Are Americans Stupid?

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

http://www.reallyfunky.com/media/428/Are_Americans_Stupid/   

Just Kill Me. Kill Me Now. Please?

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Oh sweet merciful fuck NOOOOOOOOOOO

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Oh sweet merciful fuck NOOOOOOOOOOO

North Korea is a lot bigger than I thought it was... and it has kangaroos apparently.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

There were, in fact, a couple of questions I did not know the answer to, and a couple that I felt it was reasonable for people to not necessarily know the answer to (There has been a lot of currency restructuring recently, for instance, so assuming people in the US know that the UK still uses Pounds Sterling might be a bit much to ask... most people who read books would be familiar with the term though), but for the most part, fuuuuuuuuck.

[fomenter]

  this is so
is there a trick involved ? do they only pick dullards? if not 

[Cain]

It was done for CNNNN which was a satirical news show on Chaser's War on Everything.

I don't know if they used real people or actors, but to be honest, neither would surprise me (little has, since witnessing the idiocy of the "Are Atheists infiltrating the government?" thread).

[fomenter]

 i see these dumb American interviews done on a bunch of different shows (tonight show, Sean hannity there was even a game show, street smart)  and they all get morons i suspect they all edit for entertainment and shock value, they never show a smart American. if i had my tinfoil hat on i would say it was a conspiracy , but since i am in a more reasonable mood i will chalk it up to advertiser driven ratings..

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

i see these dumb American interviews done on a bunch of different shows (tonight show, Sean hannity there was even a game show, street smart)  and they all get morons i suspect they all edit for entertainment and shock value, they never show a smart American. if i had my tinfoil hat on i would say it was a conspiracy , but since i am in a more reasonable mood i will chalk it up to advertiser driven ratings..

Oh I agree, it surely had to be edited for content. However, that even one human believed a triangle to "have no sides" or one, seems troubling to me

[fomenter]

i see these dumb American interviews done on a bunch of different shows (tonight show, Sean hannity there was even a game show, street smart)  and they all get morons i suspect they all edit for entertainment and shock value, they never show a smart American. if i had my tinfoil hat on i would say it was a conspiracy , but since i am in a more reasonable mood i will chalk it up to advertiser driven ratings..

Oh I agree, it surely had to be edited for content. However, that even one human believed a triangle to "have no sides" or one, seems troubling to me

i agree "scary" but why don't they do dumb Canadian, EU, African, Australian shows ? if they can find one American that stupid the same is probably true for the world. humanity should be a wreck in equal proportions .with  money/ratings and stick-it to the yanks fever i doubt i will ever see one.

[Cain]

Well, I don't see much American TV (barring The Daily Show/Colbert Report and Lost) so I cannot comment on it from that angle.

However, as I'm sure you know, I read alot of US bloggers, especially on the right, and there does seem to be a worldview which almost takes comfort in its own simplicitly and lack of knowledge.  Perhaps even more than that, it seems to almost be proud of the fact.  The anti-intellectualism of current politics, if you will.

As far as I can see, there are two good reasons for this:

1.  Policy no longer matters.  What really matters is how you stage-manage the campaign, and image control.  Because, on policy basis alone, both the major parties would be in deep shit.
2.  The economy needs a tiny group of innovative thinkers to come up with new ideas to keep the population buying.  This is common sense.  However, when those people run out of ideas, they need lots of stupid people to buy stuff, like oxygenated face cream to be used right after using antioxidant face gel.

By creating a climate where intellectualism or intelligence or knowing too much is frowned upon, for various reasons, stupid politics and higher sales can be maintained.


If you want a conspiracy angle.

[fomenter]

this is the correct tin foil hat.

[Honey]

Rascality has limits. Stupidity has not.
-Napoleon Bonoparte

[AFK]

My guess is it was either staged, or the people who actually gave correct answers were edited out.  This is the same vein as the bit Leno does on his show, I forget what he calls it but same idea.  It may be entertaining but I see no value in it in terms of social commentary. 

[Thurnez Isa]

rick mercer from 22 minutes has been doing this stick for years up here
though hes a little more sly and manipulate and goes after polititions as well
http://youtube.com/watch?v=seYUbVa7L7w
anyways its worth it for the kid at the end

[LMNO]

To be slight apologist, when you're surprised on the street by some guy in a suit who's also shoving a camera on your face, barking questions at you, your first response is usually pretty dumb.

If you ask 100 people questions this way, you can probably edit it down to 10 - 20 moronic answers.