Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history

Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (Full Version)

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celticlord2112 -> Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 7:24:50 AM)
NEW STUDY FINDS AMERICANS, INCLUDING ELECTED OFFICIALS, EARN A FAILING GRADE WHEN TESTED ON AMERICAN HISTORY AND ECONOMICS Small wonder so many get seduced by the socialist stupidities being tossed around like tennis balls these days. Ignorance may be bliss for some, but it's a damned dangerous sort of bliss.

meatcleaver -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 7:37:58 AM)
I've been saying it for a long time, most Americans buy into the American national myth because it it cosy and comforting like a Hollywood film, everything fits into place and all the heroes are redeemed. In history, nothing is so simple and the truth is always difficult to be honest about, no matter what country you come from.

DomKen -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 7:42:34 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 Small wonder so many get seduced by the socialist stupidities being tossed around like tennis balls these days. Ignorance may be bliss for some, but it's a damned dangerous sort of bliss. Care to try finding out whether I, the socialist, or you know more US history?

celticlord2112 -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 8:00:34 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: DomKen quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 Small wonder so many get seduced by the socialist stupidities being tossed around like tennis balls these days. Ignorance may be bliss for some, but it's a damned dangerous sort of bliss. Care to try finding out whether I, the socialist, or you know more US history? No need. I already know the answer.

rulemylife -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 8:07:20 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 NEW STUDY FINDS AMERICANS, INCLUDING ELECTED OFFICIALS, EARN A FAILING GRADE WHEN TESTED ON AMERICAN HISTORY AND ECONOMICS Small wonder so many get seduced by the socialist stupidities being tossed around like tennis balls these days. Ignorance may be bliss for some, but it's a damned dangerous sort of bliss. Then I guess you must be feeling pretty blissful after trying to present a clearly biased study as an actual piece of intellectual research. In a speech to the Heritage Foundation [date unknown], the ISI President, T. Kenneth Cribb Jr, stated "We must...provide resources and guidance to an elite which can take up anew the task of enculturation. Through its journals, lectures, seminars, books and fellowships, this is what ISI has done successfully for 36 years. The coming of age of such elites has provided the current leadership of the conservative revival. But we should add a major new component to our strategy: the conservative movement is now mature enough to sustain a counteroffensive on that last Leftist redoubt, the college campus...We are now strong enough to establish a contemporary presence for conservatism on campus, and contest the Left on its own turf. We plan to do this by greatly expanding the ISI field effort, its network of campus-based programming." (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Intercollegiate_Studies_Institute)

celticlord2112 -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 8:14:36 AM)
quote: Then I guess you must be feeling pretty blissful after trying to present a clearly biased study as an actual piece of intellectual research. Of course it is biased. The position is that American citizens ought to know more about American history specifically, and the history of Western civilization generally, than they do. The position is that American citizens--including our elected officials and representatives--ought to know more about the structure and functioning of our government institutions than they do. When politicians cannot name the three branches of government, when citizens cannot identify the inalienable rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, when people cannot grasp that profits are revenues minus expenses, yes, that is a most dangerous level of ignorance. Biased? Damn skippy. If you, however, mean to refute the study by demonstrating the civic and historical knowledge and awareness of American citizens, I will be glad to review your scientific, non-biased, non-partisan, objectives studies. I look forward to seeing the URLs posted here.

cjan -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 8:28:16 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 quote: ORIGINAL: DomKen quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 Small wonder so many get seduced by the socialist stupidities being tossed around like tennis balls these days. Ignorance may be bliss for some, but it's a damned dangerous sort of bliss. Care to try finding out whether I, the socialist, or you know more US history? No need. I already know the answer. And what would that answer be, oh All Knowing One ? And, are you referring to the ignorance of socialists like Palin who didn't know what three countries comprise North America, or Lindsay Graham's ignorance of Watergate ?

Owner59 -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 8:35:52 AM)
Is this just another form of cultural elitism? BTW,the Heritage Foundation is a group-o-kooks, dressed up up in high-end suits pretending to be important ,attempting to give legitimacy to neo-conservative balderdash. Anything connected to them is dubious and should be suspect.

rulemylife -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 8:41:00 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 quote: Then I guess you must be feeling pretty blissful after trying to present a clearly biased study as an actual piece of intellectual research. Of course it is biased. The position is that American citizens ought to know more about American history specifically, and the history of Western civilization generally, than they do. The position is that American citizens--including our elected officials and representatives--ought to know more about the structure and functioning of our government institutions than they do. When politicians cannot name the three branches of government, when citizens cannot identify the inalienable rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, when people cannot grasp that profits are revenues minus expenses, yes, that is a most dangerous level of ignorance. Biased? Damn skippy. If you, however, mean to refute the study by demonstrating the civic and historical knowledge and awareness of American citizens, I will be glad to review your scientific, non-biased, non-partisan, objectives studies. I look forward to seeing the URLs posted here. Come on now. Let's not toss around philosophical bullshit here. You presented this dubious study as a backhanded way of "proving" that it was the ignorance of the population that allowed Obama to be elected.

SilverMark -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 9:02:54 AM)
It is easy to find fault with the American public and their level of knowledge but, I would say the same holds true for most countries. There are those well versed on a number of topics no matter what country it is they are from, and others not so well informed. Those of us who retain knowledge, as most of the contributors here, are the exception not the rule. I would match the knowledge of the American public of their country with any other "civilized" country and would say that the longer the history of a country the less the general public knows. I have NO data to back this claim due to the fact that we are the only country in the world that would have someone sit around and do these studies so that in their smugness they can make proclimations such as this. Much like the blaming of the education system, it is easy to take shots and hard to see how it is that for every failure there are a number of successes. So, without much eloquence allow me to say the Heritage Foundation can blow it out their collective asses!... I know, I know....mature attitude...but, don't these brains have something better to do?

DomKen -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 9:04:34 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 quote: ORIGINAL: DomKen quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 Small wonder so many get seduced by the socialist stupidities being tossed around like tennis balls these days. Ignorance may be bliss for some, but it's a damned dangerous sort of bliss. Care to try finding out whether I, the socialist, or you know more US history? No need. I already know the answer. The Brave Sir Robin gambit.

Dnomyar -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 9:07:20 AM)
cjan ignorance must be bliss. Look at the North American map and count the countries again.

kdsub -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 9:17:58 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 NEW STUDY FINDS AMERICANS, INCLUDING ELECTED OFFICIALS, EARN A FAILING GRADE WHEN TESTED ON AMERICAN HISTORY AND ECONOMICS Small wonder so many get seduced by the socialist stupidities being tossed around like tennis balls these days. Ignorance may be bliss for some, but it's a damned dangerous sort of bliss. So I guess they got a lot dumber than 4 and 8 years ago...or maybe it is only Democrats that are dumb...or Republicans that voted for Obama must have had strokes that reduced their normally superior brainpower. Or maybe it's just another silly test worded to be ambiguous so some pompous academic can say “I’m smarter than you na na nana na”. Just like someone else that likes to post in this forum. Butch

pahunkboy -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 9:21:23 AM)
We have allowed self to be highly distracted. Add in NLP, nuero linguistic programing - this is what talking heads do. smash the TV, it is killing YOU!

Marc2b -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 9:26:03 AM)
quote: And, are you referring to the ignorance of socialists like Palin who didn't know what three countries comprise North America... Emphasis mine. Actually, its more than three countries because Central America, (Honduras, etc,) is considered part of North America. So are the Caribbean Islands. How many countries are there in North America? Depends on who you talk to, but it is definitely more than three. As for the whole topic of ignorance - since nobody knows everything we are all ignorant about some things (and probably most things). It certainly behooves us to learn about the people we are voting for (not to mention the country we live in) but in this "information" age with so much "information" flying through the ether, who the hell can you trust? I feel I must point out that while Americans can indeed be ignorant about other countries, my experience is that it cuts both way. We get a lot of foreign tourists in our store and they are just as stupid about us as we are about them. I still laugh whenever I think about the German lady who had been in the U.S. for a week and was amazed that she hadn't seen any gun fights in the streets - or even heard a gun shot!

DomKen -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 9:28:26 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Dnomyar cjan ignorance must be bliss. Look at the North American map and count the countries again. Not to defend Palin but this subject is open to quite a bit of debate. Including only Canada, Mexico and the US in North America is a kind of odd geographic divide. More rationally North America starts at the Panama Isthmus and goes north from there. Under that definition the continent includes, excluding the Carribean nations, Panama, Costa Rica, Belize, Honduras, Nicuaragua, El Salvador, Mexico, Canada, the US and Denmark (Greenland).

Dnomyar -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 9:37:44 AM)
I knew about the rest of the countries but Denmark surprised me. Back to knowing your countries history. What about revisionist history. That is constantly going on. What you learned in school has probably been revised by now. Put that in perspective then of course everyone is ignorant of their own history.

Politesub53 -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 9:40:20 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 NEW STUDY FINDS AMERICANS, INCLUDING ELECTED OFFICIALS, EARN A FAILING GRADE WHEN TESTED ON AMERICAN HISTORY AND ECONOMICS Small wonder so many get seduced by the socialist stupidities being tossed around like tennis balls these days. Ignorance may be bliss for some, but it's a damned dangerous sort of bliss. Where in your link does it mention socialist stupidities ? If the questionaire had a cross section of voters, then your comment applies to both parties. Trying to use this survey to fit your own agenda wont wash.

cjan -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 10:02:00 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Dnomyar cjan ignorance must be bliss. Look at the North American map and count the countries again. Ray, She was asked the question framed in a reference to NAFTA. "The term North America may mean different things to different people in the world according to the context. Usage other than that of the entire continent includes: In English, North America is often used to refer to the United States and Canada exclusively.[22] Alternatively, usage may include Mexico[23] (as with North American Free Trade Agreement) and other entities.[24] In Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and some other parts of Europe, North America usually designates a subcontinent (subcontinente in Spanish) of the Americas containing Canada, the United States, and Mexico, and often Greenland, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, and Bermuda.[25]" I suppose you are referring to the fact that in addition to Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, the Bahamas and islands of the Caribbean are also part of North America.

popeye1250 -> RE: Americans, including politicians, are ignorant of our own history (11/21/2008 10:10:15 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 quote: ORIGINAL: DomKen quote: ORIGINAL: celticlord2112 Small wonder so many get seduced by the socialist stupidities being tossed around like tennis balls these days. Ignorance may be bliss for some, but it's a damned dangerous sort of bliss. Care to try finding out whether I, the socialist, or you know more US history? No need. I already know the answer. Lmao! Dom Ken, so THAT's what's wrong with you! My condolances. Anything we can do to help or to make you more comfortable?

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