are Americans stupid

[Yurka]

Isn't the thread title a question? wheres the question mark?
who's stupid now?


jk

 

[moraldeficiency]

I think Americans are stupid, but I don't think it is just America. I think the world is gradually getting stupid.

But Americans were stupid before stupid was cool.

I'd vote for you.

 

[turtlefocker]

Yes.. I mean no. What was the question.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Sure, basic geography may be trivial, but you've got to look at the wider scope of ignorance.

Would that include the ignorance of other nations? I've been to a @hit load of countries and I can tell you definatively dumb @uckers greatly out number the smart ones.

America is supposed to be a free country, but your not really free if your minds been shut. Your not really living in a democracy if your not participating in that democracy.

No one in the US lives in a democracy. It's a federal republic. There's a large difference between the two.

People are made to be overwhelmed by the system they are apart of, the moments they aren't in the system, (school, work, jail, etc.) they are busy distracting themselves with the vast array of diversions set in place for them.

Couldn't you say that about anywhere?

I think widespread ignorance does indeed have dire consequences.

Agreed. Though I also think widespread self righteousness can have equally disasterous results.

 

[Bubonic]

Ignorance in America is a choice.........thats what freedom is all about....*smiles*

But if your manipulated into making that particular choice, by an advance media system and what have you, is that still much of a choice?

Would that include the ignorance of other nations? I've been to a @hit load of countries and I can tell you definatively dumb @uckers greatly out number the smart ones.

Maybe that is just how the cookie crumbled in such large societies, if everyone was highly intelligent there might be more internal turmoil, or they could work together with smaller populations and a more utopian ideal.

No one in the US lives in a democracy. It's a federal republic. There's a large difference between the two.

Well there still seems to be a heck of a lot of U.S. citizens that exclaim that they live in a democracy. And they surely profess how free they are, when they are basically a bunch of wage slaves.

Couldn't you say that about anywhere?

Not everywhere, there still is, and there once was more, communal type societies with a more interactive approach to things, and a shared sense of commitment.
There are a handful of distinct political systems, with varying systems of control.
This mindless materialism experienced here just seems to be a bummer to me.

Agreed. Though I also think widespread self righteousness can have equally disastrous results.

Not sure if thats just a shot at me, or a general statement.
Regardless, that is true is it is blind, unsubstantiated self righteousness.
Just saying that there are better possible worlds then we are living in.

But perhaps with the vast amounts of people on this planet things will just get worse and worse.

 

[terry78]

Everyone else just appears smarter because a foreign accent makes you seem less dumb. When you sound like a hick, you automatically are viewed as a ******.

 

[Bubonic]

Everyone else just appears smarter because a foreign accent makes you seem less dumb. When you sound like a hick, you automatically are viewed as a ******.

Well, people who will write off a Southerner as a dummy just because of his dialect aren't to smart themselves.

Whats a shame is the average American attitude towards multilingualism, which is something along the lines of "they all speak English anyways, why bother"

Despite English being the most useful language to know, one shouldn't take much pride in shutting themselves off from a world of information and interactions.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Maybe that is just how the cookie crumbled in such large societies, if everyone was highly intelligent there might be more internal turmoil, or they could work together with smaller populations and a more utopian ideal.

Not just large societies. I'd say every village has their share of idiots. I just question whether it's in human nature to work towards an communal ideal.

Well there still seems to be a heck of a lot of U.S. citizens that exclaim that they live in a democracy. And they surely profess how free they are, when they are basically a bunch of wage slaves.

^see comment about how most people are stupid.

Not everywhere, there still is, and there once was more, communal type societies with a more interactive approach to things, and a shared sense of commitment.
There are a handful of distinct political systems, with varying systems of control.
This mindless materialism experienced here just seems to be a bummer to me.

I'm not sure about that. I mean people have a tendancy to make the past all rosy and see the present as doom and gloom. As for the ones you say are in the present, I'd ask for a listing, but @ssholes would just rip it apart. I would however say that they almost certianly have their flaws and wrongs.

As for mindless materialism it does bother me, but I really don't think that's a problem the US faces alone. I'd say there's more of a possibility for US citizens to have that as there's greater access to funds. I've seen levels of extravagence that would make trump look like a pauper in other countries which was only magnified by how piss poor all their citizens were.

Not sure if thats just a shot at me, or a general statement.
Regardless, that is true is it is blind, unsubstantiated self righteousness.
Just saying that there are better possible worlds then we are living in.

Not a shot at you, I'm pretty direct with such things. I was just stating how the question itself is also a danger. When we start pointing the finger at others we often forget to hold ourselves under the same light. (I think this is a major problem in the US) The implication that Americans are stupid implies that we (people like myself from other nations) are smarter. That's just not true. (It's a stupid statement in itself as America isn't a nation, hell America isn't anything. Though we knew it was the US stated. Still if you're going to ask a question like that you should probably word it right))

But perhaps with the vast amounts of people on this planet things will just get worse and worse.

Depends on your worse defination. Humans are @uck ups, always have been always will be. All other living creatures are too, for that matter. That's what living's all about. You're born, you @uck up, you try and learn and do better, then you die. Rinse. Repeat.

 

[Kelly]

But if your manipulated into making that particular choice, by an advance media system and what have you, is that still much of a choice?

Manipulated my ass, this isn't Communist Russia........the media is not what makes my students ignorant.........work ethic is what keeps them from doing their best.....and that's a choice. You either do the work, come to school, learn........or you don't....their choice.

 

[PemLam]

We American's are prideful, at times arrogant and often blissfully ignorant of anything outside our immediate sphere of influence. However we are no more or less "stupid" than the general populations of other nations.

 

[Nightmare]

Some americans are stupid.
Just like some russians.
Just like some chinese.
Just like some Austalians.

 

[Captain Planet!]

You guess should watch Jay Leno's segment "Jay Walking" on the Tonight Show.









It scares me.

 

[Bubonic]

Not just large societies. I'd say every village has their share of idiots. I just question whether it's in human nature to work towards an communal ideal.

The amazing thing about human nature is the endless range of directions it can take us in given varying circumstances.
That being said, you look at the cultures most representative of our earliest human ancestors and you'll see bands of people who are all reliant on each other for continued survival.
There is no formal leader, older people may get more respect and be taken care of, but they don't call the shots, anyone can input on what to do, and can be immediately vetoed by the rest if it is deemed unbeneficial to the clan.

So in essence we were all meant to live our lives and work alongside close kin, industrialization put us in the unnatural circumstances of being separated from the ones we love.

^see comment about how most people are stupid.

Indeed they are, but it isn't necessarily because those people's brains are any less functional then that of those who are considered smart. They just didn't have the opportunity, or were influenced to deny knowledge.

I'm not sure about that. I mean people have a tendancy to make the past all rosy and see the present as doom and gloom. As for the ones you say are in the present, I'd ask for a listing, but @ssholes would just rip it apart. I would however say that they almost certianly have their flaws and wrongs.

Definitely wasn't all rosy, the mortality rate is astronomically high within such societies, since they don't have all the safetynets that huge state societies provide.
But in the grand scale of things, it was a sustainable existence in tandem with the rest of life on earth. No overpopulation, no mass depletion of resources. (Depends on the culture though, I think early peoples of the Americas had the habit of running Mammoths off of cliffs, causing their extinction.)
As for a list, it is dwindling, because such small societies get swallowed up. But think Bushmen of the Kalahari desert, the Yanomano of the Amazon, the Inuit...

As for mindless materialism it does bother me, but I really don't think that's a problem the US faces alone. I'd say there's more of a possibility for US citizens to have that as there's greater access to funds. I've seen levels of extravagence that would make trump look like a pauper in other countries which was only magnified by how piss poor all their citizens were.

I keep referencing back to the states because they are the dominant world culture, if they latch on to an economic model it isn't long until it is imposed the whole world over, and their ideals glorified as the status quo of existence.

Not a shot at you, I'm pretty direct with such things. I was just stating how the question itself is also a danger. When we start pointing the finger at others we often forget to hold ourselves under the same light. (I think this is a major problem in the US) The implication that Americans are stupid implies that we (people like myself from other nations) are smarter. That's just not true. (It's a stupid statement in itself as America isn't a nation, hell America isn't anything. Though we knew it was the US stated. Still if you're going to ask a question like that you should probably word it right))

No doubt, in actuality I find there to be even more self-righteousness within my country, as we've long benefited from being the neighbours of the U.S., yet many will blame everything on them and not realize we help propagate it.

Depends on your worse defination. Humans are @uck ups, always have been always will be. All other living creatures are too, for that matter. That's what living's all about. You're born, you @uck up, you try and learn and do better, then you die. Rinse. Repeat.

We are, and we got too smart for are own good so soon as we figured out how to make the Earth our *****.

Manipulated my ass, this isn't Communist Russia........the media is not what makes my students ignorant.........work ethic is what keeps them from doing their best.....and that's a choice. You either do the work, come to school, learn........or you don't....their choice.

How aren't we manipulated, think of propaganda, think of all the lies the media has made us believe. Think of how the media often misrepresents some issue in favour of others that lobbyist pay them off to focus on. Our world view is built from the ground up in part by the media machine.

We make a lot of our own decisions within this system, but it is so well organized, so omnipresent, that we forget how much it controls us.

Think of how since the early days of slavery the concept of race and the inherent differences between races permeated the world scene in order to justify such atrocities all the while fighting for the freedom of "all men".
Think of how race is totally biologically invalid as a concept, yet it still permeates everyday lives as a result of the construction of this reality.

There are many more ways in which we are lied to for the benefit of others.

Your students work ethics are influenced by the environment they are raised in, the ideology of the path of least resistance, easy money, impulsiveness, materialism.

 

[zanos]

Let's just all agree that americans are the dumbest ppl in the western civilized world.

 

[Iron_Stark]

are Americans stupid

No, but our President and his cronies are.

 

[YsoSerious]

I don't know what nationality you are, but if you have to ask then you're the stupid one.

 

[Golgo-13]

Are American's stupid?


Check out to this report:

http://hitsusa.com/blog/163/mcdonalds-strip-search-video/

 

[Bubonic]

Are American's stupid?


Check out to this report:

http://hitsusa.com/blog/163/mcdonalds-strip-search-video/

Thats one of the consequences of thinking you must always yield to the hierarchy.
But damn, I should come to the U.S. for easy blowjobs!

 

[Captain Planet!]

The entire world is equally stupid, America just gets more publicity.

 

[jaguarr]

Are American's stupid?


Check out to this report:

http://hitsusa.com/blog/163/mcdonalds-strip-search-video/

"She was later sodomized by this same employee who wasn’t even a McDonalds manager…"

'Cuz, you know...if he HAD been a McDonald's manager then it would have been okay.

jag

 

[terry78]

^Hey, that is one of the perks when you work the grill.

 

[Mr Sparkle]

not "stupid".
Ignorant maybe, and not all of them obviously.

 

[Bubonic]

Program for International Student Assessment

Most Educated Countries
Friday, February 02, 2007
1. Canada -- 44.0
2. United States --- 38.4
3. Japan -- 37.4
4. Sweden -- 33.4
5. Finland -- 33.3
6. Denmark -- 31.9
7. Australia -- 31.3
8. Norway -- 31.0
9. New Zealand -- 30.9
10. Korea, South -- 29.5
11. Belgium -- 29.0
12. United Kingdom -- 28.0
13. Switzerland -- 27.0
14. Ireland -- 26.3
15. Iceland -- 26.3
16. Spain -- 25.2
17. Netherlands -- 24.4
18. Germany -- 24.0
19. France -- 23.4
20. Greece -- 18.3
21. Hungary -- 15.4
22. Mexico -- 15.4
23. Luxembourg -- 14.9
24. Austria -- 14.5
25. Poland -- 14.2
26. Czech Republic -- 12.0
27. Slovakia -- 11.8
28. Portugal -- 10.8
29. Italy -- 10.4
30. Turkey -- 9.7

Numbers indicate the percentage of population aged 25-64 that have attained a tertiary level of education (OECD Countries).
Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Most Educated Countries

This has no bearing on the quality of the education received, just the amount of people receiving it.

 

[moraldeficiency]

Interesting read, though I'll say many countries try and use both a trades/skills and basic educational approach and this type of test is completely biased against them.

It's very hard to conduct a basic test that fairly measures these issues because if an educational system tries to go beyond basic cross the board learning and individualize their approach (generally to the benefit of the student) their student will always test poorly with this even though they might be considerably more intelligent than someone with route text book knowledge. This also penalizes any school systems that allow students with deficiencies in areas to still be part of the norm.

 

[Bubonic]

Not to mention schools the round up marks to make the state/province/nation look better.

This sort of thing is probably worse then an I.Q. test in terms of real world relevance.

It's a bit easier to define ignorance then intelligence.