[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj3iNxZ8Dww
[/url]

Oh god. Help South Africa? Whats that got to do with U.S. dumness? OMG! Made me laugh! She is the perfect stereotype for the blond barbie... Dum as shit!

That is like watching Mr. Bean - It makes your stomach twist with embarrassment.

Was the host withholding laughter?

Her answer had absolutely nothing to do with the actual question.
She appeared on TV yesterday or the day before saying that she was very nervous and stuff. BS imo, she's just dumb.
You can see that here.

She does look like she's so stressed she has no clue what she's talking about.
But I'm not ruling out the possibility that she is merely dumb.
She might also have thought herself quite smart, mentioning poor hungry souls in south Africa will surely make everyone see how kind and considerate she is.

http://www.morningtoast.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads//missmap.gif

The correct answer:
Judge Smails: Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too.

A) She's an idiot
B) She's in that contest because she's hot. Trying to hide that fact is just plain lame.

Who are these Americans who can't find their own damn country on a map? It's kind of big.

http://iga.igg.cnr.it/img/worl.gif

If they were talking about some random euro country I could understand. There are so many damn small countries over there that merge and break-up all the time it's hard to keep track of them.

US Americans, I love it.

What do you think, how many percent of the TV-watchers that actually were looking at that program didn't find anything ridiculous in her answer?

They would have...if...um...we can get iraq and south africa...to...um...help them realize...why we don't see whats...wrong with things on tv...as such

Europeans always get in a tizzy when Americans refer to themselves as Americans, so maybe she was trying to appeal to them.

But yeah, there are plenty of people who wouldn't be able to locate the USA on a map, although most certainly could. But asking them to locate other countries? Be prepared for an unquantifiable amount of ignorance.

Maybe she was thinking "They can't locate USA on a map 'cos they're dumb shits", but wasn't sure how to say that diplomatically?

Homeschooling has a lot to answer for.

What does home school have to do with this? She went to a public school.

<pagent mode>It's my belief that the choice of school in respect to the teachers has little to do with the quality of education for high school. Dedicated students and parents have a lot more to do with how much a person learns.</pagent mode>

USA public schools are horrible because you essentially can be passed along from grade to grade despite failing every course. As long as you have decent behavior and attend school, you'll end up graduating. If you want to apply yourself, then sure, you can learn.

Ack ... her voice ... urge to kill self rising ...

I think he was wincing. That hurt to watch.

I was make grandiose generalisations and referring to those who couldn't point to the USA on a map.

However, in all seriousness, does the question she was presented indicate, or even infer, a failing in part of the US education system, which I guess is what Matthew is referring to?

Not necessarily, but I think the person who came up with the question probably wanted her to say something about education.

The question is (besides being stupid) ambiguous: "Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can't locate the U.S. on a world map. Why do you think this is?"

A "fifth of Americans" may or may not include a large portion of students. Older people would have gone through a public school system that was better than today's, so if they don't know where USA is, then you cannot blame today's system.

But above all, you definitely cannot blame the illegal immigrants because they obviously know where America is if they got here.

http://www.allegro.cc/files/attachment/593069

I found it!*

*dark blue = America

No.. thats india.

Oops.

My standard response to 'US'ers can't find country X on a map' is: how many Euros or Oceanians (I'm looking at YOU sheepshaggers) can find Idaho on a map? How many can name the capital of Iowa?

Not that Americans know where Idaho is at, but you get the point.

The location of the US has been classified for security reasons. That's why most Americans can't find it on a map.

How many of you can locate Kyrgyzstan on the map in my above post without looking it up? I can!

Countries are overrated. If we could all just merge into one big country that'd make things easier for these non-map owners.

If your country is not this big |--| I don't care about you.

According to the map above, that excludes a majority of countries, including most of Europe.

And?

That's an unreasonable comparison. Idaho is a state with only about 1.5 million residents.

Americans can't locate a country on a map, but demand that other people find states inside their country?

I could ask you something like: Can you locate Mangghystau on a map?

Our states are as large and as populous most countries. California has the fifth largest GDP of any nation.

Then you should be able to afford simple geography lessons

Do you know all of India's states and China's provinces?

Archon has a better reply.

The point is that there's a double standard; ask me to identify geography in your local area, but you can't identify geography in my local area. It's just retarded.

IMO of course, your opinion may differ, that's why it's called an opinion after all.

I can locate countries in South America, Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania, even though I'm from North America.

Under your philosophy, everyone would need to learn where every state/province of every country is. There would be over a thousand or two, yet there are only a couple hundred countries.

My standard response to 'US'ers can't find country X on a map' is: how many Euros or Oceanians (I'm looking at YOU sheepshaggers) can find Idaho on a map? How many can name the capital of Iowa?
That's like asking an American to locate Tallinn (or some other random tiny European city). It's actually the dumbest defense I've heard in a while on that subject

Actually it makes perfect sense. Some of our states are just as big if not bigger than some countries. Just because it's a country doesn't make it a "must know" over a state. Some countries are pretty much worthless, just like some states, but without some you wouldn't have allot of stuff. California for example is one of the better known states that I'm sure most everyone in the world can point out, yet I'm sure there is some small ass country that no one cares about that most people in the world couldn't find.

His philosophy comes down to actual size really. Most non Americans could point out California on a map, I'm sure, but ask them to point out Rhode Island and they might have an issue. Why? Because Rhode Island is very tiny and stuck by tons of other tiny (in comparison) states, which without a map that has the names and or boarders, would make it hard to point out unless you were specifically taught it and gave enough crap about it to actually remember.

I think that is why America goes to war with so many countries. So the America people can learn about other countries, because as soon as we goto war, everyone knows everything about that country.

Could you please name a few?

You're completely right about that. Personaly I've never even heard of Road Island. Is it in any way related to Rhode Island?

Good point Got me on that one. [FIXED]
That probably just points out how I could care less about it

http://bpujos.free.fr/PagesPhotos/Photos/Autres/world_map.GIF

Find the tiny ass places and that about sums it up. I say merge, same with the east cost of the us.

I didn't know it had the providence name in it either.

You know what? You're stupid.

I wouldn't expect most people to know the location of every country.

But it appears that, from nonnus and your standpoint, Americans do not need to know the locations of numerous countries because knowing where each of the states are is good enough.

I have a wife, a home, and a good job in a field I love (programming). I must have done something right. But I forget this is a place where the only thing that matters in life is the intelligence that one has. Sorry. Well, I'm off to work.

There are around 190 some counties. I can't remember 190 anything. You are telling me you can look at a map and point out every single country in the world? Congrats. That's not on my priority list atm.

The important thing is you feel good about yourself. I on the other hand think your're pretty much worthless.

The discussion is pointless because most Americans cannot locate states either.

Any self respecting American ought to be able to locate all 50 states and name most of the capital cities. He also should be able to locate any major (or newsworthy) country in the world like GB, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Russia, Japan, China, Australia, Iraq, etc.

Likewise, I'd expect any European to be able to name and locate all European countries and any major American state (like Illinois!).

It's just simple Geography 101 that should be taught in third grade. I know I can still point out every country in the world (except probably in Africa) that existed when I was in grade school. (But I didn't attend a public school, so I was actually required to learn something!)

So much hate in your heart. I'll love you Miron.

Question about that? Do you think it's important for people to be able to point out every country in the world on a map? What reason does that become important? Or is it just good to know for knowing sake?

If you don't care about intelligence, why are you insulted by being called stupid?

As for locating countries...
I could probably point to countries like France, Germany, Poland, Russia, China and the USA, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Algeria, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Syria, Turkey, Italy, the UK, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Brazil, and all continents.
And I really suck at geography. (was probably my lowest grade when we studied it)
This is why I'd expect most people to be able to point to at least half of those.

Australia is the easiest country to locate and to draw its borders.

What does knowing countries have to do with being intelligent? That's not intelligence, that's knowledge.

I'm intelligent enough to know where all the countries of the world are. I choose to not bother gaining that knowledge because I simply have no reason to give a rip. The geographical location and dimensions of Zimbabwe or even Ohio don't exactly have a strong impact on my day-to-day life, you know?

she is a good actor even though she mess up her line noties how she kept the same look on her face like she new what she was talking about and gave a dam even though she was saying the wrong stuff.

i give her 4 1/2 starts out of 5

And what does that have to do with what I said?

Notice:

In response to that:

And so

Was in response to that.

Why bother learning anything? Ultimately, it all boils down to whether you want to win or lose when playing Trivial Pursuit. Hah! That's how it affects your day-to-day life as well, if you like playing that game such as.

Knowledge is what separates civilised people from backwater rednecks, even if it has no impact whatsoever on your every day life. Knowledge about anything and everything is the key to progress. Civilisation, culture and technology wasn't handed to us by god. We got to where we are now because a few people cared enough to learn and discover things that didn't really matter at the time. You can get through life without knowing anything about anything. But is that really what you want?

Is intelligence measured by geographical knowledge?

As fond as I am of maps and worldly locations, my memory fuddles it all up and I'm never quite sure of a given location's placement. Given, I am good at keeping which direction I'm going (kind of like a compass) and I rarely get lost. Massachusetts, however, has challenged me with their lame roads.

Yeah, I can point out the USA on a map, but that's only because I was pointed to it at one time in my life. Knowledge is relative, regardless of what the internets say. Just the other day I was calling the flash game N, "Nimble Ninja," because I picked that up somewhere. But now, I can't find any proof that they are equivalent.

As for the chick, I pity her level of embarrassment, even though I can't stand pageant freaks.

True enough. But surely it's not possible to know everything right? How does one know what to know? On what grounds do you filter through all information you come across to be able to discern what knowledge is important to you? Our senses do it on a daily basis. In this case, regarding the location of every country in the world, the argument of impact to day-to-day life is pretty valid.

intelligence then there is smarts

intelligence is when you remember math fact and formulas ect...its more of remembering predefined answer for problems

smarts is when you figurer things out like puzzle, Making your own formulas ect.. its more of a creative answer for problems

edit: so she was smart because she knew that she had to keep a striate face to fool those people. she could have just been nervous and jumbled the lines

If you cannot locate your own country on the map, you've got to be pretty dumb in all areas of life.

But how is it important in general? It shows that you actually know a thing or two about the world. If you cannot locate Iraq on a map, surely you know nothing about the country, its people, or culture. And therefore you should not be voting in political elections because you're not qualified to make an informed decision.

It just shows that you care a little bit about who we are as humans and how we got to this point. And more knowledge about that will ultimately help in the future.

So to me, I view having a 5th grade geography level as just a token that you are intellectual enough to have a decent conversation with.

But yes, in of itself, knowledge in geography is pretty much worthless.

So if I'm a mentally handicapped freak who knows nothing more than the first 10000 digits of Pi I am per definition intelligent? Cool.

I'd say intelligence encompasses much more than mere memory.

It was a general question.

Get we're pooched then, since no one can know everything.

I don't need to 'discover' Zimbabwe. If the knowledge ever becomes of value to me, I'll go get it. It's not hard come by in this day and age. I consider that a much more intelligent way to go.

No, but that's far removed from what I said. Learning about relevant things is much more productive, much more interesting, much more ... intelligent.

Must be.

Intelligence is the ability to use past experience to solve problems.

It's not easily measurable because there's no way that two different people can have the same experience so we can compare their intelligence.

Perhaps we should replace all mentioning of "intelligence" in this thread with "ignorance".

One blonde shows up and all blokes start fighting with each other.

I know! I know where it is!

When you know a lot of countries there are two possibilities:
1) you have excellent memory
2) you made somekind of connections that made it simplier to remember them

If one doesn't know a lot of countries it doesn't automatically make them stupid, just perhaps they haven't bothered to learn them. Though if one does know a lot of them there is an increased chanche of being above-average intelligent, at least that's what I think.

Then why quote me if what I said is irrelevant to what you are asking?

Didn't say it was irrelevant (it's not). Said it was a general question.

I haven't put the smallest countries of Europe to permanent memory. But I've been to Luxembourg once so I know that one. I don't see much reason to remember each country if they don't "put themselves on the map".

I definitely don't know the US states other than a few very well known. But I can't see how anyone with the least amount of memory installed can avoid learning that USA is the southern part of the northen part of that twopart blob on the world map. If people's minds are so incredibly useless then Idiocracy is not far off.

At least I can zoom down to my hometown, my parents house even, on google earth. I think it a rather basic thing for a full grown person to be able to point out his home on earth if you happen to be orbiting the planet some day.

When I was in the states one woman asked me if Britain was as big as Russia.

Which is a stupid question, because Russia is a part of Britain.

Well, until 1986 Australia was under some UK control, something like a colony but on a bit smaller scale

Some of you are giving stupid examples. You can really read whos American in this thread.*

Anyways, someone said If I can name a capital in Iowa or something like that. Were not talkin about cities. But countries. If you cannot locate your own country than you must be dumb. I imagine that if the Americans dont know where their own country is, they dont even know where Germany or Russia is. ( Russia being the biggest fucking country in the world. ). And yes, it is good to know these things, because the more you know, the more important you are. Money isnt everything. Knowledge is power.

OK, im not saying that Americans are the only country like this. In Europe, Germany is regarded as the dummest nation. Heck, they dont even know which is their capital city, they dont know where their main rivers are. They dont even know how much 3 + 3 x 3 is. Im not saying that everyone is like this. But a majority. But as the U.S.A, Germanys education system is fucked.

• Little joke! ( Or is it? )

I disagree. Can you explain the relevance of that question to the text you quoted?

I think Germany is one of the most intelligent and prosperous countries in Europe.

You think. My friend once thought he could fly, and guess what, he was in a coma for 1 month. Remember:

economy_strenght + prosperity != intelligence

It was the last comment made in the ongoing discussion about intelligence in general and Ricky Piller specifically. I simply meant to draw a line under it. Considering your comment had little relevance either (where in the world do you get the impression he was insulted?), you're being awfully pedantic and fussy. Chill.

Priceless answer. If only she came up with that...

I don't think 1/5 is really all that surprising. It would be better to see it next to similar statistics from other countries.

0/5, probably.

It was actually written before Matthew's post. I simply left the tab open for a long time before posting
And if you see my comment as irrelevant to the discussion, why quote that and not a comment that has something to do with the discussion?
However, you quoted me and asked a question, this implies you are asking me a question. However, I had no stake in the matter you asked about, which is why I thought your quoting was inappropriate.

If he did not feel insulted than he wouldn't have defended himself and then criticized the way the allegro community (supposedly?) idolizes intelligence.

And you are being rude and aggravating.

Has anyone else noticed that hundreds of people write than when they mean then ?
Bizarre.

... and I specifically said otherwise ... question asked and answered anyway ...

I didn't actually address you, and your understanding should have been corrected at this point anyway. It's been 3 posts now.

It's a mocking reply to a troll post; don't read so much into it. I seriously doubt he felt a real need to defend himself, and if he really was insulted I'm sure he could have done a much more thorough job of "defending". I got the impression of dismissal from his post ... that he didn't care.

I can only assume I'm coming across as aggravating because you keep pushing a completely pointless issue (and I'm bored at work). You could, you know, drop it, and go back to topic? Save yourself the frustration?

Rude I don't see, but whatever. Snakes on a plane. Sorry I even posted at this point; geez.

Happens surprisingly often considering the fact I am well aware of the difference between the two.
I think it has a lot to do with how we think of what we are about to write, and then type exactly what we think, and since then and than are phonetically similar it causes mistakes. At least I think that's what does it for me.

You specifically said it was of little relevance

I understand that you didn't address me. You don't understand that that's besides the point.

Well then, I did get the impression he was somewhat insulted, which is why I made my comment in the first place.

Dropping it? Never!
Dropping stuff is bad, things could get lost, or fall on your toes. And heck, if you drop a bomb you can be in serious trouble!
The aggravating part is mostly because its quite aggravating to be told to "chill" when you are calm. (Reminds me of a movie, something about a guy who is forced to go to an anger management counselor. There is a scene where he is on a plan and being told to relax despite being very calm, and somehow he ends up in a brawl)

I'd consider calling people fussy, rude.

Mother****ing snakes on a mother****ing plane!

This is an OT forum, relax

Come on, guys, easy now, Miss South Carolina doesn't even read this thread.

Of course she does! I AM Miss South Carolina!

The is what I hear:

Archon, Miran, others: You don't know geography so you ARE stupid! Uh huh. Yes you are. Because I said so. Nan-er-nan-er.

Everybody else: Who cares about geography? It's nice to know, but it's just an arbitray measure of intelligence.

Bottom line: We put a Man on the Moon, Slovenia didn't. France didn't. Germany didn't. Zimbabwe didn't.

So to sum up: SUCK IT!!!!!!!!1111

Oh I just gotta take advantage of your stupid post.

Who cares about geography? It's nice to know, but it's just an arbitray measure of intelligence

Who cares about math? It's nice to know, but it's just an arbitray measure of intelligence

Who cares about biology? It's nice to know, but it's just an arbitray measure of intelligence

Who cares about astronomy? It's nice to know, but it's just an arbitray measure of intelligence

Who cares about chemisty? It's nice to know, but it's just an arbitray measure of intelligence

Who cares about pyshics? It's nice to know, but it's just an arbitray measure of intelligence

Who cares about _____? It's nice to know, but it's just an arbitray measure of intelligence

Meh, Americans are Europeans, basically rebels that Europe couldnt control at the time. You are nothing but European filth!*

P.S. So what? Russia put a man in space where america was still wearing space-flightish diapers.

• Joke again... I just cant help myself!

Well, now that explains everything.

Hey Rampage, I thought you were an American from Chicago....

Miss! Try again.

http://darrendixon.supanet.com/USWorld.jpg

Most people who make that kind of mistake do it the other way around.
Linux is better then Windows!

While I do believe that America has been great in history and many countries owe them, no American person is, by default, greater than any other person.
I really dislike people (usually young Americans) who hide behind national pride and put down other nations, yet they themselves barely contribute to their society.

We all live together as one big family and in one big country. That family is called mankind and our home is called Earth.

That made me think of this.

If that's what you thought I said, then you're stupid too. Geography about random places half way round the world may have little relevance in your life, but being able to read and understand what you've read IS important.

Mirans got a point. Knowledge is always welcome, ALWAYS. No matter how irrelevant it may seem. But hey, thats my opinion. And I guess 1/5 Americans cant find their own country and 99.9% of the rest in the world because they dont think like that.

The knowledge of how your father looks like naked is not welcome, EVER

Well, I didnt expect that... Good one!

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Knowing where countries are that you'll never even hear of outside of Geography class doesn't do you any good, but not knowing where your own country is is just really stupid.

I'd like to see statistics for other countries on this. How many French can locate France? How many Chinese can locate China?

No its not stupid. Your post was stupid. If you are just a little patriotic, just a little. A microscopic bit. If your happy that youre <country_name_here>an then you should know where your country is. If youre not happy that you live in your country. Then move out!

Moving out of a country just like that is easier said than done...

Only if you do it legally.

That's why we shouldn't care about North Korea, Iraq, Cuba and others...

About CGamesPlay's map... Wait! I though France didn't talked to you anymore!

No way! That arrow is pointing... to... err.... Switzerland!

No one said anything about whether or not these people are happy. Hating you country is no reason not to know where it is, and it doesn't have anything to do with the topic anyway.

An example: Aged 16, I decided to teach myself the Russian alphabet because I had nothing better to do. 15 years later, I visited Russia. I did not know the language, but being able to read the alphabet came in handy when deciphering timetables.

AE.

Then I suppose the other one is pointing to Poland, not Germany. OK, now that has more sense to me. And... there's also 'pulque' in Mexico... never try it...

There has been some elections this year.

Exactly! She could be a politician easy!