On Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:40:32 +0100, Invisible wrote:

> When I read stuff like this, I find myself wondering: Are all American
> people actually stupid? 

Um, NO!  Hello, there are many Americans here who are demonstrably not 
*that stupid*.

> Or is it merely a very vocal minority?

Yes, unfortunately, one that manages somehow to wield political power in 
order to advance their agenda.

> Refusing to believe that evolution is happening is approximately like
> refusing to believe that the Earth is round. Yes, the Earth doesn't
> *look* very round, and it's intuitively baffling that the people at the
> bottom don't fall off, but the evidence is incontrovertible. Anyone who
> still insists that it's a global conspiracy is obviously a nutjob.
> 
> Of course, America has a reputation for being crazy. I even saw an
> advert for Californian peanuts which proclaimed "California has the best
> nuts". But is it actually true? Or is it just a few loonies who make it
> look like it's true?

That's called 'advertising'.  That's different than being crazy - you 
promote a product as 'the best' in the hopes that people will believe it 
or build an association between 'the best' and their product.  Even 
though it's demonstrably unprovable or even not true, the psychology is 
there to build that association.

> (I don't know about crazy, but all the American people that I've
> personally met have been notably stupid. Given the tiny sample size,
> that's not terribly significant, however...)

You've met several up here (though not in person which is what I suspect 
you mean), but you should know better by now than to make generalisations 
about a society where you have a very small sample size.  If you don't, 
it's time that you learned that lesson.

Jim

Post a reply to this message