CDIH

I got in a discussion with the poof at work (well, one of the three - and I work at a major Bank!) about Obama. He thought Obama was a muslim. No, he's not, I say. Well, he was once, I think he converted; that's it. No, Never. Not that it matters really, but he's never been a muslim. Ever. I knew this was an internet meme out there for a while but never really saw any hard facts about it until I saw this post from Ben Smith <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/Things_Americans_believe.html">http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/ ... lieve.html</a><!-- m --> a couple days ago that makes the point that it’s actually surprising that ONLY 10% of Americans think Barack Obama is a muslim, given the striking ignorance Americans show in many other areas.

So, for Gooch and Dig and Jays and whoever else, I expanded on those stats and looked at some others. Basically the point of all this is that people are stupid and will always be stupid. No matter how much money we piss down the toilet on social programs trying to address the gap between the rich and the poor; the have and the have-nots or whatever else, the fact remains that the reason for the gap is the same as the reason for these statistics. People are dumb as shit. They will always be dumb as shit, and as long as they are so stupid, they'll never be able to get themselves out of their poverty spiral. And according to the info I have here, it's a pretty consistent 20-40% of the population is borderline retarded and I'm glad that only about 60% of the people vote in elections. I'd rather they sit at home and watch American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.

* 1.3% weigh over 300 pounds <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.americansportsdata.com/pr-obesitytrends-bmi.asp">http://www.americansportsdata.com/pr-ob ... ds-bmi.asp</a><!-- m -->
* 10% think Barrack Obama is Muslim <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/New-Poll-Gauges-Americans-General-Knowledge-Levels.aspx">http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/New-Pol ... evels.aspx</a><!-- m -->
* 18% think the sun revolves around the earth <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/New-Poll-Gauges-Americans-General-Knowledge-Levels.aspx">http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/New-Pol ... evels.aspx</a><!-- m -->
* 19% accept the presence of spells and witchcraft <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21477704/">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21477704/</a><!-- m -->
* 22% think George W. Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/general_current_events/president_bush/22_believe_bush_knew_about_9_11_attacks_in_advance">http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... in_advance</a><!-- m --> before they happened
* 30% STILL think <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/08/29/upi_poll_opposition_to_iraq_war_has_grown/4354/">http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2 ... rown/4354/</a><!-- m --> that Sadam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction
* 31% think the Bible is 100% accurate and can be taken literally word-for-word <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/27682/OneThird-Americans-Believe-Bible-Literally-True.aspx">http://www.gallup.com/poll/27682/OneThi ... -True.aspx</a><!-- m -->
* 31% can't name the current Vice President <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=319">http://people-press.org/reports/display ... portID=319</a><!-- m -->
* 39% think that humanity is "definitely" less than 10,000 years old <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/21814/Evolution-Creationism-Intelligent-Design.aspx">http://www.gallup.com/poll/21814/Evolut ... esign.aspx</a><!-- m -->
* 47% think that the earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/2008/january/article-hobin.html">http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletter ... hobin.html</a><!-- m -->
* 50% aged 18-24 can't find New York on a map <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02 ... index.html</a><!-- m -->
* 53% would refuse to vote for an atheist for president <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/26611/Some-Americans-Reluctant-Vote-Mormon-72YearOld-Presidential-Candidates.aspx">http://www.gallup.com/poll/26611/Some-A ... dates.aspx</a><!-- m -->, which is a higher percentage than who would refuse to vote for a black, woman, muslim, homosexual, 72-year old, or twice-divorced candidate
* 65% can't name whose face is on the nickel <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?flash=yes&action=press_release&ID=823">http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.c ... ase&ID=823</a><!-- m -->

Not all people in poverty are stupid. That’s a generalization.
The dumbing down of society has been happening for years. It could be due to the invention of the television, shorter attention spans, and the fact that younger people are spoiled and don’t know what it’s like to work or study hard for what they want. That’s my theory..

I've known for quite a while that the majority of people are actually stupid, including myself. Most people are smart in only particular aspects of life, but have significant deficiencies in knowledge which ought to be common, but isn't.

I think a lot of it has to do what people are forced to be exposed to, IE, news, TV, well known websites, magazines, ads, etc. People need to be hungry for knowledge in order to dig deeper, and most people are not hungry, they'd rather not ask questions, because they feel they have more important things to do with their time.

I saw a girl walking down the street with the latest issue of Cosmo in her arms, and I just started thinking, why does this girl read that magazine? Does she buy every issue and read it? If so, has she not yet realized that it's the same magazine every month with a different girl on the cover, with the same tips on how to please a guy that just don't work? I know that whenever I spot someone with Cosmo, or OK, or whatever rag found on the supermarket shelves that I can feel better than that person, because only dumb people would spend money to read / look at the ads of those magazines.

I read an article on the website of Staten Island's newspaper about how Councilman James Oddo got a bunch of townhouses fined by the Buildings Department for having driveways that were too steep to meet code. Now, the island, over the last few years, has been inflammed by the notion of "overdevelopment", in a borough that is the least developed of any of the five, so whenever the newspaper brings up a story about a builder getting a violation, or a building not meeting code, the citizens get into a rage about how the politicians are in the builders' pocket, how corrupt the buildings department is, and how someone tiny infraction is the main example of why the borough is overdeveloped, when in truth, the problem is traffic, because there are no trains, and you have to get to everywhere by car. The people of the island are so stupid that they start SCREAMING for buildings to be torn down to punish the people who caused the infraction. They don't stop to think about what if this happened to them, would they want their homes torn down. In this case, the builder made the driveway too steep, and so, the people want these houses torn down to teach them a lesson.

Galt Wrote:I got in a discussion with the poof at work (well, one of the three - and I work at a major Bank!) about Obama. He thought Obama was a muslim. No, he's not, I say. Well, he was once, I think he converted; that's it. No, Never. Not that it matters really, but he's never been a muslim. Ever. I knew this was an internet meme out there for a while but never really saw any hard facts about it until I saw this post from Ben Smith <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0508/Things_Americans_believe.html">http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/ ... lieve.html</a><!-- m --> a couple days ago that makes the point that it’s actually surprising that ONLY 10% of Americans think Barack Obama is a muslim, given the striking ignorance Americans show in many other areas.

So, for Gooch and Dig and Jays and whoever else, I expanded on those stats and looked at some others. Basically the point of all this is that people are stupid and will always be stupid. No matter how much money we piss down the toilet on social programs trying to address the gap between the rich and the poor; the have and the have-nots or whatever else, the fact remains that the reason for the gap is the same as the reason for these statistics. People are dumb as shit. They will always be dumb as shit, and as long as they are so stupid, they'll never be able to get themselves out of their poverty spiral. And according to the info I have here, it's a pretty consistent 20-40% of the population is borderline retarded and I'm glad that only about 60% of the people vote in elections. I'd rather they sit at home and watch American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.

* 1.3% weigh over 300 pounds <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.americansportsdata.com/pr-obesitytrends-bmi.asp">http://www.americansportsdata.com/pr-ob ... ds-bmi.asp</a><!-- m -->
* 10% think Barrack Obama is Muslim <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/New-Poll-Gauges-Americans-General-Knowledge-Levels.aspx">http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/New-Pol ... evels.aspx</a><!-- m -->
* 18% think the sun revolves around the earth <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/New-Poll-Gauges-Americans-General-Knowledge-Levels.aspx">http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/New-Pol ... evels.aspx</a><!-- m -->
* 19% accept the presence of spells and witchcraft <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21477704/">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21477704/</a><!-- m -->
* 22% think George W. Bush knew about the 9/11 attacks <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/current_events/general_current_events/president_bush/22_believe_bush_knew_about_9_11_attacks_in_advance">http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... in_advance</a><!-- m --> before they happened
* 30% STILL think <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2007/08/29/upi_poll_opposition_to_iraq_war_has_grown/4354/">http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Top_News/2 ... rown/4354/</a><!-- m --> that Sadam Hussein had Weapons of Mass Destruction
* 31% think the Bible is 100% accurate and can be taken literally word-for-word <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/27682/OneThird-Americans-Believe-Bible-Literally-True.aspx">http://www.gallup.com/poll/27682/OneThi ... -True.aspx</a><!-- m -->
* 31% can't name the current Vice President <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=319">http://people-press.org/reports/display ... portID=319</a><!-- m -->
* 39% think that humanity is "definitely" less than 10,000 years old <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/21814/Evolution-Creationism-Intelligent-Design.aspx">http://www.gallup.com/poll/21814/Evolut ... esign.aspx</a><!-- m -->
* 47% think that the earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/2008/january/article-hobin.html">http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletter ... hobin.html</a><!-- m -->
* 50% aged 18-24 can't find New York on a map <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02/geog.test/index.html">http://www.cnn.com/2006/EDUCATION/05/02 ... index.html</a><!-- m -->
* 53% would refuse to vote for an atheist for president <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/26611/Some-Americans-Reluctant-Vote-Mormon-72YearOld-Presidential-Candidates.aspx">http://www.gallup.com/poll/26611/Some-A ... dates.aspx</a><!-- m -->, which is a higher percentage than who would refuse to vote for a black, woman, muslim, homosexual, 72-year old, or twice-divorced candidate
* 65% can't name whose face is on the nickel <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.cfm?flash=yes&action=press_release&ID=823">http://www.usmint.gov/pressroom/index.c ... ase&ID=823</a><!-- m -->

I completely agree with you. The class system, the real one, is between those who lead and who use their brain, and the rest of the masses who simply follow and let someone think for them. ...and the huge en masses that sits in-between.

In a lot of ways, this country has not changed since it's inception...and why we allow those "elite" to be the electoral college and to have delegates. That there is still a serious discrepancy between two sides of a coin that make up America.

Despite that fact, this does not mean, within that system that people cannot transcend their lot, and therefore why some social programs and evening of the playing field is still warranted. Because, despite that most just sit happy as a slug in whatever shit they've made for themself, some do not...some actually want to do better. And allowing paths to do just that is part of the American Dream. Even if it is a lark to those who sit baffled by Survivor in their Trailer Parks.

I could be wrong.

But I think you are dead right on your assessment, except in the justification of getting rid of social programs or education, etc.

Good thread. Exactly what I needed this morning to get the mind rolling.

This is a very serious thread. They all can't be comedy gems. Despite that, I got a tingle.. smart brains are hot. It's got to be that because it sure can't be Jays signature photo. That black rod is a weapon.

That's a pretty interesting post, Galt.
There are alot more people who are sheep instead of leaders out there. It's a shame to a degree.
Gooch made some valid points too. The only problem is that no matter how many programs we set up, they don't mean jack shit unless people truly want to search for knowledge. Sadly, not many want knowledge.
It's a two-way street. It only works if we are willing to try and learn.
I can definitely relate on the "Stupid" issue. My nephew is a perfect example of NO common sense.

More stats for Arpi to steal:

* 15% of Americans over 25 don't have a high school diploma <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/censusandstatistics/a/highschool.htm">http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/censusand ... school.htm</a><!-- m -->

* 9% ($645) of income for households under $13k/year is spent on lottery tickets. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/opinion/10brooks.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/opinion/10brooks.html</a><!-- m -->

i expected that 15% number to be higher

$645 is less than 2 bucks a day, so that seems low too.

13% of Americans think that in general governments should be allowed to use torture to try to get information
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/home_page/496.php?nid=&id=&pnt=496&lb=">http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/ ... nt=496&lb=</a><!-- m -->

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/06/25/winner-5/">http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/06/25/winner-5/</a><!-- m -->

I like how people who mock statistics make up statistics to do so. The point of statistics is that they are facts. So are they saying that they don't have any facts to support their argument, or are they saying that they just don't like to see actual tangible verifyable facts in discussions and would rather see stuff like "it just feels wrong"

i like how when people jokingly mock statistics the statistics people get so bothered by it.

Yeah, well why don't you go read a Joe Morgan chat

he clearly isn't joking though. he's had more than enough chances to change his tune but refuses.

now its just kind of sad.

Quote:* 47% think that the earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletter">http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletter</a><!-- m --> ... hobin.html

jesus horses!

When I was about 9 or 10 years old, I got into an argument with a Hebrew school teacher (i had just started) who tried to talk about Creation and Adam & Eve (Heeb version) when I knew there had been dinosaurs. She stammered over herself and tried to convince me that a meteorite must have brought the fossils, or some cockamamie thing where the dinosaurs must have came after.

I never gave organized religion much credence or attention ever since.