He’s heard of Ron Paul (and thinks he’s really famous), but had never heard of Nancy Pelosi three months ago.
He thinks Rand Al’Thor is as famous as Ayn Rand.
He thinks that the Lord of the Rings being an allegory of WWII is an enormous stretch, and formerly thought that it was published in the seventies.
He thinks Northern Virginia is part of the South, despite a 19-year resident thereof (me) repeatedly telling him it’s not.
He didn’t know who Strom Thurmond was until I showed him a picture.
So, what people in your life have displayed oddly selective knowledge?
Northern Virginia is culturally very much the North. In the '60s, I guess, all of Virginia was Southern, but that’s definitely not the case anymore. And yes, the rest of Virginia is in the South.
The Mason Dixon line is culturally irrelevant. If nothing else, it ignores the Florida issue. (If you’re curious, if it’s across the Intercostal Waterway or called Miami, it’s not Southern.)
I don’t know where you live now, but I can understand someone being under the impression that Northern Virginia is part of the South. I mean, historically, it was, and it’s more northern (mid-Atlantic?) evolution is relatively recent, no?
Anyways, I can top that: I know a guy - mid-20s, college educated, intelligent in the sense that he’s very quick-thinking, but otherwise pretty ignorant of a lot of basic knowledge because, I guess, he just didn’t care enough to pay attention. Well, until last year he believed that there was just one state called “Carolina,” and that people referred to “North Carolina” and “South Carolina” only in the same way that people referred to “Northern California” and “Southern California”! (Yes, he’s American.)
On the other hand, he knew a surprising amount about Tibet, it’s independence movement, the Chinese occupation, etc. Odd, no?
Northern Virginia and the rest of Virginia are two very different entities. Northern Virginia considers itself to be close to DC, and DC is not Southern in any way.
In the past couple of decades, which is well within both of our lifetimes. And I go to school a couple hundred miles southwest of Alexandria, so it’s not all that far away. Also, he refuses to believe me when I tell him it’s Northern.
“He thinks that the Lord of the Rings being an allegory of WWII is an enormous stretch,”
well, he is correct on that one. Tolkien writes in his introduction that most of the story, and certainly the outline of the entire story, was written before 1939 and was not related to WWII. Much of the early stories were finished and mailed to his son in S. Africa during the war, but they had been written prior to WWII.
My husband and my sister saw a commercial for Little House on the Prairie and both agreed that when they used to see the opening credits roll, that was their cue to change the channel. The following conversation ensue:
Sister: What was that show about anyway? Just some people on a fucking prairie?
Husband: Yeah, I guess so. Hence the title.
Sister: That sounds really boring.
Me: Um, guys. What are you talking about? You know that’s based on the book, right?
Sister: What book?
Husband: There’s a book?
I know neither are big readers, but how do you make it all the way through school without a teacher at least mentioning the series? Several of my elementary school teachers actually read some of the books to us.
My Spanish roommates and their friends didn’t know that Japan was involved in World War II, and they wouldn’t believe me when I told them that this was so. I mean, I know Spain sat WWII out, but it was only the biggest event of the 20th century and you might want to have some knowledge of it! Come on, Spanish educational system!
I consider myself to be reasonably intelligent and well read,I’ve never heard of any of the people you’ve mentioned and LOTRs is not an allegory to WW2.
Maybe there’s a “Middle South”. I lived in DC for 12 years, and northern Virginia definitely had a more southern feel than Maryland. Had I been pressed, I would have said Virginia was part of the South – ALL of it. I left in 1992, maybe things have changed since.
I never once encountered a Little House book in elementary school, and I too avoided the show at all costs because it looked boring as hell. This was in the 90’s.
I only found out the show was based on a series of books when my younger sister started watching it. She never read any of the books in school either, though.
When I was in middle school (late '70’s) we read The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. They were popular books at the time. I haven’t opened either one since then, and although I saw the movie I really didn’t enjoy it (and consequently haven’t been involved in detailed discussions of it), so I don’t think it’s that unusual to think it was published in the seventies. I just assumed Northern Virginia was part of the South as well, having no reason to consider it otherwise.
I had a girlfriend who had basically no knowledge of pop culture, but she was extremely knowledgeable about artistic culture. She was well versed in architecture, knew arcane things about gallery artists and artwork in museums and art history, but mention someone like Harry Connick, Jr. or Jack Kerouac and she would look at you like “huh? never heard of him”.
I also would consider all of VA to be “part of the South” so I don’t see the issue there. As for the other things, well, they don’t surprise me. That’s kind of how I am – I might read something interesting about, say, Cleopatra’s tomb or the Earth having 3 moons and it will stick in my head, but I honestly had no idea who the #&$* Nancy Grace was until someone at work explained it to me.
It’s not that I am stupid or clueless, I just don’t care about a lot of things. We (we being defined as me and those that know me and my disconnect from the rest of the world) actually all agreed that they should have just let the Unabomber guy go free because I knew all about him. If I knew all about him, there is no way in hell he could get a fair trial.
I’d go into details about the odd things I know/don’t know, but I never realise they’re “odd” until someone says to me “how the hell did you know that?” or “how can you not know that?”
ETA: While I did know that LHotP was based on a book, and I am an avid reader (and always was) I have never read it, and honestly don’t remember a single teacher ever even mentioning the book, let alone trying to get us to read it. Perhaps living in Utah, there is a different focus on which books your teachers prefer?
You’re British. The people mentioned are all Americans, and it would be fairly unusual for a well-read American to not know these things. Except, possibly, Rand Al-Thor. I have no idea who that is.
And LOTR has fuck all to do with WWII. It doesn’t even make sense as an allegory- what the hell is the ring supposed to represent?
Isn’t it south of the Mason-Dixon Line, which I though separated the “North” from the “South”.