4% of Americans believe Stephen King, not Melville, wrote Moby Dick. We are a nation of dumb fuks. It's a wonder we're as well off as we are.

Not to mention computers, smart phones, Ipods and pretty much any new electronic technology out there.

I'm thinking about finding a Twentypercenter and inviting him to my next party just for the sheer entertainment value of the stupid/crazy that will come out of his mouth. Like that The Bible was written by Jesus himself...

Mowsley, you busy next Saturday?

there you go again, you have no knowledge of me or what i believe, yet you still make claims that would indicate you do. typical.

Geez, I bet some here still have the time flashing on their VCR's.

It's not supposed to be flashing?

Aunty,

I wasn't referring just to the younger generation. I have a couple young adult kids, but they always have been atypical, genius or near-genius types. Along with modern technology, they have their cultural literacy down better than most of my peers and definitely know that Melville wrote Moby Dick and all the other American classic authors and most British while solving calculus equations between tunes on their Ipods and checking restaurant reviews on their Iphones. Those are not the type I was referring to. It's not about sharing my same values or opinions. It's about demonstrating an ability to think logically and analytically. I encounter or read about Americans nearly every day that are almost as stupid as George Bush. That's what I meant in saying we are a nation of dumb fuks.

Sg

Chances are, your seniors were saying the same thing about you and me when we were growing up, Salmo.

Let's face it, not many kids care that Melville wrote Moby Dick because it has little relevance in their world. Fortunately, just like in every previous generation, there will be those that want to know because they think and desire knowledge for the sake of knowledge.

I know it seems like things are getting worse, but that's been said since the beginnings of civilization.

Aunty's right...................yer just old!

Funny thing about organized religion............it always costs money. Spirituality is free. But you gotta bottle it and sell it to make that cash!

It is all about brilliant marketing. Some slick, closet-blowjob-receiving pastor convinces his flock they will burn for eternity in a place he can't prove exists if they don't give him cash. If they DO give him cash, he will promise they go to ANOTHER place he also cannot prove exists, but which has far better looking chicks and better fishing. It is about the CASH and capitalizing on stupidity.

Of course they have to charge, how else are they going to pay the settlements on the child molestation cases.

What's mobydick?


A particularly virulent STD primarily associated with the Grays Harbor, Long Beach area.

Jeesh, don't they teach you anything at your school?

Aunty,

"It's not about sharing my same values or opinions. It's about demonstrating an ability to think logically and analytically."

That's what I see as missing, and it's missing among way too many people from all age groups. I never aimed my assessment at just the youngest generation of Americans. Ignorance abounds among Americans of all ages, and it makes me wonder how the country has done as well as it has. I don't really care that everyone doesn't know Melville wrote Moby Dick. It's the lack of Americans able to demonstrate logical thought and analytical reasoning that disturbs me.

Sg

Jeopardy is a game that tends to make me feel like a dum fuk....

There is some serious odd ball [censored] that people retain as knowledge and why they retain it is beyond me....

Keith

Do you feel it's different in other countries? Or is it just the human race?

Keith

I still think we need more people that can win Jeopardy in this world.....

Keith

I'll take Muslims for 500.00 Alex.

Aunty,

Cut back on the caffiene already. I said the issue isn't specifically the Moby Dick question. It's about demonstrable logical thought and analytical reasoning, but maybe I should have included reading comprehension since you're still stuck on the Moby Dick question.

And BTW, more likely than not it was a multiple choice question, so that respondents don't have to overload their memories with author's names. And in that context I would expect most males with half a brain to also get the Pride and Prejudice author correct as well using, bingo!, logic and analytical reasoning. If the respondent has ever heard either of the book titles, it was likely in the context of "old" books. Similarly, when presented with a choice of author's names, pick the "old" one (Melville and Austin) as opposed to the "new" (King and Steel). This ain't rocket science, or I wouldn't get it.

Stlhdr1,

Yeah, cuz Jeopardy is where it's at! I hate the show, but sometimes enjoy listening to the questions just to see how many I know.

Sg

Go ahead and sit in on an Introduction to Calculus class at UW, and by the end of the hour, you'll get to figuring out that there are still plenty of smart people out there.

I don't believe people are getting dumber. I believe that since there are more people, there are more dumb people.

Math is a waste of time. I'll never use it.

Bus Calc was a fun class, then again, basically all math is fun, in a weird, twisted sort of way. So was chem, and thankfully, it had a lot of math. win win. Good thing, 'cause I only went to 3 classes due to the banging springer run that year, and out of 700+ enrolled in the class, I was one of 4 to get 100% on the final.

Math, at least you can work back through your 'answer' and see if you're right. Try doing that with your 22 page paper on Feminism in the 20th Century. Yeah...that class was required

I don't find it at all surprising that those who don't have an emotional bias to the subject matter are the ones that score the best on a test covering said subject matter.

Also, remember that half of Americans have below average IQs

Math there is one right answer and no politics in grading it. Straight A's for me but I can't say that about essay type classes.
Now days people rely on their computers, calculators or the internet for answers. I think actually having to remember formulas, theorems and equations and know how they work is a lost art.

Not quite what I was expecting from a banker. Are you saying this is what went sideways with the industry?

From now on I'm sending all my math problems to Twitch. I never missed a class and didn't score anywhere near 100%.

Sg

The 100% was in Chem. Bus. Calc was a 98%

Here's a fun one from that test:



Or this one


This one actually came in handy. I used it to get the property management co. I was renting from to adjust the rent (it was too high!) my junior year!


Such a nerd....

Wow.

Phffft, that's nuthin. You see the same scribblings on walls of the shytter along the Skok. Which Todd loves to read, btw.

I went as far as multivariable calculus. That said, I use Excel, Matlab scripts, and Spotfire to do anything more advanced than algebra. These days I'm not sure I could handle a differential equation if I had a gun to my head.

Don't count me out yet Aunty, I didn't do so hot in that Feminism in America class
I "earned" four C's in college... that was one of'em!

Dan,

You should save that as your signature, I about pissed myself after reading that! It's absolutely on the money! Heck you should make a shirt out of it...

Keith

Americans lead the way in basic stupidity when students are compared against a weighted average of same-age students from other countries. I remember watching a TV show about a test given to college sophomore girls from Japan, USA, Germany and England in the early 80s. About 90% of the girls from the other countries could identify where Japan was on a world map. ALL of the Japanese girls could identify California, Washington DC and NYC on a US map. 5% of the American girls knew where Japan was. 5 Friggin' percent! Even scarier...............20% of the American girls thought Catalina Island was Japan!

The boys don't really measure up any better Aunty. Another recent test of students from advanced nations showed American students dead last in math. Funny thing is tho, the American students thought they would place first. So the take home message was, while American students do worst in math, they placed first in confidence, misplaced confidence, but hey, they probably have high self esteem, all the while thinking 2 + 5 = 8.

That could be because it's deemed acceptable by half of the idiots in this country to say stupid sh!t like "evolution is a myth" and "they're growing mice with human brains".

Statements like that should get you banished, not elected.

This is the example of leaders we give kids today?

Fantastic.

So is this your definition of a dum fuk?



Keith

I call B.S...It's not black and white.

Who said there is no hope for the younger generation.


A proud moment for mom and dad when they take their first kid to school on his first day, but the kid is a little nervous.


Another great moment when their favorite daughter returns to her old school to show all the younger kids what she has learned.

How much of the "stupidity" of american students has to do with how we value education and how we position our students. It all reminds me of a documentary of where they were following a school that raised its college acceptance level from a very low rate to close to 100%. Unfortunately they didn't know how to deal with their 50% drop out rate. Now, if they were adequately serving all their students, they might have a 50% acceptance rate and 50% graduating with a different set of skills. I worked with a woman who was on the local school board. She would complain about how kids had a 6th grade reading level then talk about how they needed to up the standards and require a foreign language. I could never get her to understand that requiring someone who couldn't read didn't need higher standards (they were already failling the ones set) or foreign languages or to prepare for college, they needed to learn how to read. As the percentage of students that enter college rises, can we not then expect that the average level of intellenge will fall compared to the 1950's when only a small percentage entered? Europe has understood this for ages, and by nineth grades starts seperating out kids for different types of education. If I remember right, my cousin went into an appretance type program for auto repair when he was 16. This prepared him to take over his father's business at a younger age. No need for him to learn advance chemistry, he needed to learn how to repair cars and balance books. Last I heard, he is quite successful. I, on the other hand, went to four years of college. The one time in 20 years I had to use advanced calculus, I couldn't remember the right formula. Finally I did the right thing and asked someone who focused on that field. Even he couldn't remember the formula and had to look it up for me.

My child is mildly autistic, and while very smart and capable, he will not sit still for a long test. So while he knows a lot, he will never score high on a standardized test. That said, we were already informed when he started school that the WSL had no exemptions (at that time). The appologized but said that regardless of his intelligence or ability, all students had to take the test. I wonder how that skews the numbers. Especially considering that so many children with limited abilities are now main streamed.

how's the weather in south carolina andre?

I found the following to speak along the same lines as your comments. Amazing indeed. Truly amazing.

http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-09-29/news/white-america-has-lost-its-mind/

I think that there are more people, but the increase in dumfuks has grown out of proportion to the growth of people in general...and I think that those in charge like it that way.

Fish on...

Todd

Thanks for the link. The author clearly demonstrates that he is among the expanding populus of dum fuks.

Is that a different sort of darwinism?

Keith

The problem with people buying into the RWWJ position of "screw everyone else, I'll just get mine!" is that when the RWWJ leadership says that, they also mean it to apply to 99% of their supporters...why so many people not only vote in direct contradiction to their own well-being, but do so self-righteously and so vociferously, too, is a thing of great consternation to me and the health of our country.

Fish on...

Todd

Tell us how you really feel.....

Keith

Wow. Totally misguided. Lost beyond help. Heartless.

Perhaps when these mass sterilizations commence, you, Sir, should be first in line.

Life is a bitch and not eveyone is given a fair shake...some people just need a little help. Go watch Good Will Hunting or The Blind Side or something.

I can't believe that I actually see eye-to-eye with KK on this one.