Americans Ignorance about America

noise said:
WSJ is ok..WAPO is fake news..
i'm looking for some factual news..i realize that is a rare bird these days
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WP isn't fake news, has plenty of conservative columnists, Will and Krauthammer for example, but I have a feeling your not really looking for factual news, rather just something that confirms what you want to be factual, I'd recommend talk radio for that
 
noise said:
It’s no great secret that Americans overall know very little about the history — and even current state — of their own country, as poll after test after survey after embarrassing statement have proved for decades.

The just-released 2017 civics survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found, among other things:

*More than a third of American adults (37 percent) can’t name any of the rights guaranteed under the First Amendment.
*Only a quarter of American adults (26 percent) can name all three branches of government.
*More than half of American adults (53 percent) incorrectly think it is accurate to say that immigrants who are here illegally do not have any rights under the U.S. Constitution.

Last year’s survey by the Annenberg center found:

*Nearly 4 in 10 (39 percent) incorrectly said the Constitution gives the president the power to declare war. Just more than half (54 percent) knew the Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war.
*A vast majority (83 percent) correctly said the Constitution gives Congress the power to raise taxes.
*A majority (77 percent) know the Constitution says that Congress cannot establish an official religion — though almost 1 in 10 agreed with the statement that the Constitution says, “Congress can outlaw atheism because the United States is one country under God.”

A 2015 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, using nationally representative Education Department data, found that about 75 percent of eighth-graders across the country did not have a solid grasp of geography, and the report concluded that a majority of states do not require geography courses in middle school or high school.

Only 18 percent of eighth-graders scored proficient in U.S. history, 27 percent were at or above proficient in geography and 23 percent performed at or above proficient in civics — though it is important to note that NAEP proficiency levels are considered higher than grade-level proficiencies.

Now, we have a new example of American historical and civic illiteracy. This one involves Puerto Rico, the island recently devastated by two hurricanes.

Puerto Rico is not a foreign country, at least it isn’t if you live in the United States. It is a U.S. territory, and those on the island who were born in Puerto Rico are American citizens (though, like denizens of the District of Columbia, have no voting rights in Congress).

But a new poll by an outfit called Morning Consult, as reported in the New York Times, found that only 54 percent of Americans know that people born in Puerto Rico are American citizens. The story said:

This finding varied significantly by age and education. Only 37 percent of people ages 18 to 29 know people born in Puerto Rico are citizens, compared with 64 percent of those 65 or older. Similarly, 47 percent of Americans without a college degree know Puerto Ricans are Americans, compared with 72 percent of those with a bachelor’s degree and 66 percent of those with a postgraduate education.

A May 2016 Economist/YouGov poll had even worse results: Only 43 percent of those who replied knew that Puerto Ricans were U.S. citizens.

The Puerto Rico Report reported that last year, Stephen Moore, a senior economic contributor at FreedomWorks and a distinguished visiting fellow with the Project for Economic Growth at the right-wing Heritage Foundation, said this while testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee:

And such attitudes provide yet more evidence, as if any were needed, that Americans’ lack of understanding of their own country can have important consequences for people beyond simply being thought of as dumb.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...out-their-own-country/?utm_term=.69fcceffc2d9
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While I agree w/ much of the info, I don't necessarily agree w/ the conclusion...

When we were that age were we smarter?? More knowledgeable?? I don't think so......... Drugs, sex & rock n roll, yea we knew all about that but much else??

I & I believe we have learned much much more since we were that age & I guess it is safe to assume they will as well............... Afterall most of their parents (us/our generation) didn't smoke & party while pregnant lol
 
archives said:
WP isn't fake news, has plenty of conservative columnists, Will and Krauthammer for example, but I have a feeling your not really looking for factual news, rather just something that confirms what you want to be factual, I'd recommend talk radio for that
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will and Krauthammer are #neverTrumps.
I'm not interested in establishment conservatives..the are just as much part the Swamp as establishment Dems

I saw enough pure horsesh*t passing as straight news during the election to damn that entire paper.
Much like the NYTimes self confessed "advocacy journalism-they've turned a once competent paper
into nothing more the fish wrappings
 
Bill said:
While I agree w/ much of the info, I don't necessarily agree w/ the conclusion...

When we were that age were we smarter?? More knowledgeable?? I don't think so......... Drugs, sex & rock n roll, yea we knew all about that but much else??

I & I believe we have learned much much more since we were that age & I guess it is safe to assume they will as well............... Afterall most of their parents (us/our generation) didn't smoke & party while pregnant lol
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I knew more about government and US history by the time i was in 6th grade then the majority of today's ignorant citizens.

also I think Vietnam concentrated the mind like only a draft will do.
It made us question such specious claims as the "domino theory". It took away a lot of legitimacy from "McCarthyism" type Communism hysteria

then we had Nixon where the veneer of the nice guy POTUS like Ike and Kennedy were stripped away,
and we were forced to confront so called "unitary POTUS"powers
 
noise said:
serious ignorance means Americans ( millenials are the worst) get their newz thru social media.

Some might read biased/incomplete internet reportage dressed up as news coverage ( fake news by both sides)

If you don't understand US history you can't put events into perspective,
and if you don't understand government you can't understand separation of powers/federalism/etc

Then we wonder why the plutocrats do not answer to the public??
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Since big money they only need to answer to them it seems.........

Hopefully as they grow older they will think more critically but given the old one sided farts we see every day, who knows.......
 
Bill said:
Isn't talk radio & fox news unbiased??
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Fox Report -the 6PM newscast is one of the best. Lots of foreign coverage,and the news part of it is unbiased.
Not the panel, that's political discussion..I used to listen to a guy in the afternoon -local talk.
But now it's Limbaugh and Hannity
 
Americans Ignorance about America
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From what I can tell, this poll is not measuring knowledge. It is measuring awareness of bureaucracy and parliamentary process.

I have never met anyone who does not know this nation has freedom of speech. That's the important thing. Specifically being able to link it to the First Amendment is just knowledge of process, it is not measuring innate knowledge. I also don't think I've ever met anyone who does not know there is a Congress, and Supreme Court, and a President. But that "three branches" lexicon is something ascribed great significance in high school classes, but it really isn't measuring knowledge when you think about it. It is measuring familiarity with buzz words.

Watching Fox News or reading Brietbart is not going to increase American's knowledge. Those are propaganda outlets that are not interesting in disseminating information and knowledge. You know what smart people - really smart people - listen to and read? That's right, NPR, PBS, National Geographic, Smithsonian, BBC, et al. You know, so called liberal bastions of learning and scholarly knowledge.

As for your alleged concern with the knowledge base of Americans, I have to profess I find your concern trolling a little less than genuine. Why? Because you worship at the shrine of Donald J. Drumpf. Undoubtedly and demonstrably the stupidest and least informed President we have ever had. They guy might know how to sell steaks and hotels, but he is literally an incurious dunce in every sense of the word. That is who you worship, that who you spend a great deal of your life defending with every fiber of your being on obscure message boards .

I think that really reflects poorly on you, and does not suggest to me that you give a rats ass about respecting knowledge and education.
 
noise said:
I knew more about government and US history by the time i was in 6th grade then the majority of today's ignorant citizens.

also I think Vietnam concentrated the mind like only a draft will do.
It made us question such specious claims as the "domino theory". It took away a lot of legitimacy from "McCarthyism" type Communism hysteria

then we had Nixon where the veneer of the nice guy POTUS like Ike and Kennedy were stripped away,
and we were forced to confront so called "unitary POTUS"powers
Click to expand...

In Calif we had to pass a civics exam to get out of 8th grade... I neither cared or studied much beyond what was necessary to pass...

I think most were not much different than now..........

Nor was the "knowledge" of events..........

Example East Timor & the genocide this country was supporting..... ALmost no one knew anything about it, including many/most in our military........

We new about Viet Nam, but little of what was going on in the rest of the planet, even the dirty shit in Central America/south AMerica...

Did you learn about what we did to Iran in school?? I never did............
 
noise said:
Fox Report -the 6PM newscast is one of the best. Lots of foreign coverage,and the news part of it is unbiased.
Not the panel, that's political discussion..I used to listen to a guy in the afternoon -local talk.
But now it's Limbaugh and Hannity
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Why the switch?? You were listening to that guy for years.......
 
Bill said:
Why the switch?? You were listening to that guy for years.......
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he does 6AM drive time.Not that there is anything better on at that time.

Plus he's gone more evangelical. which I either like or not depending how Christian I am feeling.

I talked to him after the hurricane.
He volunteered to broadcast during hurricane Irma's night when people were calling in at 3AM from their bathrooms
 
noise said:
he does 6AM drive time.Not that there is anything better on at that time.

Plus he's gone more evangelical. which I either like or not depending how Christian I am feeling.

I talked to him after the hurricane.
He volunteered to broadcast during hurricane Irma's night when people were calling in at 3AM from their bathrooms
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Most radio stations have pod casts so you can listen to whatever you want, whenever you want..
 
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