I just talked to someone who had never heard of Guantanamo.

[Plaid Adder]

Bright kid, 21, about to graduate from a good university. Never heard of it. Did not recognize the name, didn't know it existed. I had to explain to her what it was.

The struggle continues,

The Plaid Adder

[Not_Giving_Up]

1. Ah, the ignorance!

My son joked last night that he wanted to send his sister to Area 51 after she flooded the bathroom and hall just taking a bath. My mom doesn't know what Area 51 is. I wasn't taking the time to explain, it's a lost cause.

[MatrixEscape]

2. That's odd ...

I have it with tortilla chips now and then. You would think it would be well known.

[Danocrat]

14. That's guacamole

silly

[AValdoux]

3. mother-in-law

My mother-in-law told me about missionaries at her church who just returned from Iraq. She said it was a family with five children. The missionaries spent their time rebuilding the water system. The iraqs didn't have a water system before the US got there.

Everything we hear on the news is not true. The Iraqs are happy we are there. The iraqs believe that we we hate them and our troops. The news is telling them this.

Oh yeah also they were asking for donations for future trips.

AValdoux
Lost in Texas

[annabanana]

11. ..."didn't HAVE a water system" (?!)

Sure, all those people managed all those millenia in the desert without having made provisions for WATER.

ugh

[newyawker99]

12. Hi AValdoux!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Not_Giving_Up]

15. Hey fellow Texan!

What area are you in?

[SammyWinstonJack]

17. Some one is lying

:eyes:

[ramapo]

4. Where would we be without ignorance?

I can't imagine...

[barb162]

5. There was another thread a few days ago that touched on man in

the street interviews where Jay Leno, eg., says what's the third planet from the sun (people answered the "moon" and other wrong answers) or name a U.S. state that begins with "A" and people answer "Africa." Some posters thought these interviews were setups and phony. I kept saying they are true, that it is amazing what people don't know.

I think this is why the shrub's simple messages (no gay marriage, for example) played so well versus Kerry's more complex answers. There is a real dumbing down of the American public.

[On the Road]

6. When I Was a College Senior,

that was the state of my knowledge. Took quite a while to get politically educated. Don't write her off yet.

[sariku]

7. my supervisor is like this

When we have had political discussions, she's beens surprised at some of the things that I told her. She has told me that she doesn't listen to the news, doesn't read about politics, and really doesn't pay any attention to it.

[Tracer]

8. Don't feel bad.

Last summer I had a conversation with a relative (PhD in Chemistry) and she had never heard of the Patriot Act.

[InvisibleBallots]

9. lots of people that age don't watch TV news - why should they?

They have heard from both the left and the right that the media is crap. I agree, it is crap.

To be informed they would have to read newspapers or go online. Lots of people don't do that, and get bored with reading reports and essays. So how do they educate themselves about political issues?

For many people you need an organization. Something they can go to a couple of times a month, engage in activities and face-to-face conversations with other people. What kind of organization do 20-30 years olds have like that right now?

[Feathered Fish]

10. Ignorance yes but

Some people just don't register what they see or hear in the news. It's a clue into the national state of apathy.

[Done]

13. Guantanamo is what you yell when jump out of an airplane

I thought everybody knew that
:crazy:

[Midlodemocrat]

16. I had a RWer the other day tell me that Teresa Heinz Kerry

...was a drunk. Said she heard it on Fox. Ahhh, the joys of living in a red state. My reply? "At least she never killed anyone, can't say the same about Laura".