the Gen Y's!


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## spooly74 (13 March 2008)

chops_a_must said:


> "Is France a country?"
> 
> ...
> 
> ...




GOLD



Mind you, this French bloke is just as bad, if not worse!....and that goes for the gob****es in the audience too!!


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## chops_a_must (13 March 2008)

Ah well... with 1500 euros, he'll be a millionaire in USD money soon anyway. Lol!


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## theasxgorilla (13 March 2008)

prawn_86 said:


> Yeh it seems to me as though America (and most Western countries for that matter) are operating Communism/Dictatorships under the guise of capitalism, *with a select few controlling the vast majority by dumbing them down.*
> 
> The pertinent question here is:
> 
> ...




Does this really happen.  Are there really politicians in a country such as America that actually do thing to dumb down their populous...or is it more a by-product of neglect?

ASX.G


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## prawn_86 (13 March 2008)

theasxgorilla said:


> Does this really happen.  Are there really politicians in a country such as America that actually do thing to dumb down their populous...or is it more a by-product of neglect?
> 
> ASX.G




I would think intentional neglect is a very strong possibility IMO.

IE - not increasing education funding, or not making it a major issue, or saying they will improve things but not actual doing so, or falsifying figures etc etc.

Deliberate neglect is the same as intentional dumbing down. Providing it serves the politicians, and those who control/pay/bribe them then it will get done.

So yes, politicians would really do this

Thats my cynical view...


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## wayneL (13 March 2008)

theasxgorilla said:


> Does this really happen.  Are there really politicians in a country such as America that actually do thing to dumb down their populous...or is it more a by-product of neglect?
> 
> ASX.G



You gotta wonder. The are any number of conspiracy theories that claim we are being dumbed down. A quick google search.

Whether intentional or not, I have certainly seen a declining ability/willingness to examine issues, everything is centered around 8 second sound-bites... and even that used to be a 15 second sound-bite. The state is dictating more and more how we must think, that is undeniable,a nd as mentioned above, the constant appetite for entertainment (whether groomed or not) in favour of conversation, reading debating etc is highly disturbing.

And it's not just gen y. With a few delightful exceptions, my own generation of late boomers/early gen Xers have developed a singular lack of critical thought. 

Is it intentional? It's a bit hard to believe that a global elite (bildabergers or whoever) had it planned all the time, but they are certainly capitalizing on it.


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## 2020hindsight (13 March 2008)

wayneL said:


> Whether intentional or not, I have certainly seen a declining ability/willingness to examine issues, everything is centered around 8 second sound-bites...



and sometimes the "point" zooms past - and you have to think about it ...

Apart from the fact that Governor Spitzer of NY was a total hypocrite (sure to be a headline) - and the fact that the new Governor is blind ( yesss!!) 

but probably the real news is .. why the hell was his phone tapped?? 

PS Unless he was stupid enough to put it on his government VISA I guess ) 
PS I don't condone his behaviour - then again, I'm not sure I condone the police behaviour either 

http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2188789.htm#comments



> It seems to me that moral hypocrisy has got quite out of hand. We have allowed the chattering classes, notably journalists and in the current case also the police, to impose on the community, moral standards that often enough they do not practice, any more than does the community.
> 
> The spectacle of the governor of New York abasing himself on television about how he had violated his obligations to his family and that he had violated his or anyone's sense of right and wrong was invidious.
> 
> ...


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## xoa (13 March 2008)

PortfolioPlus said:


> Hey buddy, when I made my comment about Gen Y's...it's based upon me personally employing in excess of 200 Generation Y's...so yeah, whilst generalities can often be flawed, I feel I have the right to make a contrast between the generations. Give me the baby boomers anytime. For the record my kids are doing just fine.
> 
> But I do thank the generation Y's for one thing (or at least those who worked for me). And that is, that business isn't everything...so I sold out and am happy to have done so.
> 
> ...




Every generation has bad eggs. A large minority of baby boomers were filthy, degenerate hippies. Years of substance abuse caused many to develop a chronic mental disability.

Good on you, for boasting about your business success to an anonymous audience. I'm a GenY, born in China but now a proud Aussie, and in my last year of university. I haven't experienced the pleasure of ripping off an unsuspecting entrepreneur (I guess that's one of our generational character flaws), but I'm also happy with my life to date. I secured a scholarship and guaranteed graduate employment in my first year of uni. It's not all about the money, I'll genuinely look forward to treating your generation as you enter your autumn years. 

Rest assured that I won't mind paying for your pension, my starting salary will be generous. Within a few years, private health funds will be giving me more cash than I could possibly spend. Baby boomers expect silver spoon service, and they're willing to pay through the teeth for it.


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## 2020hindsight (13 March 2008)

well fwiw, I reckon we could just as easily start a thread "Embarrassingly Stupid Australians" as well.  With the possible exception of us being probably more interested in "matters USA", whereas the average American has little incentive or presumably encouragement to be interested in AUS for instance. - just speculatin here


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## Mofra (13 March 2008)

2020hindsight said:


> but probably the real news is .. why the hell was his phone tapped??



Congratulations 2020, you've demonstrated critical thinking abilities that pot you ahead 98% of the pack


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## 2020hindsight (13 March 2008)

Mofra said:


> Congratulations 2020, you've demonstrated critical thinking abilities that pot you ahead 98% of the pack



hey mofra - blame ABC's David Barnett for the thinking -  I just did the reading 

I liked one of the comments there .. (Aussie larrikin obviously) ...
"Why should anyone, let alone Australians, care whether an American politician SLEEPS with prostitutes" - as long as he doesn't snore I guess 

But hell there are brothels in Nevada etc that cover acres, - they could connect generators to the bedsprings and run the lights of Las Vegas .!!..  - yet elsewhere in USA they make it out to be a hanging offense - weird isn't it


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## chops_a_must (13 March 2008)

wayneL said:


> Whether intentional or not, I have certainly seen a declining ability/willingness to examine issues, everything is centered around 8 second sound-bites... and even that used to be a 15 second sound-bite. The state is dictating more and more how we must think, that is undeniable,a nd as mentioned above, the constant appetite for entertainment (whether groomed or not) in favour of conversation, reading debating etc is highly disturbing.
> 
> And it's not just gen y. With a few delightful exceptions, my own generation of late boomers/early gen Xers have developed a singular lack of critical thought.



Definitely, and anyone that can't spell that word shouldn't be allowed a uni degree.

But yeah, we have a situation where our society is churning out economics, business, commerce, blah blah blah clones on a massive scale, with abominable spelling, and who have not for one moment studied anything that would be closely regarded as critical analysis. Learning models and coming up with numbers, regurgitating clichés, as seen on this forum, is not a sign of intelligence. We might as well have a bunch of parrots being paid top dollar. At least they are entertaining.

We have University courses offering PHD's, literally, "Doctor of Philosophy in", without those Universities offering philosophy units at all! So you can go from pre-school to PHD level without ever learning critical analysis or critical arguments. Such is the society we live in where lateral thinking and questioning is actually shunned, and those with a mindset for such, scorned.

/justified, correctly spelled and grammatically correct rant.

P.S. - Spitzer's hooker was pretty gorgeous. Good on him I say!


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## wayneL (13 March 2008)

chops_a_must said:


> P.S. - Spitzer's hooker was pretty gorgeous. Good on him I say!




At $1,000 an hour, she is probably more than just gorgeous!


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## PortfolioPlus (14 March 2008)

xoa said:


> Every generation has bad eggs. A large minority of baby boomers were filthy, degenerate hippies. Years of substance abuse caused many to develop a chronic mental disability.
> 
> Good on you, for boasting about your business success to an anonymous audience. I'm a GenY, born in China but now a proud Aussie, and in my last year of university. I haven't experienced the pleasure of ripping off an unsuspecting entrepreneur (I guess that's one of our generational character flaws), but I'm also happy with my life to date. I secured a scholarship and guaranteed graduate employment in my first year of uni. It's not all about the money, I'll genuinely look forward to treating your generation as you enter your autumn years.
> 
> Rest assured that I won't mind paying for your pension, my starting salary will be generous. Within a few years, private health funds will be giving me more cash than I could possibly spend. Baby boomers expect silver spoon service, and they're willing to pay through the teeth for it.




WooHoo! Go XAO! Sounds like white shoes for you!

Will we meet in the dentists chair, the surgery or will I be looking up at you as the anaesthetic is about to kick in? 

Great to see you on this site as you might just resolve the medical riddle.

Why don't doctors retire?

Answer: They can't afford to because they invested in just about every dumb-ass tax avoiding program running around that wasn't worth a "hill of beans". 

Have a great career buddy and that old bit of advice about saving 10% of what you earn still doesn't have a peer. 

As to the hippies...well...most of them grew out of it in their thirties and picked up their "responsibility" yoke. And that's the generalised frustration I have with GenY and I know I am not alone. 

You see, if someone in society doesn't shoulder their share of the load...others have to. Like the six strapping...but unemployed..."surfies" who can rent a beachside unit with their pooled benefits.  

XAO...with your "generous starting salary" comes a generous tax slug and you have a right to ask the question: what does my tax buy me?


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## chops_a_must (14 March 2008)

wayneL said:


> At $1,000 an hour, she is probably more than just gorgeous!




Perhaps a specialist in lateral positioning for leg trades?

Or is that, "lateral legs for position trades"?  I forget.

You'd hate it if she liked to knock off early... so to speak...


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## wayneL (14 March 2008)

chops_a_must said:


> Perhaps a specialist in lateral positioning for leg trades?
> 
> Or is that, "lateral legs for position trades"?  I forget.
> 
> You'd hate it if she liked to knock off early... so to speak...




I wonder if she is in the 5% :


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## chops_a_must (14 March 2008)

wayneL said:


> I wonder if she is in the 5% :




I don't know, but she could be a sandpaper Sally:


> lateral position netting may reduce liquidity risks




You'd hate to invest $1,000 in her for an hour, only to find out she was illiquid.


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## wayneL (14 March 2008)

chops_a_must said:


> I don't know, but she could be a sandpaper Sally:
> 
> You'd hate to invest $1,000 in her for an hour, only to find out she was illiquid.




Hahahaha! That is in the 5% of risque' double entendre.


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## xyzedarteerf (14 March 2008)

i personally believe US Americans...


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## cuttlefish (14 March 2008)

"everyone like such as I believe that the US education over here ..." (as opposed to the US education over there lol)  

That was hilarious and scary at the same time.


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## 2020hindsight (14 March 2008)

wayneL said:


> ... the words of Dr Joseph Mercola, whom many of you would be familiar with. ...






> 1. Embarrassingly Stupid Americans -- One in Five Believes Sun Revolves Around Earth
> 
> 2. The title of this article, that an embarrassingly high number of Americans believe that the sun revolves around the Earth, is only one point argued by the Washington Post’s Susan Jacoby, in her attempt to prove that Americans are in serious intellectual trouble, facing a virulent mixture of anti-intellectualism, anti-rationalism and low expectations.
> 
> ...




1. I'll come back to that 
2. anti-rationalism - I'll come back to that too lol
3. terrifying
4. even more terrifying - xenophobic, intolerant of multiculturalism
5. so easy to manipuplate - hence possibly the ease of signing up GI's from the ghettos (not renowned as the best places to grow up if you want an education). 

1. I'm guessing that 12 out of 12 of the Disciples thought that as well - and so too did JC, and so too did the Pope as recently as the early 1600's. 
2. Richard thingo (forget his name, starts with D    ) has been saying the same thing for a while now. : 2twocents

PS As for Aussies, how dumb are they lol - some still think that Joh and Hinze weren't corrupt


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## Santob (14 March 2008)

2020hindsight said:


> 1. I'm guessing that 12 out of 12 of the Disciples thought that as well - and so too did JC, and so too did the Pope as recently as the early 1600's.




I suspect that the Pope (should it be Popeses') had an inkling against the world being flat even back in 1494 when the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed. If not then, then certainly by 1529 when this was what was agreed upon:








And apologies for raising the bar of the Average American with this post.


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## 2020hindsight (14 March 2008)

Santob said:


> I suspect that the Pope (should it be Popeses') had an inkling against the world being flat even back in 1494 when the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed. If not then, then certainly by 1529 when this was what was agreed upon:



Santob - howdy. 
world flat ? - mm maybe the Popes suspected that it was round - (but not the Disciples surely)  
sun goes round the Earth? - m8 - it says so in the Bible! - must be right 



> Western Christian biblical references Psalm 93:1, Psalm 96:10, and 1 Chronicles 16:30 include text stating that "the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved." In the same tradition, Psalm 104:5 says, "the LORD set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved." Further, Ecclesiastes 1:5 states that "And the sun rises and sets and returns to its place, etc."[63]




and Galileo was imprisoned for daring to say otherwise. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei


> Galileo was ordered to stand trial on suspicion of heresy in 1633. The sentence of the Inquisition was in three essential parts:
> 
> a) Galileo was required to abjure the opinion that the Sun lies motionless at the centre of the universe, and that the Earth is not at its centre and moves; the idea that the Sun is stationary was condemned as "formally heretical." However, while there is no doubt that Pope Urban VIII and the vast majority of Church officials did not believe in heliocentrism, heliocentrism was never formally or officially condemned by the Catholic Church, except insofar as it held (for instance, in the formal condemnation of Galileo) that "The proposition that the sun is in the center of the world and immovable from its place is absurd, philosophically false, and formally heretical; because it is expressly contrary to Holy Scriptures", and the converse as to the Sun's not revolving around the Earth.[65]
> 
> ...




Others around the same time were burned at the stake for saying what Galileo had said - that the Earth moved round the Sun.



> On 31 October 1992, Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled, and officially conceded that the Earth was not stationary, as the result of a study conducted by the Pontifical Council for Culture




PS Magellan's crew made it back after the first circumnavigation - in 1522 (Magellan himself was killed in the Philippines) 
so sure - they knew absolutely it was round then. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan



> Of the 240 crew members who set out with Magellan to circumnavigate the earth, only 18 completed the circumnavigation of the globe and managed to return to Spain in 1522.[1][2


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## chops_a_must (14 March 2008)

Santob said:


> I suspect that the Pope (should it be Popeses') had an inkling against the world being flat even back in 1494 when the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed. If not then, then certainly by 1529 when this was what was agreed upon:
> 
> And apologies for raising the bar of the Average American with this post.




There's reason to believe that most authorities did indeed believe in a spherical earth from the appropriately named helenistic times, and that the flat earth belief was more a function of story telling and map making.

After all, what did Atlas carry on his shoulders?

Cheers.


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## 2020hindsight (16 March 2008)

Thought I'd better post one to "balance things up a bit" - show that a stack have a great sense of humour - try to get teachers in Aus to help make an ad like this lol  (then again - who knows)  

 Bud Light Swear Jar (Mohawk Version)


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## 2020hindsight (16 March 2008)

chops_a_must said:


> There's reason to believe that most authorities did indeed believe in a spherical earth from the appropriately named helenistic times, and that the flat earth belief was more a function of story telling and map making.
> 
> After all, what did Atlas carry on his shoulders?
> 
> Cheers.




PS Chops
That's the Ball of the Heavens he has on his shoulders - you'll see the constellations there - but no biggie.  

You've got me thinking - does anyone know when the first sculpture of a round earth was made?  



> The TItan Atlas bears the ball of heaven, inscribed with the heavenly constellations




PS In fact it reads that the Greeks believed the earth was flat.... 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_(mythology)



> Atlas, along with his brother Menoetius, sided with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. His brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus weighed the odds and betrayed the other Titans by forming an alliance with the Olympians. When the Titans were defeated , many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, *but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of the Gaia, the Earth and hold up Ouranos, the Sky on his shoulders,* to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace. Thus he was Atlas Telamon, "enduring Atlas".
> .....
> 
> A common misconception is that Atlas was forced to hold the earth on his shoulders, but this is incorrect. Classical art shows Atlas holding a Celestial Sphere, not a Globe.




But you're right - this is one old sculpture (2nd century sheesh)

PS Great title that Ayn Rand chose for one of her books ... "Atlas Shrugged"


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## 2020hindsight (16 March 2008)

2020hindsight said:


> Thought I'd better post one to "balance things up a bit" - show that a stack have a great sense of humour - try to get teachers in Aus to help make an ad like this lol  (then again - who knows)



tackling binge drinking by getting kids to identify with drinking Light ? - maybe they're onto something


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## chops_a_must (16 March 2008)

2020hindsight said:


> PS Chops
> That's the Ball of the Heavens he has on his shoulders - you'll see the constellations there - but no biggie.
> 
> You've got me thinking - does anyone know when the first sculpture of a round earth was made?
> ...




I haven't read anywhere that says the Greeks believed the Earth to be flat. I had always read that Atlas held up the sky, but anyway, must have known something if they thought the sky was spherical.



> The Myth of the Flat Earth or Flat Earth mythology refers to the modern belief that the prevailing cosmological view during the Middle Ages saw the Earth as flat, instead of spherical. Today it is widely recognized among professional medievalists and historians of science that the "medieval flat Earth" is a misconception, and that the few verifiable "flat Earthers" of the period were the exception.
> 
> As is expressed by Stephen Jay Gould, "there never was a period of “flat earth darkness” among scholars (regardless of how the public at large may have conceptualized our planet both then and now). Greek knowledge of sphericity never faded, and all major medieval scholars accepted the earth’s roundness as an established fact of cosmology."[1] David Lindberg and Ronald Numbers also write: "there was scarcely a Christian scholar of the Middle Ages who did not acknowledge [Earth's] sphericity and even know its approximate circumference."[2]
> 
> ...




Cheers.


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## 2020hindsight (16 March 2008)

thanks m8 - interesting 

I still think that to have a "western edge" Earth can't have been SPherical  - but whatever...  


> but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of the Gaia, the Earth and hold up Ouranos, the Sky on his shoulders,




btw, the first post of this thread claimed that 20% of Americans allegedly believe the Sun goes round the Earth. - no question or argument that Galileo was imprisoned for saying otherwise yes?

PS I wonder how long the modern Americans were given to answer, or if they were just "playing Irish" to piss the "opinion survey person" off .  :


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## 2020hindsight (16 March 2008)

2020hindsight said:


> Bud Light Swear Jar (Mohawk Version)





:topic   reminds me of this old cartoon - swear jar - (pretty appropriate it is in my case as well lol)


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## jman2007 (28 March 2008)

In case any of you missed this in the ASF joke thread...

Well here it is again, it's a good one...


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## phoenix_gr (29 March 2008)

PortfolioPlus said:


> Take out "Americans" and insert "Generation Y" and the article (almost) reads true as well.




And which generation are you pray tell?


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