Click this link and watch all ten minutes. Unbelievable stuff. Hysterically sad.
How knowledgable are Americans?
- Post author:Erich Vieth
- Post published:February 7, 2007
- Post category:Education / Politics / Whimsy
- Post comments:3 Comments
Erich Vieth
Erich Vieth is an attorney focusing on civil rights (including First Amendment), consumer law litigation and appellate practice. At this website often writes about censorship, corporate news media corruption and cognitive science. He is also a working musician, artist and a writer, having founded Dangerous Intersection in 2006. Erich lives in St. Louis, Missouri with his two daughters.
Have you ever seen Talking To Americans? It's CBC special along the same vein, but the questions are a sigh more ludicrous. It is funny; this is depressing.
The part where he shows people the fake worls map is hilarious. He points to Australia, which is labelled incorrectly as "FRANCE" and asks them if we should invade it next. The people seem unintrigued by the question, evaluate the evidence for a moment, then answer "yes".
Call me a crazy idealist, but I still believe there are far more intelligent and informed people than those like the ones portrayed on the clip.
There is a phenomenon, recently re-studied, which shows how people completely submit to authority (figures).
There was a recent repeat of the study wherein people give faked shocks to a person who is crying for mercy because a lab-coated "doctor" tells them they must. There was also the Philadelphia study with college students in a prison which demonstrated how people become more culpable and sheep-like when they perceive someone else is "in charge."
I believe that when someone who looks or acts like a news professional or God help us, the Prime Minister of Australia (!!!) many folks who don't wish to appear dumb actually do and say things that are incredibly dumb.
The willingness to abdicate responsible thought and the refusal to question what appears in front of us is frightening.
This blog alone proves there are many who are still trying to think on their feet. The recent Media Reform Convention in Memphis proves it also, and I can think of many other examples as well. BUT… how would we hold up under pressure of the Authority(ies)?
It is this with which we must be concerned: in our Orwellian world, Big Brother must be fought against and constantly, constantly questioned. Turn the tables.
Anarchy now.
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