You have to laugh (or you would cry).

pav_3j

Eric,

touche!

Mr.S, you have been officially rinsed.

there are three kinds of people in this world, those that are stupid, and those that aren't.

pav

Mr S

Hi Eric,

The term "stupid Americans" was what the video was listed as.
It was not my choice of words.
"But..." was a reference to my use of stereotypes, not my view of Americans.
I said there was an element of truth to them.
Not all British people have a stiff upper lip and keep their emotions under control.
Not all Latin Americans have a fiery nature and use their hands and arms to express themselves. But these characteristics are common enough amongst these peoples to be able to distinguish them from one another.

Yes, we could all be subjected to a range of questions that would ultimately make us look as though we need further education. But the questions asked on the video was a pretty simple geographical one. Not rocket science.

My question really was how ignorant (not stupid) of the rest of the world is the "average" American.
Yes, I know you can ask me to define "average" but I'll let you decide that.

I just wonder whether America is similar to the Roman Empire?
When you are the greatest superpower on earth who cares about the rest of the world!

For the record, my limited contact with America and Americans has been very positive.
Americans share too much in common with us Brits for me to feel any differently.

(pav_3j - Sorry, I must be a bit stupid. What does "rinsed" mean?)

Regards
Mr S

chango70

I wouldn't neccessarily think that lacking geographical knowledge equates to stupidity, however, it does show the American education system in a pretty bad light.

remus

I think to a certain extent the 'stupid' factor comes from the fact that america is a very big place. i.e. there is enough going on there to occupy the majority of peoples minds, so they dont concern themselves with the workings of the rest fo the world. I reckon their geographical isolation also plays a part in this.

solo

I thought this was funny.

Alan Fraser

I thought the clip that Marian linked to was pretty scary. I'm certain that degree of profound ignorance can be found all over the world if you're selective enough.
How on earth can someone as old as that guy near the end never have heard of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Doesn't he even watch TV? Maybe he just watches an unadulterated diet of sport, game shows (not the quiz kind, apparently) and Jerry Springer.

The question about who ought to get nuked was like watching a Randy Newman song being acted out in real life....."Boom goes London, boom Paree...."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGO42gvCSPI

boofredlay

@mr s said:

The term "stupid Americans" was what the video was listed as.
It was not my choice of words.

The video you linked to is titled: "Europe is a country and everyone speaks french here".
I also don't see a "Stupid Americans" general heading in that link. Sorry if I misunderstood your intent.

@pav_3j said:

Mr.S, you have been officially rinsed.

My intent was not to rinse anybody, whatever that means.

Funny picture Pete.

Vortex

I am sure all Americans are not like that, however, as I’m myself a cheese stinker, it seems to me quite suspect in the first nation in the world, self-proclaimed defender of democracy,
We can ignore so many things about the outside world, including the foundations of civilization and democracies of the old, but wise europe ... And that in a game intellectual trend.
when I think I am the representative of the country recognized as the most arrogant, it is still surprising.
In another case settled about chicken french, means no more American to balk for the anti Iraq war .... This does not prevent me from the late American soldier who continues to give their lives for chemical weapons unfortunately can not be found ......... big arm but no memory.
but remain light ... And take the heart of our exciting lives

just for me the country of Europe in question is hungary. I always confused with Romania .... I am a little stupid sometimes, but I do not know the tv.

JuanV.Soler

honestly, this picture is something to think about it.
i´ll posted again but shorter

Stinkie

Due to my firm dislike of America's foreign politics, I'd very much like to believe anything negative said about Americans. Nonetheless I don't buy it. Americans, inheritantly dumber than the rest of us? Nah. Not very plausible. Can't be. One glimpse at the book shelves in my study tells me otherwise. Malamud, Wolfe, Mailer, Carver, Allen - all very much American. And let's not forget 'The Simpsons', 'Six Feet Under', 'Deadwood' ...

Then again ... man! Are you folks weird! Or at least: you seem to have strayed. This is something I've been wondering about alot lately: whatever happened to that wild and bustling nation that gave birth to the likes of Pollock, Wright and Salinger? From where I'm standing, it looks a little like it's given in to xenophobia and self-centered pouting. And to destroying rather than building.

Time for change, eh? Come on, now. Make the world jealous again, rather than just p*ssed off.

I just feel like throwing this comment on the upcoming elections in (cuz I think it's funny). From 'Mock The Week', a British satirical tv show: "No American would put a cross next to a black man - unless it's on fire."

Go build something.

Marian

@unknownuser said:

just for me the country of Europe in question is hungary. I always confused with Romania

"vinyl record screeching" Say what homey!!?? That's a thing you have in common with Lenny Kravitz, in his case it's worse he actually was in Romania and said that the Love Revolution needs Hungary. Guess it's that thing with the capital cities Budapest and Bucharest(Bookooreshtea-that's how it would sort of sound in Romanian so there would be no more confusion) to be fair also Budapest I think it's read Budapesh in Hungarian (Gaieus correct me if i'm wrong).
About stupid people....well there are some videos with Romanians which are as dumb as those.But we have an excuse maybe 2. Most people here were born during the communist regime and were taught to be workers with only a few grades and hundreds of thousand of engineers came out of universities and the doors to the outside world were firmly shut and we spent almost 20 years recovering from the fall of Communism...so you're probably thinking "who cares?"..that's the point exactly..Romania has a relatively minor part in the world.
I sure hope most Americans are not as dumb as those, because of their current position in world affairs...i would have more hope if their president wasn't George W Bush...Obama seems smarter...but i bet the other guy will win, the geezer, he's more american probably...
The larger issuue here is education all over the world...i'm pretty sure that it is rubbish in 90% of the countries...except for the Scandinavian countries ..i heard that kids there learn 9 languages during school years ... i only studied 3 and only english was from the first grade. We still have a long way to becoming an enlighted people can't see it happening in the next 300 years.
ohooo I've written a novell...that's my 2 bits

Gaieus

@marian said:

I think it's read Budapesh in Hungarian (Gaieus correct me if i'm wrong).

Budapesht - "s" is always spelled as "sh" in Hungarian.
(Thanks Marian for mentioning it)

Now just a bit of information for those interested:
The first serious settlement was founded by the Celts on the top of Mount Gellert. This can be found on the western bank of the Danube,a bit to the south from the very centre.:

Then the Romans founded a legionary camp (in the proximity of which later evolved a town) called Aquincum. This is also on the western bank but quite far to the north. He, during history,a settlement called "Old Buda" evolved (probably referring to the Roman ruins and the knowledge of the region's history - already mentioned in a 12th century codex):

In the 13th century, after the Mongol invasion and serious devastation,king Bela IV founded his new capital called "Buda" - again,on the western bank (that is hilly while the eastern is flat). The castle stillexists (surely rebuilt severaltimes -lat serious renovation happened after it was destroyed in the siege in WW2):

(for some reason people tend to take photos of it at night all the time)

Then during history,another town evolved on the opposite, eastern bank of the Danube and it was called "Pest". The three towns kept evolving independently until the 19th century. In the 1840's,the first "constant" (stone) bridge connected the two banks. It was designed by a Scottish architect/engeenier, Adam Clark.

Then in 1873, the three towns were united and the name - from the two main parts - became Budapest (previously it was also referred as "Pest-Buda").

Or actually I could've just linked a Wikipedia article instead

Now as I think of it, I would probably fail to name more than just a couple of state capitals in the USA. But also, I believe that the inward thinking of Americans and more precisely the education system (which generates it) as well as the isolation policy of the government for the last century or so is to be blamed for such ignorance about the "rest of the word" - btw has anybody ever thought about this term itself? There is "us" and there is "the rest").

I don't want to go into the foreign policy of the USA now and I'm definitely not saying that this is really on purpose but this ignorance is at least "comfortable" for American foreign policy in the Middle East.

For us, it seems to be "ridiculously stupid" but the case is that things that change the world are happening to us. Or at least during the last century-so for us it seems to be "more natural". "Average" Americans don't go to wars (well,with a couple of exceptions) and more importantly,such things don't go there.

Let me finish this with a joke that describes this the best:

*In Mukachevo, an old man reaches the age of 100. Journalists come from everywhere to interview him. One of them asks him about his life. He says:

"Well, I was born in the Austrian-Hungarian empire, then went to elementary school in Czechoslovakia, then I went to secondary school in Hungary, then to university in the Soviet Union then got retired in Ukraine."

"Wow - says the journalist - you have travelled a lot in your life!"

"Me? - says the old man - I have never been outside of Mukachevo! "*

tomsdesk

I think the video does portray the "average" american...or close to it. Depending on the types of TV programs they watch, other "average" folks would probably have had the answers to those questions...but would have failed equally on others of similar difficulty. (I couldn't answer a couple of them either...but I didn't think it was funny: so in that sense I guess I'm not really "average".)

I wouldn't call this stupidity either, I'd call it ignorance. (Some of the folks shown would surely have shined if asked about what they care about.) There are a lot of reasons we americans are ignorant, some somewhat understandable, some not so much...but the bottom line: we better get with it soon.

Marian

we can blaim it on ignorance when it's about europe and other countries or policies of the US..but come on, you don't know where KFC comes from but you know that it means; kentucky fried chicken....and the question with countries starting with "U" ok you don't know Ukraine and Uganda but...you live in the US and say Yugoslavia....
What i wanted to point out is there is an ounce of stupidity there not just ignorance.

cheffey

My friends and I were talking about our kids the other day. We mentioned a standard test that they've all recently taken. When I mentioned my son scored over 4 times the benchmark for all scores they were looking for some magic reason as to why he did so well.
Is he just gifted? How did he score so high?
Truth is I think he's around the same intelligence that his mom and dad are (which I consider average... ok above average) but the exception is we read a minimum 15minutes a day to him and then discuss it. Whenever he has a question, we explain it. So, he maybe smarter and look better in the scores, but it's mostly due to his own hard work.

I'd love to say it's not the average american in the video, but I think that is the average american. I think we need to turn our focus inward a bit. Let the world take care of itself and let's take care of us for awhile. Like Barack said "Lead by the power of our example, rather than the example of our power."

I think we have lost that here. The entitlement culture has consumed us and it only helps the lobbyist and lawyer types. I think we can learn a lot from tv, if we'd only watch things with some educational value. Instead we get caught up in ridiculous shows like watching d-list celebs dance or some random teenage 16th birthday. I mean really who gives a shit about that. I'm much more interested into what makes Putin tick. What molded him to be the way he is or how it was that John Adams was able to hold a fragile group of colonists together to help form a country.
I think Marian is right, there is some truth in the ounce of stupidity argument. What continues to boggle my mind is how people cannot care to even be somewhat interested in the world they live in.