Only 25% of Americans can name the British Prime Minister,

[Chomsky]

It's a crappy little island, overcrowded and a ton of smog. It's basically a launch pad for Europe and Africa. And it's all "oh noes, uneducated Americans don't know our leader". Do they know the leader of Kentucky. Because that's probably about as important as maybe wannabe Euro islanders.

I miss Maggie! :thumbs:

 

[HumblePi]

Maybe 5% of Euros know the Governor of California. That's more people, more land, more economy and more military power.

Have some perspective.

Stop kidding yourself, the U.S. is failing our children. Unlike most developed countries, the U.S. doesn't focus on quality education. U.S. investments in healthcare and education haven't changed much in the last three decades. That's precisely why the U.S. is ranked 27th in the world for its levels of health care and education. The U.S. was #6 in the world for education in 1990. For what's supposed to be 'the greatest country in the world', we are not looking to the future and giving our children the education they will need going forward. If we improved our educational system we could be looking forward to faster economic growth.

 

[ecofarm]

Stop kidding yourself, the U.S. is failing our children.

That may be true, but the percentage of people that know the leader of a quasi Euro state of little population, no considerable land mass and a shadow of former power projection is hardly an indication.

Ask Brits who's the Gov of CA. And don't let them pretend Brit is a more important state in the world.

 

[Carjosse]

Why? Why should we care? Why do some people have a fixation on Britain?

Without looking it up, can you name the head of the government of India? It certainly is a vastly bigger and more populous country and we do a lot of business with India.

Because international politics are a thing, it is usually a good idea to be informed about what is going on in the world.

Also, Narendra Modi, he is the leader of a Hindu Nationalist party.

 

[Carjosse]

That may be true, but the percentage of people that know the leader of a quasi Euro state of little population, no considerable land mass and a shadow of former power projection is hardly an indication.

Ask Brits who's the Gov of CA. And don't let them pretend Brit is a more important state in the world.

The UK participates as the UK in international affairs with the prime minster usually being the one to represent them. California is part of and represented by the US and Trump. Also the UK has a larger population and economy than California. Britain is more important and influential than California.

If a country is smaller than California Americans should not be bothered with them?

 

[ThoughtEx.]

Heard this on the radio, find it quite unbelievable

We fought this war a few hundred years ago so we wouldn't have to care about who's leading England...

All these, Americans don't know this or that about foreign places is stupid.

I don't know who leads france either, or Italy, or pick one of the 900 foreign powers the USA deals with on a regular basis. Probably didn't know it was a country.

It's selective ignorance. I'm ignoring that information because it is not relevant in my life. Even if you tell me right now, I'm not going to commit it to memory.

Other things I'm selectively ignoring. CEOs of companies i'm not a board member of, the price of tea in china, and the Oscars.

Selective ignorance only becomes a problem when you ignore things that you can affect and affect others. Otherwise there are to many ****ing "important people" in the world to bother remembering who is who and why the **** that matters.

British people have to worry about the PM of England. I do not. So I ****ing won't.

 

[ecofarm]

The UK participates as the UK in international affairs with the prime minster usually being the one to represent them. California is represented by the US and Trump. Also the UK has a larger population and economy than California.

Arbitrary BS.

Let's go with population, land mass, economy, power projection and stuff other than "sovereign nation". We're all ****ing free Western world. There are no wars between us. So sovereign is pretty meaningless in the context of Western world.

"But they have a red line, not a blue line, on the map."

Spare me.

 

[Chomsky]

And how does knowing the PM's name effect the daily lives, or lives at all, of the overwhelming majority of our citizens?

Here's the brief skinny:

1] If they don't know the name of the Prime Minister, they likely don't know her policies.
2] If they don't know the U.K.'s policies, they can't evaluate our government's policies in relation to the U.K..
3] They therefore cannot effectively participate in our democratic process, in these matters.
4] We then suffer a less than full democracy.

The danger is not with the U.K., but with us having a properly functioning government, with the citizens keeping it in proper check.

The above is why it's often said,

"for democracy to thrive, requires an educate populace"

 

[Dittohead not!]

The UK participates as the UK in international affairs with the prime minster usually being the one to represent them. California is part of and represented by the US and Trump. Also the UK has a larger population and economy than California. Britain is more important than California.

If a country is smaller than California Americans should not be bothered with them?

Your info is out of date:

Image result for california economy compared to worldlao.ca.gov
California's economy has surpassed that of the United Kingdom to become the world's fifth largest, according to new federal data made public Friday. California's gross domestic product rose by $127 billion from 2016 to 2017, surpassing $2.7 trillion, the data said.May 4, 2018
California now has the world's 5th largest economy - CBS News

 

[Carjosse]

Here's the brief skinny:

1] If they don't know the name of the Prime Minister, they likely don't know her policies.
2] If they don't know the U.K.'s policies, they can't evaluate our government's policies in relation to the U.K..
3] They therefore cannot effectively participate in our democratic process, in these matters.
4] We then suffer a less than full democracy.

The danger is not with the U.K., but with us having a properly functioning government, with the citizens keeping it in proper check.

The above is why it's often said,

"for democracy to thrive, requires an educate populace"

Doesn't stop them supporting Brexit though.

 

[Infinite Chaos]

~ And it's all "oh noes, uneducated Americans don't know our leader" ~

I wouldn't be so full of yourself, 90% of Brits don't care what Americans think or know about our PM. If 1/4 of American's not knowing who Theresa May upsets you so much you can console yourself knowing 1/5 of Brits don't even know Europe is a continent - even in the middle of Brexit.

 

[Carjosse]

Arbitrary BS.

Let's go with population, land mass, economy, power projection and stuff other than "sovereign nation". We're all ****ing free Western world. There are no wars between us. So sovereign is pretty meaningless in the context of Western world.

"But they have a red line, not a blue line, on the map."

Spare me.

So only America is relevant in the world? You are an example of why everyone hates Americans.

 

[Carjosse]

Your info is out of date:

My point still stands, the UK is still more influential than California is on the world stage and is important to know about.

 

[Dittohead not!]

Here's the brief skinny:

1] If they don't know the name of the Prime Minister, they likely don't know her policies.
2] If they don't know the U.K.'s policies, they can't evaluate our government's policies in relation to the U.K..
3] They therefore cannot effectively participate in our democratic process, in these matters.
4] We then suffer a less than full democracy.

The danger is not with the U.K., but with us having a properly functioning government, with the citizens keeping it in proper check.

The above is why it's often said,

"for democracy to thrive, requires an educate populace"

I'll bet more than 25%know who the Russian PM is.

But, they now think that Trump has been "exonerated" from charges of "collusion," and that, therefore, Russia didn't meddle in the last election.

 

[Chomsky]

Stop kidding yourself, the U.S. is failing our children. Unlike most developed countries, the U.S. doesn't focus on quality education. U.S. investments in healthcare and education haven't changed much in the last three decades. That's precisely why the U.S. is ranked 27th in the world for its levels of health care and education. The U.S. was #6 in the world for education in 1990. For what's supposed to be 'the greatest country in the world', we are not looking to the future and giving our children the education they will need going forward. If we improved our educational system we could be looking forward to faster economic growth.

And perhaps most importantly, we'd have a more effective democracy. Democracy cannot thrive without an educated populace.

 

[OrphanSlug]

Heard this on the radio, find it quite unbelievable

It is really not surprising.

A eerily similar percentage of Americans cannot point on a map and identify on the very State they are standing in, and almost 40% of Americans believe God created the Earth within the last 10,000 years.

It is sad and embarrassing for this nation... but a healthy percentage of Americans are uninformed, uneducated, idiots, or all the above.

 

[ecofarm]

I wouldn't be so full of yourself,

You don't see me starting threads, "Waaah, only 5% of Brits know my Gov who serves more landmass, people, economy and power than Brit."

Because I understand it's the other side of the world, a small island of a few, and people have stuff to do.

 

[Infinite Chaos]

You don't see me starting threads, "Waaah, only 5% of Brits know my Gov who serves more landmass, people, economy and power than Brit."

Because I understand it's the other side of the world, a small island of a few, and people have stuff to do.

You do know people are encouraged to discuss on this website? All sorts of topics come up and you can ignore or get outraged.

 

[Bodi]

Here's the brief skinny:

1] If they don't know the name of the Prime Minister, they likely don't know her policies.
2] If they don't know the U.K.'s policies, they can't evaluate our government's policies in relation to the U.K..
3] They therefore cannot effectively participate in our democratic process, in these matters.
4] We then suffer a less than full democracy.

The danger is not with the U.K., but with us having a properly functioning government, with the citizens keeping it in proper check.

The above is why it's often said,

"for democracy to thrive, requires an educate populace"

You seem to think that the average person is smart, pays attention to important things like that. NEWS FLASH... they are watching the Real Housewives of Somewhere, don't know how many SCOTUS Justices there are and are still arguing that 911 was a conspiracy.

 

[ecofarm]

You do know people are encouraged to discuss on this website? All sorts of topics come up and you can ignore or get outraged.

One thing we can be sure of thanks to this thread. Brits are clean out of their inflated minds if they think the name of the leader of a crap island on the edge of Europe is on the tongue of more than a handful of people anywhere.

 

[VanceMack]

Why? The dancing queen is eminently forgettable and is really best known for FAILING to bring about a deal on Brexit.

 

[Infinite Chaos]

One thing we can be sure of thanks to this thread. Brits are clean out of their inflated minds if they think the name of the leader of a crap island on the edge of Europe is on the tongue of more than a handful of people anywhere.

~ 90% of Brits don't care what Americans think or know about our PM ~

Dude, this thread topic has really upset you. Please re-read what I wrote previously? I doubt you'd find many Brits who (until Brexit pushed her repeatedly onto the news) could name our own Prime Minister.

Now seriously - don't get yourself worked out what Brits think.

 

[Rogue Valley]

Thanks to education reform in the 1980's our children have received sub-par education, and it will not get any better until someone cares enough to overhaul the entire system.

Betsy DeVos is on the job! /s

 

[ecofarm]

Dude, this thread topic has really upset you. Please re-read what I wrote previously? I doubt you'd find many Brits who (until Brexit pushed her repeatedly onto the news) could name our own Prime Minister.

Now seriously - don't get yourself worked out what Brits think.

Does self awareness not transmit through downtown death fog?

Good luck finding anywhere that 50% of the people know the leader of Brit. I bet France has the self respect to not know.

 

[ThoughtEx.]

Here's the brief skinny:

1] If they don't know the name of the Prime Minister, they likely don't know her policies.
2] If they don't know the U.K.'s policies, they can't evaluate our government's policies in relation to the U.K..
3] They therefore cannot effectively participate in our democratic process, in these matters.
4] We then suffer a less than full democracy.

The danger is not with the U.K., but with us having a properly functioning government, with the citizens keeping it in proper check.

The above is why it's often said,

"for democracy to thrive, requires an educate populace"

Right now the standard for effectively participating in our democracy is do you think Mexicans are rapists. And should we keep children in cages for a misdemeanor crime.

Knowing something that can be googled in less than three seconds is low on the totem pole over convincing my fellow Americans that crimes against humanity will not bring their jobs back or succeed in keeping white people in the majority.

Effectively, when a candidate for Congress or President runs on their stance on Britain, I'll google that info and make an informed decision. Til that candidate makes it a central part of their platform. I don't care.

That's how a representative democracy operates. Only in a direct democracy where everything is put to a public vote, should the general population care about something they can look up in less than a minute, complete with all the policy stances and counter stances. So even then, they don't need to keep a working knowledge of British government. Only a working knowledge of how to look it up.

Think of it like this, the internet is a memory component we only access when necessary. Our actual memory is best used for other things. Like a computer using Ram and only using the hard drive when it's necessary.

Educated doesn't mean people should have a lot of facts on hand. It means they should know how to look up the facts, and differentiate between what is real and not real when sourcing. So yes an educated populace is necessary. But a populace that can win at jeopardy is not.