National Geographic Quiz

[Kramerman]

Originally posted by Hueij

It's the Americans that DO vote that scare me...

the voters tend to be a bit more educated than the population as a whole

[Kramerman]

the US government is better able to scare the 'herd' into supporting its actions on its war on terror such as invading Iraq when it didn't even pose a threat to the US OR have any links with Al Qaeda - after all that 42% who didn't know where Al Qaeda came from probably thought they were from Iraq and were more than happy to 'get Saddam back for 9/11'...

Iraq was a threat to the US, albeit a long term threat. I dont peronally know any prowar americans who thought anything along the lines of "get Saddam back for 9/11".

[MOBIUS]

Originally posted by Kramerman
20/20... terriblly shameful on the ignorance of the world as a whole. The US was consistently one of the worst...

At first i was shocked at the number of americans that failed to find mexico on the map, but this shock was equaled by the number of euros that couldnt find italy, or Sweden on the map... tho the US has it's share of ignorance, it is a worldwide problem

Personally I found that particular question pretty stunning considering that Mexico is one of only two countries with a land border (a huge one of hundreds of miles!) with the US AND the whole Hispanic population/illegal immigrant thing going on in the US...

Of the Euros, only France borders Italy with a small border and they got something like 96%. The other European countries can be slightly forgiven considering that there are dozens of nations in Europe - as opposed to only three in North America...

Even more stunning was the 30% who had no clue that the Pacific Ocean is lapping their Western Seaboard from San Diego to the Aleutians...

That still doesn't explain why the Canadians (who are even further away from Mexico!) are so much more smarter than their US neighbours???

[Kramerman]

Originally posted by MOBIUS


Personally I found that particular question pretty stunning considering that Mexico is one of only two countries with a land border (a huge one of hundreds of miles!) with the US AND the whole Hispanic population/illegal immigrant thing going on in the US...

Of the Euros, only France borders Italy with a small border and they got something like 96%. The other European countries can be slightly forgiven considering that there are dozens of nations in Europe - as opposed to only three in North America...

Even more stunning was the 30% who had no clue that the Pacific Ocean is lapping their Western Seaboard from San Diego to the Aleutians...

That still doesn't explain why the Canadians (who are even further away from Mexico!) are so much more smarter than their US neighbours???

err.. by that logic, only Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California border Mexico (only 4 of the 50 states, mind you), and each state has its own school curriculum

perhaps new york doesnt put as much emphasis on mexico... like Great britain understandablely doesnt put as much emphasis on italy as france does

[Kramerman]

That still doesn't explain why the Canadians (who are even further away from Mexico!) are so much more smarter than their US neighbours???

I hardly think geographical knowledge, tho important, is a basis of judging intellegence

[geeslaka]

The more geography you know the harder it is for someone to misdirect you.

[Locutus]

Wrong about El Nino's effect on our weather and also wrong about our media attention about it. Are you an American immigrant perhaps?

I most certainly am not.

As mentioned (sort of), I was talking obvious effects on our weather, like the tornadoes and droughts and stuff they have on the other side of the big pond.

And the media pays attention to it alright, when there's some 'cool' images to show like people fleeing from floods and tornadoes destroying cities. But in-depth coverage on the science behind it (the sort of stuff I'd be interested in) is very limited, to the best of my knowledge. That's simply the way the media work

And in the past 10-15 years (if not longer) the Dutch government has made an earnest attempt to hollow out the education system (students seem to learn less and less every year), so I'm not entirely surprised to hear you learned about it in 'high school' while I didn't (I graduated from 'high school' 5 years ago).

[FrustratedPoet]

Originally posted by Locutus
And the media pays attention to it alright, when there's some 'cool' images to show like people fleeing from floods and tornadoes destroying cities. But in-depth coverage on the science behind it (the sort of stuff I'd be interested in) is very limited, to the best of my knowledge.

That's true of the UK too.

[Locutus]

I know -- I probably follow the British media more closely than the Dutch, especially the BBC (compared to the Beeb, the Dutch TV stations are a bunch of friggin' amateurs )

[Hueij]

Locutus, maybe you should watch other channels? Try VPRO's "Noorderlicht" or their history program instead of the commercial stations? Not all I know comes from what I learned in school...

[FrostyBoy]

Got 19/20 (I remember reading that islam was more than christianity?)


Anyway, those stats are scary. But lets face it, America is the most diverse country in the world, it's bound to have loads of uneducated people. The next down the line would be Great Britain, and so it is.

Those of us who can understand English, but don't care much for America's idiotic media, tend to want to learn about things that exist outside of their world.


oh, btw, El Nino was easy for me :P I live in NZ, El Nino hits us quite noticably each year, esp. in chch, scientists come to study our rare Hot Nor Westers!

[FrostyBoy]

Oh and notice in that photo, an asian and a african american.


typical

[Locutus]

I never watch commercial TV for news or information (except for Barend & Van Dorp, but they're over the top), just for entertainment.

VPRO is pretty much the only network worth watching nowadays. 'Netwerk', '2 Vandaag', the news (especially the reports by Marga van Praag :puke: - and I used to think she was a good journalist), even Nova is going downhill. All often too shallow and popular for my taste.

[Hueij]

Originally posted by Locutus
I never watch commercial TV for news or information (except for Barend & Van Dorp, but they're over the top), just for entertainment.

VPRO is pretty much the only network worth watching nowadays. 'Netwerk', '2 Vandaag', the news (especially the reports by Marga van Praag :puke: - and I used to think she was a good journalist), even Nova is going downhill. All often too shallow and popular for my taste.

Okay, forget about tv...

Radio... just set your radio to Radio 1 (don't ask me what frequency it is nowadays ) instead of 538.

[Locutus]

Radio? Your age is showing I seem to vaguely recall the term from the '80s, what was it again?

(Seriously though, Radio 1 is the only channel I listen to, but only for 'Langs de Lijn' and 'Radio Tour de France' -- the only reasons why I still have one )