Garwsh! Didn’t you know?! Htlr was a liberal too! He banned guns didn’t he? He embraced Stalin as an ally, didn’t he? He was a (horrors!) [sub]vegetarian[/sub], wasn’t he? He kept using the “for the children” defense, didn’t he?
Fenris
Man, I should’ve never let my old SDMB name run out. If I’d known thin skinned freaks had moved here in record numbers I would’ve visited more often.
Err, unless you were on AOL, old usernames do not, to the best of my understanding, expire.
But if that’s all the response you’re going to give to bolster the ill-thought words in your OP, I can’t say the Board had suffered for your absence.
(Oh, and there’s a typo in your sig.)
Really? A typo? Can you point it out for me? My English isn’t the best on the planet.
Yep…I notice that he’s chosen to comment on the quality of the posters in this thread, rather than attempt to bolster his OP with any cites. :rolleyes:
**
Aren’t they the news outfit that reported that the pyramids were built by aliens?
Are these the same Liberals who are trying to keep evolution out of schools?
-Ben
Yes. Brilliance should not be capitalized.
And you misspelled Gandhi.
[ol]
[li]The proper spelling of the word is “brilliance”.[/li][li]Since this isn’t the 18th Century, there’s also no real need to capitalize the word.[/li][li]His name is spelled “Gandhi”.[/li][li]Logically speaking, the concepts of “brilliance” and “looking like a child pornographer” aren’t really opposed. It would be more apt (although no doubt equally without basis in fact) to say either “My brilliance is so pure [or better, “so great”–MEB], I make Einstein look like a moron” or “My goodness is so pure, I make Gandhi look like a child pornographer”.[/li][li]There should really be a period at the end of your sentence.[/li][/ol]
[sub]Thus do I defy the dark powers of Gaudere’s Law![/sub]
SpaceGhost had a different sig when he posted the OP. That sig had a typo, too. His new sig is a lovely bit of irony.
Perhaps his next sig should be “I’m with stupid.”
**
Quite right. The true meaning of Independence Day is symbolically re-enacted at my house ever year when my sister and I leave home due to being unfairly treated by our parents, go to the house across the street and kick out the people who were already living there. Then we exchange gifts and barbeque a turkey stuffed with colored eggs while watching fireworks under a pine tree.
**
Oh yeah, there’s a mature group to be calling up and asking questions. I can just picture some kids answering the phone and being asked these questions:
Q - Who was the first President?
A - Uhh… Lucille Ball (snicker snicker)
Q - How many original colonies were there?
A - 47? (chortle snicker snort)
Q - When did the Continental Congress adopt the Declaration of Independance?
A - Gee, uh, that was just on Final Jeopardy last night… Easter Sunday? (snicker laugh guffaw)
Q - Who fought in the Civil War?
A - Oh, uhh… France and England? (laugh guffaw snort)
Anybody else get the thought that a certain percentage of these kids might have been yanking the caller’s leg for fun? Before I go blaming any politcal group, I’d like to know a little more about how the survey was done.
Well, those liberals sure didn’t get to my school then (scary isn’t it?) because we DO have history. It seems like its some sorta law that you HAVE to have a history (actually 3 history classes) to get your diploma! Ha strange ain’t it? And don’t worry those condom classes your talking about DIDN’T replace the history courses, instead the class just takes away from the arts courses, and foreign language courses (not that thats any better). As stupid as it is to take ANYTHING important out of the school system, I don’t recall when they have taken out something that was regarded as academic. As for the arts courses (as well as other “non-academic” courses), thats another story :(.
People are just stupid, and although the school systems aren’t perfect, it isn’t possible to get rid of ALL the stupid people.
Oh and I’m sure if some guy called me up and asked me a bunch of history questions I’d answer him correctly! heh yeah.
BTW, spell check is your friend. If your unsure about a spelling or a grammatical thing, copy and paste it into Word. Especially if your going to use it in your sig. :)Gaudere’s Law!!! 
**SpaceGhostofArrakis wrote:
From FoxNews:
U.S. Teens Struggle With History
Tuesday, July 03, 2001
The nationwide telephone survey of 1,020 youngsters ages 12 to 17 was conducted May 31 to June 5 and has a margin of error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.**
Two points, first, can you provide a link for this new article? I’d like to see the original. Second, how was this survey conducted? Does the phone company keep records showing the age of their subscribers? Or did they call a random number and ask, “Do you have any children between the ages of 12-17? You do? Good, can I talk to them?”
After thinking this over, I’m highly suspicious of this poll.
I’d also be interested to see how the questions were worded. I’ve always had a sneaking, unfounded suspicion that most of these polls are deliberatly worded to confuse and assure a lot of wrong answers.
I don’t think anyone is being thin-skinned. They are merely pointing out errors in the conclusions you drew from that survey. That is what we do here. Welcome to the SDMB, you ain’t at the parlor anymore.
Thirty six years ago two friends of mine and I took a globe, and a pin with a flag on it saying “You are here.” We went to the front steps of a half dozen buildings of the Smithsonian, and the Capitol, and the National Archives. We spent the day asking people to put the pin in the correct spot on the globe.
The end of the day it was obvious that geography was not a strong point in the education of the American People. Less than twenty percent were able to put the pin in the right place, even though Washington DC had a star on it. We asked young kids on their own, whole families working together, and adults, and even a few museum staff. No one group was particularly better or worse than any other. I never have been surprised since then at the level of retention of academics in the general public.
One interesting thing was that very few people actually refused to try the test. Some even waited for a turn. But the rate stayed about the same all day.
Tris
“People are difficult to govern because they have too much knowledge.” ~ Lao Tzu ~
Eh. I’m of two minds about that.
On the one hand, EVERYONE in the US should know where DC is.
OTOH, I know a guy who wouldn’t know espresso if you dumped a steaming cup of said substance on his lap, but he can repair any engine known to man.
All sorts of intelligence-types have a place in this world …
Count yourselves as lucky. 
Here in Oz, we had to have a whole advertising campaign about how Australians didn’t know who their first Prime Minister was. To paraphrase an Australian comedian, when Australians first saw the ad - “What kind of country doesn’t know the name of its FIRST PRIME MINISTER?”, we most likely went “Oh shit. Probably us.”
It doesn’t particularly fuss me. A girl in my Politics class last year wouldn’t have the faintest clue who our first Prime Minister was, but she knows the electoral process inside out (what system we use, how preferences are divided, etc.), knows the two major parties’ platforms (easily debating either side) and can recite the party split in Parliament (numbers AND percentages).
So just because some people aren’t good at remembering dates/names doesn’t mean that they are less well-informed (although it is possibly an indicator). I mean, you could get a parrot to rote-learn the answers to questions - doesn’t mean that parrot understands a damn thing.
Let’s also note that polls can be notoriously silly, as any fan of TV Nation could tell you.