Embarrassingly Stupid Americans

[wayneL]

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.

What else is signaling that Americans are becoming increasingly dumbed-down as a society?

* Reading -- of books, newspapers and magazines -- is on the decline. A 2007 study even found that 80 percent of American families did not buy or read a book in 2006.

* Attention spans are declining; Jacoby suggests this is due to television and videos. For instance, between 1968 and 1988, the average sound bite on the news for a presidential candidate dropped from 42.3 seconds to 9.8 seconds. By 2000, according to a Harvard study, the daily candidate bite was down to just 7.8 seconds.

* General knowledge is eroding. This is evidenced not only by the fact that one in five U.S. adults believe the sun revolves around the Earth, but also many others.

Yet, it’s not bad enough that knowledge is quickly declining in the United States. On top of that, there is an arrogance about this lack of knowledge, almost as if a good portion of the population is saying, “We know we’re ignorant, but we don’t care!”

Consider, for instance, that a 2006 survey by National Geographic-Roper found that nearly half of young Americans did not think it was necessary to know the location of other countries in which important news was being made. And another one-third felt it was “not at all important” to know a foreign language.

Why is this so concerning? Because …

Fear and Ignorance Go Hand in Hand

The more that you are kept in the dark, either due to your own lack of inquisitiveness or the workings of an unscrupulous industry (such as the food industry that markets junk foods and soda to children as though it is something they should be consuming), the easier you are to manipulate.

And this is where a population of people who do not possess their own knowledge base will easily believe, for instance, that they must quickly get vaccinated to protect themselves against an imaginary pandemic like the bird flu, or that food from their local supermarket is somehow safer than food grown by a farmer down the road.

Obviously, most of you reading this do not fall into this category, as you are actively seeking more knowledge, just by reading this.

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.

And, ultimately, living a positive life is really what it is all about.

For those of you who want to take the information you read in this newsletter to the next level, I suggest you learn more about my brand new Inner Circle, which brings cutting-edge information from some of the top health experts on the planet, along with much, much more, right to your fingertips.
Sources:

* Washington Post February 17, 2008

 

[explod]

Weeeeeaaaalllll,,, that blows my theory,

The person who wrote that's got somethin

 

[PortfolioPlus]

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

 

[StillStanding]

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.

 

[Timmy]

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

 

[Timmy]

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.

 

[Spaghetti]

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

Yes getting that way.

 

[Santob]

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!

 

[cuttlefish]

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

lol

 

[disarray]

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.

 

[moneymajix]

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

 

[Prospector]

Re: Stoopid

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?

 

[moneymajix]

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

 

[Aussie2Aussie]

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

 

[Pommiegranite]

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.

 

[2020hindsight]

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

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

 

[2020hindsight]

..........

 

[xoa]

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.

 

[2020hindsight]

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

 

[chops_a_must]

"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.