Oh I wouldn't worry about it, this sort of stupidity is not limited to any one country on earth, it's the same here in the UK, an alarming amount of people just seem to slip through the education system and learn absolutely nothing, other than the names of current pop stars of course, perhaps they might know how to smoke crack too.
As far as isolationism go, the UK is probably the most isolationist country in Europe, mainly brought on by being an island, so it's hardly surprising that other countries matter less to us that say the French or Germans, it's therefore pretty easy to see why Americans in general care less about international matters, the country is so damn large and most people don't even live within a days drive of a foreign country. However, I could quite easily hop in my car and drive through 5 or 6 countries in the next 24 hours. I would say that education is probably the solution to most of our problems, more educated people tend to 'care' more and make it their business to be informed, while the same dumb ass people who don't even know who the USA won their independance from will probably get all their news from the National Enquirer or some other tabloid, probably 'The Sun' here in the UK. Anyway, after that bit of rambling, back to Jochem's point, I would argue that the differences in our countries come down to one much simpler point, size and distance. Spread people out and they become different over time, make the distance between peoples greater and they become more isolated, simple geography and human nature. Craig. -----Original Message----- From: Kevin Schmidt [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: 15 July 2002 15:20 To: CF-Community Subject: RE: Newsbites Yep. I agree. Not sure on the level. It would be an interesting study to conduct though and find out for sure who is more ignorant. But I saw Alan Colmes from Fox News on the 4th go out and ask people what we were celebrating Independence from and it was amazing how many people didn't know. They were able to find people who didn't know who fought in the Revolutionary War. That's like asking who's buried in Grants tomb. -----Original Message----- From: Larry Lyons [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, July 15, 2002 9:16 AM To: CF-Community Subject: RE: Newsbites Being a Canadian who has lived down here for the last 15 years or so, I'm not sure whether that's the case. In comparison to many Canadians, I've found a lot of people here is the US who have been woefully ignorant of anything outside of their neighbourhood, much less their city, or even state. OTOH I've met some Canadians who are the same, but generally there has been a far smaller proportion to what I've seen down here. Generally there is a larger amount of isolationism here. larry -- Larry C. Lyons ColdFusion/Web Developer Certified Advanced ColdFusion 5 Developer EBStor.com 8870 Rixlew Lane, Suite 204 Manassas, Virginia 20109-3795 tel: (703) 393-7930 fax: (703) 393-2659 Web: http://www.ebstor.com email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Chaos, panic, and disorder - my work here is done. -- > -----Original Message----- > From: Harkins,Patrick [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Monday, July 15, 2002 10:04 AM > To: CF-Community > Subject: RE: Newsbites > > > > There was a silly show here in Canada where a comedian dressed up as a > reporter and travelled to the US and would ask the most > outlandish questions > relating to Canada to Americans of all walks of life including Harvard > professors or George Bush and get them to say the most > ridiculous things > like "Congratulations Alberta on getting your first highway!" > or some such > garbage, and we all laughed , but truth be told I'm not sure > Canadians are > any better informed than Americans. > > > Patrick Harkins > > Research Application Support Specialist > > Shur-Gain > > 150 Research Lane Suite 200 > > Guelph ON > > N1G 4T2 > > (519) 823-7017 > > ______________________________________________________________________ Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.coolfusion.com Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/cf-community@houseoffusion.com/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
