Following a discussion last weekend over the "Americans Are Stupid" video I feel somewhat compelled to add some verbiage to the blog regarding said video (for the audience of two that actually read my blog).
First off, Americans are stupid. But so are Canadians. Take Bruce Allen's recent rant on public radio about immigrants who should "shut up and go home". Nice. He sits on the VOC for the 2010 Olympics.
So I concede that it is unfair to paint an entire nation with one brush. There are very smart, very cultured, open-minded, well educated, well meaning Americans, I realize that. And yes, if I had the spotlight and camera pointed at me maybe I wouldn't be able to name a country that starts with "C" but I probably wouldn't throw out racial slurs or state that an entire nation should be "blown up".
I know it is the thrust of the show to make people laugh, or sigh depending on the content, not to have long political discussions ensue when asked about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. After all, nothing says comedy more than debate regarding the West Bank.
But I think it is an important social barometer as to the thoughts and beliefs of some of the population.
It is good for us to see that there are people out there who think that Iraq is a large island floating in the Indian ocean in the southern hemisphere. It explains why Americans are at war, how the people in office get elected, and why there is so much intolerance in our societies. With so little knowledge of other nations, cultures, languages around us we can only continue to stick our feet in our collective mouths on a regular basis.
For now I guess I'll have to comfort myself with the fact that we are living in the age of technology, and information abounds. Maybe in a few years our collective intelligence will catch up.
2 comments:
Sullivan! We need new content!
xoxo ;)
no kidding!
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