Disbelief, dismay, anger, depression, numbness. I felt the same as many of you. And wondered what possessed so many Americans to vote for Bush against the better interests of the rest of the planet, the United States, and even of the Republicans in the bottom 98% income bracket. Aside from all questions of software manipulation, discarded ballots, challenged registrations, and divinely wrought chad hanging, quite a few voters did choose the Cowboy. Why?
There’s been no shortage of explanations in these posts and elsewhere—fundamentalist Christians, biased media, appeals to fear and xenophobia, simplicity of message—probably all of these are true to some extent, along with other factors, but they beg the question: Why are Americans so stupid? Why do they fall for these transparent ploys?
Now, don’t get me wrong: First of all, everyone’s stupid when it comes to politics and Americans are in good company there. And I don’t think Americans are genetically stupider than Europeans, or Africans, or anyone else. Jared Diamond does make a good case in Guns, Germs, and Steel for the superior intellect of the few surviving hunter-gatherers (he has worked for years in Papua New Guinea) who have been rigorously selected up to the present, unlike us well fed agriculturalist/couch potatoes, but probably the important differences are environmental.
Most Americans today do seem different from most Europeans, broadly speaking, Americans are more isolationist, less well-informed about politics and science, less interested in the fate of other nations, and more likely to hold absurd beliefs (astrology, alien abduction, virgin birth, Uri Geller…). The difference is not pronounced—people here (I live in Vienna) swallow all kinds of nonsense too—but no one I know here, from the Greens through the Socialist to the Freedom Party (sort of a neonazi neocon group), likes Bush and everyone (not just my Muslim friend) thinks the war in Iraq is an unmitigated disaster. Why the difference?
My suspicions: First of all, European countries are small, the US is big. Europeans have had to cope with many different neighbors, languages, and cultures for centuries. It’s easier for Americans to think that their nation is the whole world. Second, television. The average American watches more than four hours of TV a day, the average European about an hour less. Television sucks out your brain, especially the simplistic pap that passes for entertainment in the States. Third, Europeans walk more. Many of my friends, like myself, don’t even have cars. Driving around in a metal box and seeing the world through safety glass can lead one to think that it’s all just another TV program.
On the other hand, maybe the main difference is that the US is a major military power, and power corrupts. Americans are manipulated to support stupid wars because the powers that be need the oil, and can get it, through force of arms.
My comparison, anecdotal and undocumented as it is, is between the US and Europe because the standards of living and access to information are comparable—who can blame the Kokovoko Islanders for being superstitious?
Anyway, I’d like to hear your opinions on this.
Well as it says next to my name, I’m from the U.S. and I have to agree with you! Why are we so stupid? …Well I’d like to think that i’m not. But honestly, a girl who sits next to me in my art class asked me if Russian was a language, if meld was a word, and thought a Komodo dragon was an “actual” dragon.
Well I never thought about it much but yeah, America is a large country…What a new concept to me. Think about that-I never considered that. I’ve only ever thought that Russia and China were large but i never compared European countries. I whined about Germany having 16 states (i can only name 2 in their Deutsch forms) and yet we have 50 (NOT 52).
But one thing you said really surprised me-you think we’re isolation-ish? Well yes, it is weird that we don’t have much international news, but besides that, we love to vacation all over the world. While lots of us can’t afford it, international travel has always been something we love. But, while we do travel i guess we’re not exactly going to learn about the culture…I see your point-it just sounds weird to me.
Oh yeah and America’s bigger than Europe so we could travel all over our own country and see amazing sights. Like the American version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa-The Leaning Tower of Pizza! Instead of seeing Stonehenge we could always watch that one Spongebob episode or look at it from the Google satellite service.
I also shocked to death you don’t own a car. In America everybody has a car. I guess we’re just lazy or something. Are your public establishments closer to residential areas than us?? How many miles does the average person walk a day there??
I know: America being a wealthy country with the majority living in comfort = laziness= boredom & ignorance = believing in UFOs, Armageddon, and George Bush.
Our country is so weird!! I mean it’s like we all went insane or nutters or something. Maaan weird stuff happens when you live in the “greatest country ever”. Or maybe it really is the isolationist thing.
Respondez s’il vous plait.
P.S. You’re from Vienna??? That’s in Austria right? I mix it up with Germany a lot. Tell me, what is the main difference between Germany and Austria??? Do you say servus? Is there a man physical difference between Germans and Austrians? Does it seem weird to you that America is a giant glomp of people of various nationalities? I’ve found that I can’t identify whether someone is British, German, French, or Italian but apparently you Europeans have no trouble with that.
Well I-not too surprisingly- did NOT read all 13 pages of this discussion but I did read three of them and it was a very interesting discussion indeed! Well I guess I’ll be more serious here,
While we do need better education systems, it’s all about environment, the media, and our vicious cycle of a lazy lifestyle we live.
A friend of mine who’s lived in many countries including Germany says that people there are much more discliplined and efficient. I agree,
Imagine this (somewhat stereotypical) skit:
Person 1: I have much studying to do for my exam tomorrow.
2: Yes, I have a rehearsal along with that too
3: Yeah I gotta study too…*sigh*
4: I’m gonna go watch tv
1-3 all stare at 4
4: I’m American
*comprehension danws on their faces*
That’s how I picture German/other countries versus the American lifestyle.
Spock: That was highly illogical.
Me: Logic doesn’t keep the haters away.
Einstein: Sarcasm is the retreat of the weakminded.
Me: Tears hair, ahhh!!! It’s 1 am can’t i just rant in peace??!!!!
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Well this post just took a tangent. I really do feel like I sort of live in a bubble. I live in a very secure, upper-middle class, higher education system environment (Kansas-no we are not hicks) and I feel like I’m in some sort of air filtrated bubble. I’ve met tons of people from various countries-at one point I didn’t know what the heck a Palestinian was-ignorance is very…dull. Especially because now even though I don’t read international news I still feel like I actually know what’s going on in the world.
But I’m not totally hopeless. I did watch that “Dumb Americans” youtube video and even though those people don’t represent the entire U.S. Population’s intelligence I am proud to say that I do know that a triangle has THREE sides, I know that the Taj Mahal, Great Wall of China, and Eiffel Tower are NOT in Australia. I know where the U.S. is on a map, and I can locate Iraq, Afghanistan, and Sri Lanka.
And countries that starts with U would be Uzbekistan, Uraguay, the US (duh)…Wow I can only think of those three.
I’ve looked it up-Uganda, Ukraine, and United Kingdom>>I never thought about that. Of course it was not too long ago I realized that OMG England isn’t a country, nor is Ireland, Wales, etc.
And I despise gossip and celebrity media. I’m actually a very weird kid for my age. Everyone else thinks oh my gosh Britney Spears is such a retard and I’m thinking over in my little corner…“Who cares? And why does Google News’s top 3 stories involve American entertainment while the fourth story is Iraq related???? There’s something wrong with this picture!!”
Ahh, I’ve gone on another rant-that’s what this seems to be for me-just a long long rant. Well I think I’ll stop here before I say something REALLY stupid, but I’d really really like to pop out of my cultural bubble.
That’s a very good sign, indeed. Lots of luck.
Disbelief, dismay, anger, depression, numbness pretty much nails it. All of which arise from ignorance. Which would lead to the fact that U.S. education really sucks. Thank god that 99.8% of Norway can read.
random ignorant person, you ramble a lot and get to no specific point. you should think more and speak less. what the hell is the point of your post. i am from the south. no wonder we wanted to separate from your Union ….. you people are pretty damn slow. Sorry, no slam on the Northern States …. but really. check out the stats on percentages of States that get to fight all these stupid ass wars. Personally, I think the only three wars the South can be proud of are the Battle of New Orleans, WWI, and WWII. After that it was pretty much political pissing contests (e.g. why were we in Grenada?).
well after living in other country filled with ingorant people i dont mind the stupidity in america!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
all americans jump off a cliff to see who will hit the ground first. who wins? Society.
no more wars nor fattys
americans thinks that they are most powerful ,smart,rich etc then any other nation.One must understand that Usa is country with people from all over the world, success is due to contribution from all these people.
Other countries like Russia , China , India consist of native people only .EX Russia have russians only.
In usa , russians , indians , chineese make contibution.So usa cannot be compared with other countries
My observations:-
‘Trotsky’ made a comment about the ‘Queen of England’. England hasn’t had a queen since Queen Anne died in 1714, the current monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, head of state of the United Kingdom. Americans, when talking about the UK, will often say ‘Great Britain’. Great Britain isn’t a country, it is an island. Whilst the US may have gained independence from the kingdom of Great Britain, this country has been known as the United Kingdom since 1801. Personally, every time the President of the United States or other Americans say ‘Great Britain’ or ‘England’ rather than UK I cringe because I know they have not been properly educated (unlike ‘The random ignorant person’ – thank you for taking the time to look up the name of one of your closest allies). It is actually offensive to get the name of our country wrong. Just talking about ‘the queen of England’ or ‘Great Britain’ might seem a little thing but it immediately identifies someone as not having been properly educated, and not having the desire to educate him- or herself. Just my two cents!
GeekMom wrote:
I really like how you explain this. You are very good at being clear and truthful. Thank you.
It’s not that Americans are stupid, they are like the ignorant masses of the world generally, as high human culture has, as a result of the class system, always been reserved for the upper classes. It is that America has certain ideals and represents something for humanity generally next to which the massive failure to create an intelligent average citizen is especially glaring.
The National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) and the rates of Atheism are the best empirical evidence of the underlying facts. Less than 18% of the White population has complete literacy as determined by the ability to process complex prose such as would be encountered in daily life. The figure varies in different groups and drops to 2% for blacks.
There are strong cultural trends in the formation of American culture from the lower classes of Europe and elsewhere, but essentially it is the bedrock failure of American culture to produce a society that values intellect and learning. A failure which, fortunately for Man, is not shared by other cultures generally.
I don’t think Americans are stupid, I think that the U.S. Government is so corrupted, that people actually aren’t voting for their people, I think its all controlled.
If they are willing to pass laws and go to war against the will of the people, what makes you think they are actually considering your votes when they tally up?
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LMAO check those facts as you’ve just proved this point.
Do you know where Europe is anyway?
Where is Europe? = Baja Arctic Circle.
Peace.
Stupidity and Ignorance are two different things, the former is largely an innate characteristic the latter, ignorance, is simply a lack of knowledge. Addressing the former, stupidity, or for purposes of simplicity IQ is measured cross-culturally and cross-racially. Because America is a heterogeneous county the average or mean IQ is lower than many European and Asian countries because 12 to 13 percent of the country’s population has an average (mean) IQ of 84. Naturally when this lower IQ population is factored in it depresses the overall average. The only arguments in opposition are personal attacks, off subject emotional tirades or the ever so tedious Marxian-Sociological mumbo jumbo.
The real problem is that we Americans (people that live in the US) are not stupidity, but rather something more basic. Many follow without complete knowledge. We don’t know how the actions of one decision effect the rest of the World. Yet many of us argue points as if we were all knowing. As one who has studied law, tax, economics…I am proud of the decisions that our leaders have made. We as a republic are lucky to not have a dictator slash power hungry nut as a ruler. Or at least, our founding fathers were smarter enough to develop a government that would not allow a nut to stay in office. However, as well as that seems to have worked for the executive branch, I am sad to say that we let our legislative branch
gives so much leeway to this point. In other words, why are there so many legislative politicians that have made a career out of being a senator or congress person? Even though the judicial branch is really no better, I believe that the argument for experience places a much bigger role in the judicial branch, and therefore longer terms seems more acceptable. At any rate, I really wish we, US Americans, could change how the election system works. I find it terrible that our leaders twist, manipulate, and outright lie to us in their process to become an elected official. Tactics that are used for arguments between election candidates in all branches, specifically, the legislative and executive branch should not allow deception.
I would say about 40% of Americans are idiots, most of those idiots are a$$holes, not all Americans are bad, but I’ve known some and they all seem a bit too patriotic and are quick to defend their country when I insult it. For example ‘why do Americans think they are the world?’ my friends would reply, HEY Americans are most of the world because they are they most powerful.
……….? Americans are also racist and stereotypical and have started the Iraq war because they want oil, bush said sad dam Hussein was building WMDs, so they invaded and found nothing, now there picking on iran doing the same thing ‘Iran is building nukes!!!!!!!! He the hell would they no that, sure there enriching uranium but that could just be for power plants. Some of them say e are Americans, and then some crap after that, that I can’t remember, but do they know that theres no such thing as a true Americans? All americans are the descendants of mixed Europeans 400 years ago. I admit my info is a little biased but opinions by definition are biased. Btw a couple of years ago there was a survey which fund out that 7 out of 10 Americans don’t know where Iraq is
Also whenever I watch CNN, they say it’s world news but they only show it if it involves america, remember the Japan earthquake, did you listen to what they said? over 12000 people are either missing or dead, and among them were 43 americans or something. No offense to the dead but really???? Out of the 12000 only 43 matter to the us, recently on new years, there was a 6.8 after shock in Japan and all CNN was showing was a 3.9 earthquake in Ohio and how worried they were, you ******* serious??? Another thing about the news, when Michael Jackson died every single news network covered that for a few days, CNN covered it for 3 weeks nonstop, while I like Michael Jackson, 3 weeks is a bit too much. And American courts are sometimes odd, OJ simpson was freed because a fucking glove was tight, again, really??????? Casey Anthony was freed despite all the evidence against her, and yet again, really?????????
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The phone was invented by Canadians, and the car was invented in Germany and the British were the first to study electricity
Yes I agree with the guy above me, the idea of cars came form germany, the idea of flight came from France, phones came from Canada, radioes and space flight came from Russia, the light bulb was actually invented by Joseph swan, a British scientist who let Edison sell the idea in America, the Russian military is stronger than the American military, they think they won Vietnam, they lost that miserably, they think they are better and the British because they won the war of independence, Britain had better things to worry about such as Napoleon and economic expansion and growth, the USA is not a superpower, they are $14,000,000,000,000 ($14 trillion for you Americans) in debt mostly thanks to George bush whom they stupidly elected twice. Th nuclear bomb was built in collaboration with other allied scientists, of which only 1 was american, they make such a big deal about WW2 even though mainland US was never invaded, you don’t see France, Germany, Russia, Poland, or Britain making such a big deal out of it do you? And most Americans don’t know the meaning of Christmas, Christmas is when Jesus was born, it is not Santa time or party time, it prayer time and family time, and Easter is more important than Christmas because Easter is when jesus died to forgive us of our sins, it’s not Easter bunny time or Easter egg time, or party time. It is prayer time, church time and family time. Also, Americans are racist idiots who blame everything on the black guy ( you know who I’m talking about you slave masters), and worship the white guy. The united states will fall to wither china or Russia, you are hypocrites, you are in major debt by yourself and yet you make fun of Europe when it has to combine all of its debt to match america’s. And it’s your fault anyways, you didn’t pay them back so they lost money and went into debt, and shut up about Greece, it’s a sad story, no one pays taxes and probably Turkey will buy Greece, also Americans cheat on their taxes, American families typically make over $100,000 ( $100 thousand) a year and still go into debt although everything is cheap there, here in Canada, families usually make $50,000 a year although house prices here suck, $750,000 for a house that costs $75,000 in the US.
well golly gee whiz trollhunter
Have you considered the merits and benefits of fucking off?
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America didn’t invent telephones, Canada did. The light bulb was not american, Edison worked with joseph swan, a British, he made the light bulb and sold the ownership to Edison so he could sell it in a,Erica proclaiming that he was the inventor, the idea of flight came from France, Fance also invented cars, not America, America hardly invented anything, the radio was Russian and so is space flight, you guys inveted McDonald’s, KFC, and burger king, great job America!! Self propelled ships were invented by the Spanish or the British I think, the atomic bomb had only 1 American scientist working on it, the other 40 were Europeans, America makes such a big deal about WW2, I know, it’s sad, 60 million people killed, and how many of those were American? About 400,000, you don’t see russia or France making such a big ceremony about it and they had the most casualties. And no, it has nothing to do with how ‘good’ America is at war, it’s because the Americas ( north and south) are separated by oceans on all sides. America has no money, the majority of the population have a lot of debt even though houses are cheap and you get payed more than us ( Canada) .
Well you see, one of these things are happening, you know I’m right and you want me to shut up because you can’t say anything else, or I am just pissing you off with my rants, or you can invalidate my arguments but you have yet to do so, I will return at a random time.
An increasingly horrified and embarrassed American – the more I educate myself the worse it gets. Lie any and all other countries – people do good and bad. But the image perpetuated and hypocrisy that allowed Bush to steal 2000 (when I really started to pay attention) and everything since — not to mention the irony of the US being ‘discovered’ and founded by british trying to escape the idiocy and here in latest years is prevails beyond comprehension by the very same claiming to e victims.
I appreciate your post – I have been planning my own for a long time but Bush changes still in effect and become worse make me wary of even this response.
I grew up believing in what is right. That my vote counts and I never knew of prejudice until I experienced against myself and had to learn what I had been hearing about but still have yet to understand.
even those that are lying openly admit it on camera these days yet somehow, their followers STILL support them and somehow spin a conspiracy while discrediting and attacking all others that dare to disagree. Of course holding a bible and being crapped in a flag scares even more otherwise intelligent people to be quiet. And those with all the money and therefore power being turned into victims.
It’s not new in history – but as you know, Most Americans history is VERY limited – something else I don’t think is an accident. —-
Anyone in or out of the states with valid and sincere advice/references/connections?