Yesterday an old collegue sent me a video from YouTube.com demonstrating American stupidity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Rwh0ltewL8

This pissed me off because ANYONE can manipulate these types of on-the-street interviews to portray Americans as stupid. It’s easy … select people who look dumb, ask them questions … edit out any intelligent responses.

But later on in the afternoon, I was at CostCo paying for my purchases and the two cashiers drew me into a conversation.

HER: “That lady was SO snotty … I was in the Honor Roll ever quarter in highschool. But she made me sound stupid. Isn’t there a Columbia in America?”

ME: “Yeah, British Columbia, District of Columbia.”

HER: “Yeah, see.”

ME: What did she ask you?

HER: The lady said she had an exchange student from Colombia and I asked her if that was in North America.

ME: Um … well … I think she’s talking about COLOMBIA with an “o” ... that’s a country in South America.

HER: OH … it is?

ME: Yeah … with an “o”. ColUmbia with a “u” refers to North America. As in “District of Columbia”, “British Columbia” and “Columbia the gem of the ocean”

I walked away shaking my head. This poor girl was under the misguided impression that being on the honor roll in an American public school would guarantee that she would not be DUMB.

Unfortunately … that’s not a safe assumption.

Makes me angry when I think about it. 5 years ago

Increasingly, Americans are portrayed as a fraternity of dumb-asses—not having even a BASIC knowledge of the world around them.

A recent rash of comedic videos, presenting “journalists” interviewing Americans appears to demonstrate this stunning lack of intelligence of the common American (from the United States).

Whether Americans are more or less intelligent than their counterparts in other developed nations, this stereotype is unfair.

I’m not stupid. I have an excellent awareness of geography and world affairs, cultures, religions and ethnicities. I resent this portrayal of ALL Americans being stupid.

I WANT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS.

Your ideas / suggestions are appreciated.

WILL YOU JOIN ME?

- DaveFer 5 years ago