Bullshit. Even putting aside the idea that some of the people were just playing along with an obvious error, this sample doesn’t even come close to representing the “average” because only the dumber/comical clips were selected for broadcast. I can easily picture an interview along the lines of:
Reporter: So, who do you think is or should be a primary target for the American military?
Tourist: Well, Saudi Arabia is the greatest source of Islamist fundamentalism, as well as home to most of the 9/11 hijackers, and the House of Saud is notoriously corrupt -
R: Okay so put this little #1 flag there.
T: Okay.
R: Are you sure it’s not way down here?
T: [pause, facial expression of contempt] No, that’s Australia.
R: Right, thank you. Moving right along…
But that wouldn’t find its way into the final edit.
No, it appears that the interviewer had a few maps available with the names of the other countries placed on Australia. Either that, of he had a completely blank map and had an assistant who would stick the appropriate name on Australia once the interviewee said which country as most in need of invason by the US.
So the people being interviewed saw a map with the wrong name over Australia already. They were just asked to place a little flag over the country whose name they had selected.
I guess the idea was that even the biggest dope would know that neither France nor Iraq nor North Korea is a big island in the South Pacific. The Korea one was, i think, the funniest. They labelled mainland Australia as North Korea and Tasmania as South Korea, eliciting exclamations of amazement from one guy who never knew that North Korea was so much bigger!
How many Britons do you think can place all of our counties on a map? How many French people can place all their provinces (or whatever they call them) on a map?
Being able to place states on a map doesn’t mean shit.
But it isn’t indicative of anything at all. No other nation with more than a handful of states/counties/provinces has a sizeable chunk of the population which can correctly place them all, so I fail to see how this is evidence of American ignorance.
If that guy put me on camera, asked me “Who would you bomb?”, and instructed me to stick a pin in such an obviously mislabeled Australia, I’d instruct the interviewer to cornhole himself with the mic.
Sorry, but “politely playing along” is such a typically lame explanation, especially when the interviewees are blithely offering their own oppinions about who the US should be annihilating next, even with fucking nuclear weapons. These people are just idiots, that’s all. There are too many of such idiots running around in the United States, and it was easy for the mockumentarian to find them. Why deny it? Trying to excuse and or rationalize the obvious just makes you look like…well, an idiot.
I’ve known a number of Britons and French, and they all had a much better grasp of geography than myself. Through standardized testing and experience, I’ve learned I have a much better grasp of geography than the average resident of the United States. This is to damn myself with faint praise.
IOW, in general and on average, we suck hard at geography, and are considerably less aware of our international surroundings than the average resident of virtually all other industrial nations. We’re just not encouraged to care. Your contempt for notion that geographical knowledge has any utility or importance is a good demonstration of the point.
Interesting that you’d posit that resolution, RedFury.
The other day, I was watching HBO “Real Sports.” There was a story on the shocking scenes being played out in some European soccer stadiums (Spain, especially). Apparently, black soccer players are constantly pelted not only with ugly racial slurs during games, but fans also routinely throw bananas at black players when they have possession of the ball. In one stadium in Madrid, we were treated to the lovely spectacle of approximately 80,000 Spanish soccer fans jumping up and down making ape noises and gesticulations when a black player entered the game.
Therefore, using your logic, RedFury, I guess I can conclude from watching the “Real Sports” story that if there were any doubts, the average Spanish soccer fan, once again shows what disgusting racist shitheads they are.
Say, RedFury, you’re Spanish, aren’t you? And you know what? I’ll even bet with a handle like “RedFury,” you’re a big soccer fan, too.
Well if such disgusting behaviour were to be seen in the UK, the team would very quickly be forced to play all its games without home fans, and would be docked points, fined heavily, and FIFA would be first in line to ensure this happened.
I wonder what sanctions FIFA imposed on Spanish teams, or is it just UK ones that feel the wrath of FIFAs disciplinary arm ?
But everyone knows, it’s only 7 days driving* from Australia to Bremerton, WA. (I can’t be bothered to find out far Bremerton is from Portland, though. Less than a day, I’m sure.)
*assuming you’re driving on this nice paved-looking surface.
Meh, who cares about Australia… the hole in the ozone layer will take care of those chaps in no time! Perhaps even turn them into monkey men and women. The US or France should ship a broken down version of the Statue of Liberty there too, so I can fly there and sing the Simpsons version of “take your hands off me, you dirty ape!”
In my book we should turn AU back into a leper colony and prison… oh and people who like the Olson twins.
As for the video, I’m sure it was edited to hell, to get all the “good” parts… ah well, that is showbusiness/entertainment.
Magic kangaroo gold, people. A little selective editing and you can make Steven Hawking look like a geocentric solar system believer. And why is this in the Pit again?
The ironic thing is Spain is one of the more insular European countries. I love it. My wife is from Valencia, Spain. But a very cosmopolitan lot, they are not. You’d be hard pressed to find a Dane who doesn’t speak at least two languages, most do three or more. You’d also find it difficult to find a Spaniard which speak anything but Spanish – granted I haven’t been in Madrid. Last time we stayed three months in Andalusia, and for all that time, the only guy I met who spoke a foreign language was a French guy. Most didn’t know what Denmark was, or thought it was the capital of Sweden or something. Foreign television and movies are dubbed instead of subtitled. Likewise, Spaniards don’t travel much abroad. Mostly when they vacation they vacation within Spain. Also for its size, you don’t see a lot of Spaniards giving comments on the various blogs and message boards. I think there are more Danes here on StraightDope than Spaniards.
IIR CNNN’s schtick correctly, that Aussie dude had actually gone to America, and was talking to people in America.
But yeah, it’s a great big woosh. As others have said, CNNN is a comedy/parody show, and the clips have been doctored and scripted to make it look at stupid as possible.
If I saw them on the street I’d be the fool giving dumb ass answers to everything. The person who knows the answers doesn’t make it on the show.
Q: Who played Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia? Was it Peter O’Toole, Annette O’Toole or Ima Toole?
A: Oh, let me think? Think. Think. Think. Ima Toole! does dance Yes! IMA TOOLE! TOTALY! Who’s your daddy? That’s right. Me - because I said Ima Toole. dances
