Do You Know Where Iraq Is On a Map?

[RickJay]

@Cat_Fight

ETA I’d be curious to see how many Americans who are fine identifying countries in the Middle East would do with Canadian provinces.

You have to admit that, geopolitically speaking, Saskatchewan isn’t quite as important to the USA as Iraq is.

[Kyla]

I’m procrastinating again. Fucking school.

This is from memory, not looking at a map. I’ve never been to Canada.

British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, PEI, Newfoundland, Nunavut, Yukon Territory.

How’d I do?

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

I doubt I could pick out any Canadian provinces other than Nova Scotia.

[Desert_Nomad]

No problem. Other than some islands in the Caribbean, I doubt there are more than 2 or 3 countries I could not place. It helps that I have been to about 70 countries… got back from Sudan two hours ago, going to India in two days.

[Desert_Nomad]

@olivesmarch4th

I know where Iraq is, I know that Nigeria is in the north-easternish part of Africa

Except it is in West Africa, bordering Benin, Niger, Chad and Cameroon.

[amarinth]

@Pyper

According to that quiz, I do indeed know where Iraq is, but I think these “unmarked map” quizzes are ridiculous. When was the last time you had to use an unmarked map to find a location in real life? As long as you can find a country on a labeled world map in under ten seconds, I think you have all the geography knowledge you need to be successful in life.

@Scissorjack

Because if you don’t know where Iraq is, you don’t know about the Fertile Crescent, which means you don’t know how agriculture, cities, writing, taxes and Gilgamesh got started, which means you know jack shit about how Western Civilisation began the long road which led to you. And that’s not just bloody pig-ignorant, it’s ungrateful to boot.

I have to agree with Pyper here. It turns out that I did know where all three were on the unmarked map test, but I don’t generally look at unmarked maps. I look at maps with labels on them - usually maps that convey detailed information that is not merely limited to “name of country here.”

It’s very possible to know about the Fertile Crescent and other related information without being able to find Iraq on an unmarked map (which, come to think of it, is a pretty useless thing. Maps need marking, otherwise, they’re just pictures). Not knowing exactly where Paraguay is is not so much of a problem - not having the slightest idea of where to look for Paraguay, that’s a problem.

[Kyla]

Since none of you jerks came back and critiqued my Canada knowledge, I finally looked up a map of Canada myself.

I forgot the Northwest Territories.

cries self to sleep due to utter failure as human being

[BigT]

I was actually taught every country (except oceana) back in like second grade. It was required. While I haven’t forgotten any (although Africa is a bit shaky), I learned on old maps that did not have the USSR broken up yet. And Wakko’s song doesn’t help.

I actually think it hilarious that, when mentioning one the hardest entry level classes at college, my friends would list having to memorize all the states of the US as the hardest. I mean, I even already know Canada and Australia.

[dangermom]

@Kyla

Plan B, I admit that my statement was largely based on impression rather than fact. I will attempt to find a cite. If I cannot, I will happily withdraw my assertion. I will agree that Europeans, at least, tend to think they have a much better understanding of how the US works than they actually do. I have heard Dutch and German people, specifically, make wildly incorrect assertions about the US. Americans are more willing to admit that they are ignorant, I think.

IME a heck of a lot of non-Americans–European or otherwise-- are pretty clueless about geography too.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

You’re talking about two different things, though - knowing the various US states is one level of knowledge above knowing various countries. For all that US states may the size of whole countries, they’re just not as individually important as entities.

Europeans (and other furriners) tend to know the important* states fairly well - California (huge economy, where the movies come from, etc.), Florida ('cause they’ve been there), Texas (smells unpleasant, lots of oil, firearms), New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and DC**. The others really don’t matter much except in the sense that they’re part of the US.

*In terms of economic power and the relative importance of their major cities.
**Yes, I know it’s not a state, but for obvious reasons it’s well-known.

[Kyla]

@Really_Not_All_That_Bright

You’re talking about two different things, though - knowing the various US states is one level of knowledge above knowing various countries. For all that US states may the size of whole countries, they’re just not as individually important as entities.

I’m not actually talking about geography at all. I’m talking about a total lack of understanding of how the US’ federal system works, or how the electoral college works, or anything about politics at all. And frankly, I wouldn’t care or be surprised about it except that they think they understand it and will happily go on at length about Americans are ignorant of European politics, but OH the reverse is not true! And then they go an spout a bunch of wildly incorrect notions about the US. So, this isn’t a FANTASTIC example, because it took place in Bulgaria and frankly I don’t trust Bulgarians to know anything about anything, but the level of disdain was about right.

I was talking to this old guy who was a friend of the owner of the hostel I was staying in in Sofia and we were talking about the upcoming US election (this was in early 2008) and for some reason he started telling me about Jewish presidents. I really can’t remember why this came up.

Me: There’s never been a Jewish president.
Guy, totally disbelieving: Yes there has.
Me: No there hasn’t.
Guy: ROOSEVELT.
Me: Which Roosevelt.
Guy: THIS GIRL DOESN’T EVEN KNOW HER OWN COUNTRY’S HISTORY. HAHAHA.
Me: There were two Roosevelts. And neither of them were Jewish.
Guy: YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT.
Me, in my head: YOU’RE A MORON.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

Oh, I see. I’m picturing this guy as not a million miles away from the fake Kazakhs in Borat now.

[Kyla]

I haven’t seen Borat, but I saw a picture from it in a review I read and you know his “Kazakhstan” is actually Romania - and I swear at least the place it was filmed looked a LOT like where I lived in Bulgaria.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

If you’d seen it, you’d understand why they couldn’t actually shoot in Kazakhstan (or at least why they couldn’t use real people from Kazakhstan).

[Kyla]

I just googled to see some pictures, and came across some articles about how angry the Romanians in the village they filmed in were.

Not surprised.

I actually taught a bunch of Kazakh kids in a summer English camp in 2007 and the first thing they wanted to know was if I had seen the Borat movie. They were all totally offended by it. They also showed me a bunch of pictures of Kazakhstan. It looked gorgeous.