How Did Some Americans Become So Stupid?

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I'd never even heard of the dude before.
I was largely underwhelmed.
The topic was fine but he could have used a lot more examples, from government itself.
It didn't have to be Maths and Sciences.
I don't even think it needed to be specific to America, but even then .... meh.

His science books are really good.

I'm sure they would be. ^
Maybe a ten minute video wasn't a good way for me to get to know him.

I think it’s okay not to like all of his work. Academics often have a different audience in mind when they make both YouTube videos and books in my experience.

He wouldn't get past Poland, because of NATO, of which the United States is the dominant member. And, without American arms, Ukraine might have already fallen.



I'm not disputing that Europe, as a whole, has more people than the United States. But, if you get in a car and drive for a day in Europe, you will find yourself in a different country, with a different language, and a completely different culture. In the United States, if you drive for a day, you might still be in the same state. If you find yourself in a different state, it will still be the same language and culture. As I recall, at a train station, you could always tell where the French people were, because they were wearing scarfs and kissing each other. In Germany, one thing that struck me was how disciplined people were. No jay-walking. People wait for the traffic signal before walking across the street. In other parts of the world, people look both ways and, if no traffic is coming, will walk across, even if the traffic signal officially forbids it.



See? You add together the three biggest economies in Europe, and you're still a lot less than the United States.

He was OK. I'm not trying to be critical. I just thought it would be much more astute or edgy. People have pointed out about the 14th Floor of buildings being #13 since I was a kid in the 1970s. Nothing really stood out as groundbreaking except that I chuckled at the fractions jokes.

The Bayer ad looked like it was thirty years old. I've actually taught Einstein's theory about gravitational pull to science students, using digital timers and dropping uncooked eggs from great heights. The ad about that was wrong of course, but the topic still seemed blah. Regarding the choice of a black student and a teenaged girl in the picture, would he prefer that it show two white guys rather than diversity? I'm not sure how he thought tatts would help. Do tatts make people dumb?

(I'm really not trying to be critical. I just expected more.)

For people who aren't sensitive: here is Bill Maher on the subject:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dMOfwU ... hBillMaher

I'm not sensitive. I wanted him to be MORE funny and sarcastic, not less.
I don't think TP is sensitive either. She reads this guy and teaches him to her son.

As for the video - Meh again. I mean, sure they're stupid answers but do viewers really think that's representative of all Americans?

How many people did they have to ask and disqualify, to get those stupid answers?

I admit there's a lot of stupid in a lot of countries so I'm not virtue signalling, but for all we know 500 people had the right answers to each question, and it took them days to find those morons.

I think there'd be just as many morons in the older generations too.

I'm not sensitive, I'm just a critical thinker who'd prefer demonstrably inane responses from entire systems-management or corporations, political parties, and curricula.

Ukraine is a lot weaker of a country than Poland is, both in terms of military and its economy. Poland is I think, now the 6th biggest economy in the European Union and has been constantly in growth for decades now. It would be easier for places like Germany or France to defend Poland also, due to its geographical location, in a war scenario. The UK would undoubtedly help Poland if Russia were to invade, also.

Poland/Germany/France/UK/the rest of Europe > Russia in a war, even without the United States or its help.

I think that United States providing arms for Ukraine will actually help its own economy, as well as the fate of Ukraine, so they aren't selling weapons to Ukraine out of only political benevolence.



None of this means that Europe is made up of itty bitty countries.



I did, but Europe has 43 countries minus Russia.

https://www.worldometers.info/geography/how-many-countries-in-europe/

Yes. That part about the two kids (white girl, and black guy) was stupid. The producers of the ad had to cram as much "diversity" into a cast of just two as they could...so they had two races and both genders represented. What does he want for nuthin'? Jeeze. If they had shown two white boys he wouldve complained about the lack of diversty. The way they did it..he projects something disparaging into it. DeGrasse is supposed to be the heir to Carl Sagan...and the all knowing god to all of us geeks. But sometimes he shows himself to be...unworthy! Disappointing. Lol!

I have to admit I didn't know the answer to the largest city in the world.
That's something I'd never thought about before.
I was thinking Delhi, or maybe Jakarta.
Apparently it's Tokyo.

The evidence he provides isn't really saying anything about intelligence in America overall. They are just a few examples he dug up to prove a point. I could make a similar video saying how incredibly intelligent Americans are by searching for and using examples which support that conclusion.

His video is not proving that Americans are stupider than they were before, stupider than other people, or even how they supposedly got stupid. I just find it really irritating. I know he's a brilliant scientist. He's just not demonstrating his brilliance here.

Perhaps humor was his only goal. In my opinion, it's not even funny, just irritating. I don't have to like everything that he does. He's a scientist, not a religious figure. I don't pray to the atheistic gods before I go to sleep at night. Well, maybe to Carl Sagan on rare occasions...

*Admits I don't know who Carl Sagan is either*

I keep picturing the dude from American's Funniest Home Videos.

I know he's an astronomer, but that's about it.

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is one of my favorite books of all time. It was a very important part of my deconversion process. He helped me learn how to think critically.

May I be so bold as to suggest many people consciously "choose" to be ignorant.

Just because somebody is educated, rich, worldly and competent does not make them open minded. But how does one justify their personal biases/preferences without appearing "deplorable"?

Answer - selectively wear blinkers that shuts off views they don't want to hear. Don't respond when the truth is staring you in the face. Advocate for your pet beliefs.

Simple: Our schools are horrible, and not just the red states.

It's a combination of half-assed pedagoguery and systemic racism.

They don't teach real world skills, they only teach student to take standardized tests. Once you pass, they're done with you.

And most students who do go to college don't make it pass the first year, because they have not been adequately prepared for higher education.

As for the systemic racism issue, it's a combination of zero-tolerance disciplinary policies, and the lowering of standards in schools/districts where non-whites are the majority.

Case in point: In the school district I attended, they let each individual school make their own decisions with a lot of stuff. There were four high schools in the district at the time (two more were built after I graduated). Two were predominantly white, and two were predominantly non-white.

The mostly non-white schools (which included the school I attended) required students to wear uniforms, and enforced zero-tolerance policies far more strictly, while the mostly white schools allowed more casual dress, and were more lenient with discipline.

Also, the district dumbed down curricula so much that students could get straight A's just for showing up. This was probably because the district feared that only white students would graduate if they had a more rigorous curriculum, and that they would be sued.