( – promoted by buhdydharma )
Every Fourth of July, Americans gather to celebrate the country’s declaration of independence from … um, what country was that again?
If you answered the above question with the word “England” or “Britain,” you would be obviously correct. But a new Marist poll finds that more than a quarter — 26 percent — of Americans polled couldn’t bring to mind the name of the country from whom the original 13 colonies gained independence.
Results were especially poor among the young: Of respondents aged 18 to 29, only 60 percent correctly identified Great Britain. A full one-third were unsure.
Maybe history class was too long ago. Or maybe, as the New York Daily News would have it, Americans are “pretty dumb.”
Overall, 20 percent of the population answered “not sure” to the question, while six percent declared it to be a country other than Great Britain. “Among the countries mentioned are France, China, Japan, Mexico, and Spain,” Marist reports.
China? Maybe all this poll tells us is that six percent of people who answer surveys like to screw around with them.
That’s a possibility that Jack Stuef at the Wonkette blog is ready to consider.
Consider that a good 10% of Americans probably have Alzheimer’s. Then another 5% are just regular crazy people. And probably 11% of Americans got offended that some annoying academic called them up during dinner to ask them this single, inane question and answered “the United States won its independence from the country of My Ass.”
Let’s hope Stuef is right. Or this country is in big trouble.
9 comments
Skip to comment form
Author
I think.
Over a year ago, I gave 10 random citizenship Qs (from the latest INS citizenship test; I used the same Qs that the infamous OK survey used) to our adult education students. They all failed – got less than 60% correct – except for the ESL (English as a second language) students, all of whom passed.
The good news – one of those ESL students is now my GED student, and he just passed that citizenship test and is now an American citizen. 🙂
…get to vote? No wonder we’re in such trouble.
It’s time to Declare Independence from the United States of Amnesia, Arrogance, Assassins, Aggressive war wagers, and Armed idiots.
that was an operation he authorized! But heck, he was just the president. Nevertheless, a great precedent was established, often referred to as the McKinley Doctrine. In fact, all our recent presidents have subscribed to it and, without doubt, many if not most of our congressional representatives. And certainly one of our V.P. presidential candidates in 2008 was a staunch supporter of it. So, I just take it in stride. Let’s take the Bush Doctrine……………………………….maybe not.
What Constitution?