Video Evidence: Why people believe Americans are stupid watch!
youtube.com — This clip, taken from an Australian show "The Chaser's War On Everything" sees an interviewer heading out onto the streets in the US and asking very, very simple questions about politics and the world. After a while, he manages to convince many of them that he is John Howard and has them pointing to Australia to show where North Korea is.
neiltc13- 2142 diggs
- digg it
- BobaFettTDG, on 10/12/2007, -13/+66Gotta love Australians. It's ridiculous how tenuous some people's grasps on the world around them are.
- masgrada, on 10/12/2007, -13/+35Fox sounds more trustworthy for a news source. Fox.... fox.. awww. How couldn't you believe a station with a cute name like that?
- 1021, on 10/12/2007, -18/+131Seriously, you could probably find any number of people in every country in the world that will do something just as stupid... we all need to be more enlightened.
- Fluidity, on 10/12/2007, -6/+135Errrr CNNNN is a piss take of CNN, you do know that right? I think we have another contender!
- theBrink, on 10/12/2007, -57/+16walk around with a video cam long enough, ask enough people stupid questions, you will get stupid answers. Looks like they went to Venice, if that is not asking for it, I don't know what is.
I think this ***** only popped up once dv became prevalent, had it been film they would never be able to fit enough in the ***** van to get enough footage.
I think they asked a drunk homeless black dude as well... - lukas88, on 10/12/2007, -28/+109Go anywhere in the world and you will find ignorant people to interview. Notice, it was the same 15 or so people in the video. These people are not typical of most Americans. If I go over to england and take a few pictures of people with bad haircuts, is that reason to believe that everyone or most people in england have a bad haircut? According to the logic of this video, yes it is.
- 1021, on 10/12/2007, -62/+9hell, I wouldn't know who the PM of the world's most worthless island if someone asked me.
- birch25, on 10/12/2007, -11/+175speaking as an american who knew the answers to almost all those questions...i apologize for my idiot countrymen and women.
- wisam, on 10/12/2007, -0/+26http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNNNN
- Koch, on 10/12/2007, -8/+53I'm not sure if non-Australians realise this but this show is a SATIRE, it is HUMOUR. You're not meant to take it at face value.. It is in no way serious. It seems like most of the comments here are made by people who think that this is a documentary or something that claims to actually be factual, which it is not!
See here for more information... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chaser - DigiRaven, on 10/12/2007, -32/+3The author of this article wants to draw your attention that Americans are stupid but in turn have made himself look stupid since it has been proven that most people in the world are stupid.
- ElementCDN, on 10/12/2007, -3/+33Canadian Version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhTZ_tgMUdo - rompom7, on 10/12/2007, -4/+31@DigiRaven: That is incorrect, I watch The Chaser all the time, they do this kind of stuff in Australia too. They aren't trying to prove Americans are stupid. They are just playing with a stereotype and having a little joke.
If you are offended by this video, your as stupid as the people in it. Take it as a joke, have a sense of humour! - Renshai, on 10/12/2007, -2/+23To be fair, the actual first KFC restaurant was located in Salt Lake City, Utah.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC - cheesy, on 10/12/2007, -12/+5You know, people keep pointing to this type of thing saying "relax, it's just satire" etc, but the problem is it doesn't matter if it's meant to be satire or not, the fact is this type of crap WILL affect other's perceptions of Americans.
I'm just thankful that the people who's perceptions of Americans ARE negatively affected are most likely the same stupid people who would give stupid answers to similar questions. I would hope that any reasonably intelligent person would realize that this is no where near representative of the average American. - darkamster07, on 10/12/2007, -22/+3um, isn't Australia the place with all the race riots?
- nofxjunkee, on 10/12/2007, -3/+31"You know, people keep pointing to this type of thing saying "relax, it's just satire" etc, but the problem is it doesn't matter if it's meant to be satire or not, the fact is this type of crap WILL affect other's perceptions of Americans."
You talk about satire and what not, but these people are not joking when they respond (most of them are not). They are voting, and blindly supporting Bush. I realize that most Americans are not like them, but there are a fair number that are. You can say that it's all a joke, plug your ears, close your eyes and hum, but those are the people ruining your image and you should sit up and take notice more than any of us outsiders. - ohcoaster, on 10/12/2007, -0/+31I'm just glad down here in Canada they're finally allowing us to create fires in the parking lots to keep our sled dogs warm while we're in our igloos working.
- avatarpalin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@ darkamster07
I do love irony.. in a story about how ignorance 'some' american's are to the worlds affairs, and even location we have a man that says a statement trying to sound cultured and yet is just as ignorant as the people on the video
Yeah ! we had the riots.. our whole city burned...! it was over a court decision about some racist cops we have here about how they beat up a black guy and got away with it.. yup that was us alright!! - staticneuron, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9@lukas88
Me and a large group of friends did this in high school in south florida, I repeated this random interview session on the streets of LA, atlanta ,tennessee and chicago. It is not hard at all to find idiotic people in america. I believe that there are many people around the globe that aren't as sharp but americans remain blissfully ignorant of the world around them. Even worse they will visit these countries and help cement to the world that we are a nation of feeble minded idiots with no respect for other peoples culture. - arsalan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4well i dont get why you guys argue so much about the name of the news station, ok cool CNN and fox news came up with it....what a big deal!! does that mean CNN and fox have to control what they show in their news?! there are a lot of Americans who are like the people in he video, some people even dont know where baghdad and Iraq are, and you hear those two words almost 10 times a day...but i do agree on there are people like that all around the world, but Americans have a higher percentage
- kiantech, on 10/12/2007, -6/+19now we know how Bush won presidency TWICE...
- sfacets, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7@1021: No, most people in other coutries are more than slightly smarter than these people.
- InvertedDonkey, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1***** me, i thought he was from the uk the whole time. damn.
- justinm1, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Yes, this is completely ridiculous, but the smarmy attitude wears a little thin too. It's like your dysfunctional family: they drive you batsh*t insane, but they're still your family.
I'm convinced this country is headed for a 2nd civil war... - gomerspile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Lets try and remember that all the world sends their best and brightest to the US to get their higher education . The common american, however, is a complete jackass who would rather watch american idol than read a newspaper. But we do have much cooler ***** over here.
- TridenTBoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1My god... I'm a high-school student and I knew practically all the answers to what he was askin'! Seriously, what people was this man asking? Please let this be just lots of bad acting!
- returnofmalv, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I am starting to think that now would be a good time to move to Canada.
- deepdiggdude, on 10/12/2007, -26/+100Not surprised.
After all, half of all of all humans are below average intelligence.
If you get that joke you also know which half you're in.- utstewman21, on 10/12/2007, -27/+5classic
- joshuaxls, on 10/12/2007, -5/+158half "of all of all"?
I guess we know what half you're on. - matthewsr2000, on 10/12/2007, -2/+68the trouble with these shows is that anyone who does know the answers are edited out. we have no idea if it took him 5 people to find these morons or if it took him 500.
that being said I'm still dismayed that these people exist, but then again, what are trailer parks for. . .
another great example of the US's public education system. - pokjob, on 10/12/2007, -2/+98"After all, half of all of all humans are below average intelligence."
Half are below the *median*; not the average. - elmasri, on 10/12/2007, -5/+40Ok, I don't get the joke but I can tell you that "below average" does not mean half. Consider for example five people with IQ scores of 50, 51, 52, 53, and 150, the average IQ score would be 71.2, thus 4/5 people would be below average and 1/5 would be above average. Always consider standard deviation & the median, not just the average.
EDIT: beaten to it by pokjob, at least we know which side "deepdiggdude" is on :P - Wonderkind, on 10/12/2007, -10/+6We'll assume you were laughing at your own joke too hard to notice your error.
From Lake Wobegon - My home town, where the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average. - MasterFunk, on 10/12/2007, -4/+30I am very sorry, but I just could not help it...
http://deepdiggdude.justgotowned.com/ - Chaotyk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Okay, I got Wonderkind's reference. Yay for me.
Now I'ma gonna go get me some ketchup... I need some of those mellowing agents. - drwh0, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4"Half are below the *median*; not the average."
I believe the intelligence curve is normal in which case both the median and the mean (average) are the same. So you're both right. - briantech, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10The Intelligence Quotient is a normalized score, meaning a score of 100 is always kept as the median and the mean, as normalized against the entire population. Thats what a "normal" curve means. If a curve is normal, 50% of the values are below average, 50% are above.
You can take a 5 element set of { 50, 55, 60, 70 and 120 } all you want, but thats a different distribution than is represented by the normalized IQ test.
So, to MasterFunk, Pokjob, and Elmasri ... I won't pretend that you know which half you're on, so I'll just tell you. Its the bottom. - friday06, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5lack of intelligence has nothing to do with lack of knowledge, which is what the video implies...
- deepdiggdude, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16ALL RIGHT! ALL RIGHT! It was late at night when I wrote that. I accept my owned-ness.
- theone3, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1typo != owned.
- moskey71, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3very clever
- BackwardsPanda, on 10/12/2007, -48/+37Id love to go to Australia and ask random people questions about random questions about random countries (and Australians: don't go saying "oh, well i know who George Bush is", but without the inferred sarcastic tone. Congrats, just because you know who the leader of the most powerful country in the world right now is, doesn't mean i have to know the insignificant prime minister of yours.) and then edit all but a small group of idiots and montage their stupid answers together.
That aside, idiots are pretty funny.- Shmoo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+91Ignoring politics, I thought it was quite sad that people didn't know how many sides a triangle had.
- TheWedge, on 10/12/2007, -5/+22@BackwardsPanda:
Agreed, I'll admit one quarter of Americans are retarded, but I would like to see the uncut version. - oldtimegamer, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3bravo
- OhJay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32"Name a country that begins with a U" (!!!) and "How many world wars have there been?" are definitely not in the random country, random politician category.
I wouldn't be able to recognize Mr. Howard myself (and would probably not believe that he'd greet random people like that), but most everything else in that video is just inexcusable idiocy. - nipuL, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23@BackwardsPanda
Good to see you consider one of your countries closest allies insignificant. - torabora, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14I don't believe people support your answer (+11)
I don't mind if they don't know what a Mosque (A place where Muslims worship) is but not knowing the religion of a Buddhist Monk, a country that starts with "U," Not naming an Axis of evil, Supporting a war just because the president said so (but then again they were Texans), etc. is ridiculous
And my comment to the lady that described the turbans as towels or whatever, I can't get over the enjoyment that I get from watching what a foul you look like now. That goes to you too jogging guy. - BackwardsPanda, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Some of you missed my point that the people in the video are idiots.
@nipuL: Touche - avatarpalin, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9@BackwardsPanda
Most powerful!? you can't even win Iraq properly.. you screwed up Afghanistan and got you ass kicked in Vietnam.....
Most powerful, you track record says otherwise my friend... - SyDIGG, on 10/12/2007, -7/+3@avat ...if the United States is not the most powerful, can you name me another country that is? Nice try moron.
- arsalan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9America is not the most powerful country in the world, they're other countries that military wise are stronger and more powerful than US but the only difference they have is they've got smart presidents, they just don't feel like invading two countries that they used to give 'em ***** load of money (Iraq and Afghanistan), chemical bombs (Iraq), or being a close friends with North Korea and Iran till 20 some years ago....when they could easily steal a ***** load of money from them
Russia, UK, France are good examples.
I wouldnt consider a country that is number one country in the world having the most debt to the world bank "the most powerful country in the world."
the only reason you believe America is the "most powerful country" in the world is because you seat like a fat kid in front of TV and watch Fox news and repeat whatever they say in their news.
I like what one of my teachers once said, "if you look back in history, every empire lost its power at one time in history, America used to be one of the most powerful countries, but it's losing its power now" - totallyspotless, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6"Name a country that begins with a U" (!!!)
I award 10 points for anyone who answered 'Uganda' or 'Uruguay'.
20 pts and a special mention goes out to anybody who got 'Uzbekistan' - Schmerz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I nearly said Yugoslavia... damn silent Y!
- merrickal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yay! 10 points to me for Uganda!
Would I get an extra point for Ukraine? It also starts with a U - avatarpalin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@SyDIGG
Hmmmmmm China...
On the first day they surrender 1 million troops
on the second day they surrender 3 million troops
on the third day they surrender 4 million troops.
and while you feed them, cloth them and lock them up in pow camps. they march on in to the capital.
That's power
- cwill341, on 10/12/2007, -4/+51"I just realized just now that North Korea is a lot larger than South Korea, I didn’t know it was that large like that."
- Gizza, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13That was the best part. Even when he put France on Australia.
- ExxonValdeez, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, I like how those people were trying so hard to think of a good direction to attack from. Nice.
- smoothmedia, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18Rick Mercer of CBC (Canada) did a similar piece
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BhTZ_tgMUdo- craftyshrew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6You forgot to mention how Rick Mercer got George Bush to thank Prime Minister "Poutine". The best part about that is when Bush found out he'd been had and came to Canada, he actually poked fun at himself thanking "Poutine" again knowing he effed up the first time. He received some laughs then also made a joke about after eating his steak he was still alive (Not dying from Mad Cow).
- rhettnyedotorg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1i was going to say that this is very much a rick mercer ripoff. i wonder which came first?
- Jolls, on 10/12/2007, -12/+16nothing new. you can find dumb people in any country.
- Farik, on 10/12/2007, -9/+31I don't think you could find a country with people dumber than presented in this video.
- codye, on 10/12/2007, -17/+2Sure you can. Have you ever been to the third world?
Oops. I'm sorry. I thought this was be a bigot day.
- igotnotime, on 10/12/2007, -9/+12Unedited, now that is the footage I wanna see. I can interview 500 people and show the 20 dumbest replies too, but certainly it is not the majority. If an American were to do this same thing in any other country though it would be considered a foul and arrogant thing no doubt.
On a lighter note Jay Leno and Conan do this same thing all the time and it is very amusing, so at least the Americans can laugh at themselves.- wazaw, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1They're definitely just a few of the many videos recorded.. I remember watching this in a classroom setting with several students - the ignorance and arrogance of the majority of those students was perhaps the greatest irony..
And has anybody seen this? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdWST9-X-sE that's a gift from New Zealand to America... ;) It's not as funny, but the answers are more genuine and it really shows off how naive people in general are. Yeah I could have said Australians in general.. but let's be honest. - caesar0801, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0sorry, but if you tried to make the aussies look stupid... you failed...
that world peace guy was pretty funny though... - Aeiri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"New Zealand to America [...] Yeah I could have said Australians in general"
New Zealand isn't a part of Australia, it's a separate island and a separate country. - h3nry, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1first off, new zealand != australia
second, this is an example of an american making himself, and, by enforcing standard stereotypes, americans in general, look stupid and ignorant.
besides, "no i wouldn't vote for bush" sounds like a pretty intelligent answer to me.
- wazaw, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1They're definitely just a few of the many videos recorded.. I remember watching this in a classroom setting with several students - the ignorance and arrogance of the majority of those students was perhaps the greatest irony..
- ImTheDarkcyde, on 10/12/2007, -7/+22and how many people with correct answers did he completely leave out of the show?
- johnnyrocket, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6Looks like a biased anti-American bit, cleverly edited to only show the dumb answers from people who obviously have no interest in geography and politics.
I liked Jay Leno's earlier Jaywalking bits, at least they picked the funny responses.- Gizza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7I thought most of these responses were funny.
- KlayBorg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If you knew the background to Chasers, and if you weren't American, you would find it much funnier.
- SpeedyG, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6...and TV broadcasting worldwide knows no national boundaries.
Namely, why show people actually giving the right answer when it's more fun to pick out the more egregious examples of stupidity and air them for humor?
Heck, we had a game show here in the States run for five or six YEARS based just on the idea of asking people in the street softball questions and predicting if they'd screw up. (They built one ENTIRE show around the question "How many states are in the United States?" They asked something like two dozen people, and probably about half got it wrong.)- Aeiri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For those interested, the show was called "Street Smarts".
I remember one of funnier questions asked: "Who is buried in King Tut's Tomb?"
People answered Cleopatra and other Egyptian names, but I don't think very many people actually said "King Tut".
- Aeiri, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For those interested, the show was called "Street Smarts".
- martel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13terribly terribly depressing
- Yoseph, on 10/12/2007, -4/+8Only an uneducated person could possibly believe that generalizations about a group of 300 million people can be accurate.
- thaglove10, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Well I don't think this bit is claiming accuracy. I think it's just trying to say "Hey! Look at these dumb people." Really I don't think this is a hit on America. It's just an entertaining little piece. The moral of the story is that if you don't know something you should probably keep your mouth shut because otherwise you're going to look stupid.
- J3yrad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Yugoslavia lmfao.
- hhOwArdrOarKk, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Wow, who are these idiots going to vote for next. Total mind ***** that people like this exist.
- syncmeztx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I believe there should be a simple test of relevant questions for everyone who votes.
If you don't have a clue what you are voting for you shouldn't be there. Or, if you think a circle has 3 sides your vote shouldn't cancel an others out. - Kickasso, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2there's a reason there's only two parties in US makes it alot easier for dumb people.. :)
- syncmeztx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I believe there should be a simple test of relevant questions for everyone who votes.
- NeilSkoglund, on 10/12/2007, -7/+22you don't need a video to see that America is dumb, i mean come on these people voted bush into power!
- drgordonfreeman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5I can never seem to laugh at videos like this. They just make me feel uncomfortable and depressed.
- gemlarin, on 10/12/2007, -5/+6The UK uses American money? I didn't know they let yokels out of the swamps.
- growlzor, on 10/12/2007, -4/+35I think he only interviewed Bush voters
- kevinchai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, since democrats are so smart. (Not a republican or Bush-voter)
- SourWorm, on 10/12/2007, -23/+1I bet Einstein couldn't answer those questions either.
- CrookedAsterisk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16Him being alive might be a start.
- m1ch184, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Yes, I would bet that Einstein couldn't tell you how many sides a triangle had.
[/sarcasm]
- Tuplex, on 10/12/2007, -54/+3Thos ***** wacky Australians... Was this supposed to be a serious bit on their new channel? It really seemed like fair and unbiased reporting. The sad part about it is that 75% of all Australians are stupid enough to believe that's what the majority of citizens in the US act like.
- Shmoo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+34It was a comedy bit. Dear god it's worse than we thought.
- JohnP, on 10/12/2007, -9/+5Bahahahahahahahah!
- vermin, on 10/12/2007, -5/+27lol, Americans are dumb and have no sense of humor.
- hhOwArdrOarKk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+40I love how you mention fair and unbiased and then invent a statistic like "75% of all Australians." I also love how you misspelled "those" Thanks for coming to the baseball game in hockey gear genius.
- thaglove10, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10@hhOwArdrOarKk
All I have to say is thank you so much for saying everything that I was just thinking. - Gizza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@Tuplex
Way to prove the video right. - srg13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7@Tuplex: You are about as stupid as all those people if you can't tell that this is comedy.
- m1ch184, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@turplex
You my friend, are the reason i am ashamed to be American. - merrickal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0wow... you watched that and didn't think for one moment that it might have been a spoof?
- sven007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9This is just like "talking to Americans" on cbc. Rick Mercer would mess with all sorts of people, making them think canadians lived in igloos and used a 20 hour clock. things like that. actually really funny :)
- caesar0801, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There are a lot of stupid answers there,
but just want to make a comment here... I do believe that for certain things
like that currency part or the capital of Canada... you do get influenced and manipulated
when you see a "professional", pragmatic reporter with a professional cameraman and all
but then again for other things (especially in the other clip)... there really is no excuse... I mean... a triangle???!!!
- caesar0801, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2There are a lot of stupid answers there,
- BenSerwa, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Sorry all you "it's edited, it's not as bad as you look" guys, but when Rick Mercer did this, he later talked about how the statistics of who got caught by the tricks and who didn't were... depressing. Of course, Rick was more tricky about it than this.
- JakSmit, on 10/12/2007, -10/+5Americans are ***** dumb
- scooper86, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15I cant believe Americans are so ignorant about other countries and cultures and just take things at face value, I'm not saying i know everything about other countries or even my own but at least i question things and want to learn more about other cultures and people. No wonder their president is an idiot when other idiots voted for him.
- Tuplex, on 10/12/2007, -16/+1@scooper86
"I'm not saying i know everything about other countries or even my own"
Than STFU
- Tuplex, on 10/12/2007, -16/+1@scooper86
- widebhoy, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3Thats hilarious, (most) Americans are so dumb .......(Bush)
- MaXPL, on 10/12/2007, -8/+2as people have mentioned, there are stupid people everywhere. i didnt find any of this funny.
- halosniper7, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17wow, im a 14 year old who could answer those correctly, so its either fake (which its not) or i have to go weep for my country.
- blakeh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3My thoughts exactly.
- ApplCmptrDood, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I'm 14 and I answered most of them correctly. I didn't get the one about the Axis of Evil though.
- miggz06, on 10/12/2007, -22/+2HAHAHA! the greatest video ever! Being Canadian Ive known this for a while but this is proof!
ps. the religion of a butist monk is butist! wow- Gwydion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Mmmhmm.... Learn how to spell Buddhist..And you're making fun of our neighbors to the south.
- milkmage, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11@miggz06
wtf is a butist?
do you mean Buddhist? as in BUDDHIST monk - you ***** moron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism - imitrust, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1It Butist cos he's a canuck. Geddit!
- miggz06, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2haha since when has grammar mattered on the web?
- h3nry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0in the spirit of the discussion thus far (i.e., defending ones nationality from the actions of a few)...
i, being a canadian, would like to say that miggz06 is not representative of the canadian population. if an american comedy show came to canada looking for morons, i have no doubt this fellow would make the cut.
- Feigne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I am pretty sure that Kentucky Fried Chicken originated in Utah, actually.
Sources:
http://www.bluemaumau.org/the_beginnings_of_kentucky_fried_chicken_and_how_it_got_its_name
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A206461
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFC- ApeInago, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yeah, they were running a documentary on the discovery channel the other day, I don't remember if they said utah, but I know its not from kentucky. Kinda daunting to think that at one time, kfc was larger than mcdonalds.
I could answer most of these, and i'm american. Walking conttradiction, or false corrilation?
the world may never know. - UrlorJkron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1The first KFC was in Utah, but Sanders had been selling his chicken in Corbin, Kentucky before that.
Still, to have no idea...
- ApeInago, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1yeah, they were running a documentary on the discovery channel the other day, I don't remember if they said utah, but I know its not from kentucky. Kinda daunting to think that at one time, kfc was larger than mcdonalds.
- tipdog32, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I think this video shows how stupid Californians are, not Americans. And I don’t think it helps that only 22% of Americans have passports and even less use them.
- ineedajob, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4What does having and using a passport have to do with intelligence? I have mine. I've used it and would like to use it more. Unfortunately, travel expenses are not covered by the mere possession of a passport.
- AK10, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Californians? I'm pretty sure I saw the White House in the background of at least one of the questions.
- merrickal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Even though I've been fortunate as to travel in my early years... I still know a little about the countries I haven't been into straight from the books I get back at home.
Plus, if you think about it.. There's always the Internet at hand. Pretty much tells you anything you wanna check up on.
- sicheah, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4What did these guys do during school?
- rpjrugby, on 10/12/2007, -13/+4I don't know how this guy found that many absolutely brain dead people in the U.S. How many sides on a triangle? Give me a break. Tony Blair has been in the news nearly every day here in the States... these people have got to be completely disconnected from the media; and most likely do not have any sort of college Education.
As far as the Kirghistan issue, he's interviewing in Texas... Bush's home state, OF COURSE THEY WILL SUPPORT HIM! Yet even then, the same question on a college campus would not have that kind of response.
I'd like to see this guy do this on ANY college campus in the states and get the same sort of results.
To watch this video and make this assumption about all Americans is ludicrous. I am American and am very well cultured. I'm 19 years old and I've traveled to England, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Canada. To see this propaganda on Australian TV further negating the World opinion of the U.S. is telling of how the U.S. has become the "Ginger Child" of the world. As long as international media keeps depicting the U.S. in such a way, it will continue to be regarded to as an ignorant nation with no values.
I'm sure I could pull of the same exact stunt in Australia and post it up on YouTube to make a laughing stock of Aussies... but there is much more attention on the U.S. which is why this video even made it to digg.... sad sad story.- 0x0000ff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8It's not propaganda you moron, Chasers war on everything is a comedy show based around commentary of modern society. Hence the word "Everything", the show has entire segments dedicated to showing that there are ignorant people everywhere - including Australia.
The funny part is I don't think anyone knows exactly when Ireland stopped being the stereotypical 'stupid' country and the USA took over.
(an Irishman and an American walk into a bar ...) - Gwydion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Yeah, I'm sure you'll find these kind of people everywhere but stuff they talk about in the Rick Mercer video and in this one...A wooden coin? Triangle sides? Eskimo neighbors to the south? Axis of Evil and he names US states? How can such people exist? It's so sad that people in these rich nations wouldn't know these things.
- leoedin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3perhaps it happened when people realised that far from being downtrodden and poor, Ireland had become a vibrant and great country - it helps that half the population live in 1 city...
Anyway...I don't know what I'm saying - perhaps it is that every day we see people in the US being stupid, yet we never see the Irish doing the same (although at least partially because there isn't many irish :D - mattyxo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"he's interviewing in Texas... Bush's home state, OF COURSE THEY WILL SUPPORT HIM"
Dude. Pretty sure they have free will to support whoever they want. It's not like Bush came to their door, metaphorically blinded them and made everyone support him. - h3nry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0of course if you go to a college and ask these questions you will get more intelligent answers
thats not the point. the point is, if you walk down the street and ask RANDOM people, you will receive some pretty absurd answers. if, like you suggest, you only ask educated people its reasonable to suspect you would get educated answers...
Winston Churchill was once quoted as saying: “The best argument against democracy is a five minute conversation with the average voter.”
this video is just a humorous way of illustrating that point. - merrickal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0>rpjrugby
Sorry to ask, but what's wrong with being 'Ginger'??
Oh and btw, didn't he ask that girl about a country with the letter U? Well I'm the worst at figuring out ages, but I'm assuming that she would be like many other kids, would be in regular contact with either the Internet or the television or both for that matter.
Plus, even if you've traveled about the world, I'm surprised you've never encountered shows like this back in the U.S. Comedies, or comedians telling a gag about doing something that may seem ridiculous to the audience.
There will always be some kinda teasing between countries, usually light-hearted albeit not politically friendly.
Whatever happened to the stereotype that English people only drink tea in quaint little tea-cups? From relatives who live in America, they say that some people do still believe that...
- 0x0000ff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8It's not propaganda you moron, Chasers war on everything is a comedy show based around commentary of modern society. Hence the word "Everything", the show has entire segments dedicated to showing that there are ignorant people everywhere - including Australia.
- kd1s, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Ride around on public transit some day. Or go out in the city at lunch time and listen to the conversations around you. Most of the things you hear fall solidly into the inane and ignorant.
But with videos like this I wonder how many correct answers they didn't put in the video. I'll be there were a few. They're not telling the whole story here.- bdefrogg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Go spend your lunch hour hanging out at the local Drivers License bureau.... When you commute home, remember, these folks are now driving all around you!
(This will be meaningless unless you actually do go visit the DMV! )
- bdefrogg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Go spend your lunch hour hanging out at the local Drivers License bureau.... When you commute home, remember, these folks are now driving all around you!
- rpjrugby, on 10/12/2007, -9/+3I don't know how this guy found that many absolutely brain dead people in the U.S. How many sides on a triangle? Give me a break. What is "Coffee Annan"? You couldn't come up with a more misleading question; his name is pronounced with a long O, "Kofi Annan". For all he knows there may be a special coffee called that in South America somewhere. Tony Blair has been in the news nearly every day here in the States... these people have got to be completely disconnected from the media; and most likely do not have any sort of college Education.
As far as the Kirghistan issue, he's interviewing in Texas... Bush's home state, OF COURSE THEY WILL SUPPORT HIM! Yet even then, the same question on a college campus would not have that kind of response.
I'd like to see this guy do this on ANY college campus in the states and get the same sort of results.
To watch this video and make this assumption about all Americans is ludicrous. I am American and am very well cultured. I'm 19 years old and I've traveled to England, France, Italy, Greece, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, India, and Canada. To see this propaganda on Australian TV further negating the World opinion of the U.S. is telling of how the U.S. has become the "Ginger Child" of the world. As long as international media keeps depicting the U.S. in such a way, it will continue to be regarded to as an ignorant nation with no values.
I'm sure I could pull of the same exact stunt in Australia and post it up on YouTube to make a laughing stock of Aussies... but there is much more attention on the U.S. which is why this video even made it to digg.... sad sad story.- imitrust, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's satire. It's quite different to propaganda.
By the way, can you name a country beginning with 'U'? - m1ch184, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Utah?
- imitrust, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's satire. It's quite different to propaganda.
- Autotoxic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Dugg to maybe show some of our more stupid americans how stupid they are
Being surrounded by stupidity sucks - Cybersqu, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1This video really shows nothing.. I'm sure that MOST of the people they interviewed knew what they were talking about, and answered a good portion of the questions correctly, but answering all these questions correctly wouldn't have made good TV. So naturally they pick the stupidest of the stupid and generalize all Americans as such. I admit at times, us Americans are not the brightest bunch, but i wouldn't go as far as generalizing the entire American population as dumb, which is precisely what is happening here, all in the name of good TV ratings.
- Gwydion, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Eh? I highly doubt any of those people answered correct questions judging by the answers they gave for the questions asked. Did they have other people who knew the answers? Definitely but certainly none of these people.
- Cybersqu, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Well, yes.. These people were not very bright.. But my point is, this small fraction of people that they chose to show shouldn't represent Americans as a whole. I'm sure there were people they did interview which were not shown on this video that did actually have an idea of what they were talking about.
- directedition, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2The fact is that if you ask enough people in any country, you'll get these responses.
That said, I had people in my own high school who couldn't point to Canada on a map. - algorythm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1thats gotta be fake. How can anyone be so dumb? Of course people on Digg shouldn't be like this since we are reading about news everyday.
- adrock, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2Yes. The rest of the world would have you believe that we are all morons here in the US. And our complete and utter incompetence would explain why we are the most successful nation in the world. Seriously, why do people make these videos? They are about as ignorant as the people who believe them. While I don't deny that there are less than competent people here, these videos certainly do not portray nor represent the country that I know and love.
- generalleoff, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1I'm not sure if the people in the video are stupid or if it's the people that think this is "evidence". I mean first of all this video is ancient and second of all any answer that did not correspond to the desired results was just not shown. It's entertainment and nothing else.
- mykal01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Great to see how many people take it seriously. Which kind of puts them into the same category as those sad individuals that were edited into the final comedy. The Chaser team are well known satirists here in Australia, their humour is based on sarcasm eg calling it CNNNNNN is typical of their way of twisting reality.
At the start of the Attack on Iraq (war?) they also had a big map of the world, and swapped nation titles so that Australia was labeled Iraq, then went out and asked Americans on the street to suggest the best way to lead an attack on Iraq. It was hilarious watching people look, squint a bit then without any further thought, suggest the best method would be via Indonesia. I suppose Australia is in the middle, and it is east of somewhere on the globe.
Hang in there Americans, we know you are not ALL like that, so don't take it personally. - frobot, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Yes, there's a percentage of ignorant people in any country.
But only in America is such a large subset of that percentage so confident, self-righteous, and arrogant despite their ignorance.- ApeInago, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I blame the school system. It sure sucked when I went through it.
- wisam, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5digg this down. wrong place
- swagy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14I just read a few of these comments and most of you do not get it.
This is humor and satire, as an Australian working in the US I can tell you this is not supposed to be reflective of the average American, it is humor Australian style, we make fun of our friends because we like them.- Ghostgum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@swagy - Spot on. However, the fact that you had to make that clarification is both sad and a bit scary.
Damn, grow a sense of humour people.
- Ghostgum, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@swagy - Spot on. However, the fact that you had to make that clarification is both sad and a bit scary.
- sachmanb, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2If people don't understand the basics, then it is probably difficult to reason. If the people can't be reasonable, then I guess we can't resolve our problems through intelligent debate. We have a problem here.....
- ApeInago, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2be afriad of idiots en massé
- tonage, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2People from other countries just do this to make themselves feel better about their positions in the world. More power to them. If it makes a few feel good, great.
- JoeDiggsIt, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Why in the hell would anyone in America need to know the prime minister of Australia's face?
- orangekid13, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1the wonder of editing... they only show the retard rednecks and dropout gangsta wannabes
I knew all the answers to those questions - Antebios, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1These are NOT the average American. I for one was astonished that people didn't know the answers to these questions. This is similar to a television here in the US called "Street Smarts", which also makes fun of people who don't know common knowledge answers. I wonder... how many people did they need to screen out because they knew the actual answers??
- mattyxo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Honestly though... how many sides are on a triangle. More than one person got that wrong. That's depressing.
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