Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Kazan on April 05, 2004, 11:31:57 pm

Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 05, 2004, 11:31:57 pm
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=508517

thought I'm actually sure it's just as bad here, if not worse


average human being = moron

a quote: More than 60 thought the Battle of Helms Deep in the Lord of the Rings trilogy actually took place.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Drew on April 05, 2004, 11:38:46 pm
Battlestar Galactica , the defeat of humanity by cyborgs - 1 per cent
:wtf:

Winston Churchill - 9 per cent
:wtf:
in britain no less


oh well, you get more or less the same reaction when you go out on the streets and ask a 22 year old who the vice president of the united states is...
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: phreak on April 05, 2004, 11:38:59 pm
well rethinking schooling of history isn't going to matter since if people don't want to learn about history, then they wont give a damn in class.

but these people are 'tards
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Bobboau on April 05, 2004, 11:40:26 pm
'"absurd and depressing" areas of ignorance'
I've got to remember that
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Gank on April 05, 2004, 11:45:46 pm
I have a strong feeling that some people were taking the piss here.

I know I would if someone asked me some of that ****.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Rictor on April 05, 2004, 11:47:34 pm
11 percent believed Hitler didn't exist?
33 percent for Mussollini and 9 percent for Winston Churchill?

*impressed whistle*

wow, these people are very diligent about their ignorance. Hmm, I probably shouldn't use such long words..

wow, these guys are really great at being..uh..stupid.

*counts*

stu-pid

Hmm, 2 syllables, its kind of iffy...maybe its a bit much.

:D:D
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Thorn on April 05, 2004, 11:51:07 pm
"The film U-571, starring Harvey Keitel and Jon Bon Jovi, sparked fury in Britain four years ago when it told how American servicemen altered the course of the Second World War by capturing the Enigma code machine from a German U-boat. In fact, it was British and Canadian sailors who captured the machine in May 1941, before the US had entered the war."
Things like that piss me off more. Granted, it was a decent movie, the fact that they try to pass it off as history greatly annoys me...
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 05, 2004, 11:55:33 pm
Thorn: that annoys me to
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Bobboau on April 06, 2004, 12:03:14 am
you know, the thing is, I think we would do worse :(
our schools REALY suck
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 12:05:11 am
You left our child behind!
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Rictor on April 06, 2004, 12:26:00 am
For shame. Our children isn't learning!
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 12:27:23 am
"We must ask is our children learning?"
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Carl on April 06, 2004, 12:41:22 am
me thinks that poll may not be entirely accurate. did they just go up to someone on the street and ask them "did the battle of helms deep really take place?"? if the person doesn't know what the battle of helms deep was, he mind think it was some historical battle and say yes. not everyone is a lotr fan.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: phreak on April 06, 2004, 12:44:27 am
well technically it did take place.  if i recall it took place in New Zealand.  And i'd like to take this time to thank the people of NZ for no apparent reason.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 12:47:32 am
phreak: no it was all CG
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: phreak on April 06, 2004, 12:49:56 am
interesting.  i never watched any of them anyways so i wouldn't know.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 12:51:19 am
you never watched any of the LOTR movies? what are you smoking

PS: compile your code before cvs-commit
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Drew on April 06, 2004, 12:57:01 am
Quote
Originally posted by Kazan
you never watched any of the LOTR movies? what are you smoking

PS: compile your code before cvs-commit


they used some nifty program i would like to get my hands on
massive was it calleD?
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Liberator on April 06, 2004, 01:00:15 am
Kaz, if the whole sequence is CG, what did PJ and Co.  spend 6 months shooting in New Zealand?
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 01:00:56 am
Drew: 'Massive'
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Thorn on April 06, 2004, 01:01:21 am
Quote
Originally posted by Liberator
Kaz, if the whole sequence is CG, what did PJ and Co.  spend 6 months shooting in New Zealand?

He didnt say it was you dolt... Read it again...
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 01:02:18 am
Liberator: the BATTLE is CG -- ie when they're actually shooting and dying and whatnot those are all CG characters -- they actually made a 1/4 scale model of helms deep too

at one point they had made the simulation characters too smart and they'd retreat, but i think that was in the battle of the pelennor fields :P
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Carl on April 06, 2004, 01:02:22 am
it wasn't all CG.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Liberator on April 06, 2004, 01:02:56 am
Thorn
Quote
Originally posted by Kazan
phreak: no it was all CG
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 01:03:50 am
Liberator: in reference to the battle - go back and learn english

Carl: the only thing that was real in it was the 1/4 scale model

IIRC all the stuff with the actors was blue screen work
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Carl on April 06, 2004, 01:05:11 am
what about when they had the actors?
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Lonestar on April 06, 2004, 01:53:53 am
Wow, out of touch almost seems inadequate.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Carl on April 06, 2004, 02:00:13 am
so does "change of topic"
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: aldo_14 on April 06, 2004, 05:56:14 am
Ah, the good old idiocy of (some of) my countrymen........  actually, if you've ever 'seen the tabloids over here, you'd be amazed the survey results were that 'good'.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: karajorma on April 06, 2004, 06:30:34 am
I think there was a definate element of people taking the piss here. What other explaination can there be for one in ten people thinking that Hitler was fictional?
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: aldo_14 on April 06, 2004, 07:03:18 am
Quote
Originally posted by karajorma
I think there was a definate element of people taking the piss here. What other explaination can there be for one in ten people thinking that Hitler was fictional?


i dunno.  Maybe they were asking Trisha guests?
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: karajorma on April 06, 2004, 07:09:56 am
Looking at it again it can't just be people taking the mickey though. There are too many low percentages for things that anyone taking the mickey would have said yes to.

You could be right Aldo :)
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: J3Vr6 on April 06, 2004, 07:44:37 am
wow, you brits are dumb....


:D
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Tiara on April 06, 2004, 07:59:09 am
*checks date to see if its a late april fools joke*

...no...

:eek:

Being a history teacher, this really freaks me out.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: karajorma on April 06, 2004, 09:39:08 am
Quote
Originally posted by J3Vr6
wow, you brits are dumb....


:D


I remember seeing as similar one about america and it found that 25% of Americans asked couldn't find Washington DC on a blacked out map of America.

Even more scary was the fact that 10% could find America on a map of the world :D
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Bobboau on April 06, 2004, 09:43:26 am
"were on this map is America"
"yes"
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: 01010 on April 06, 2004, 12:02:08 pm
Quote
Originally posted by aldo_14


i dunno.  Maybe they were asking Trisha guests?


Two people on the estate opposite mine were on Trisha. I can't say I'm suprised, they should do a Trisha special at the NEC, fill the entire place with chavvies and then nuke it.

Fair justice will have been done.

Also, if someone asked me any of those questions I would have taken the piss to an extreme degree. "Hitler, wasn't that the sausage dog guy?"
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 12:03:25 pm
who or what is "Trisha"
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Shinobi on April 06, 2004, 12:08:34 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Thorn
"The film U-571, starring Harvey Keitel and Jon Bon Jovi, sparked fury in Britain four years ago when it told how American servicemen altered the course of the Second World War by capturing the Enigma code machine from a German U-boat. In fact, it was British and Canadian sailors who captured the machine in May 1941, before the US had entered the war."
Things like that piss me off more. Granted, it was a decent movie, the fact that they try to pass it off as history greatly annoys me...


Annoys me too. I even heard a rumour that the yanks were making a film in which they won the Battle of Britain:confused:

@Kazan: Some crappy English chat show host who actually lives only ten miles away from me.:shaking:
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Gank on April 06, 2004, 12:18:55 pm
Quote
Originally posted by karajorma
Even more scary was the fact that 10% could find America on a map of the world :D


http://www.cnn.com/2002/EDUCATION/11/20/geography.quiz/
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Rictor on April 06, 2004, 12:23:41 pm
From Gank's link:

87 percent cannot find Iraq

83 percent cannot find Afghanistan

76 percent cannot find Saudi Arabia

70 percent cannot find New Jersey

49 percent cannot find New York

11 percent cannot find the United States

____

now tell me again why you think you have the right to interefere in foreign affairs? 11% can not find the country where they currently reside.

And over 80% can't find the two countries that have been invaded by the US.

You may have the missles, but in a few years time they will be useless because the people aiming them won't know where to aim.

Oy vey.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Lonestar on April 06, 2004, 12:30:48 pm
ROFL
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 12:31:29 pm
Rictor: since some of our population is ignorant ****s means the smart ones cannot do anything (and i am not calling **** smart)

go take a hike - what country do you live in? Let's do this survey there
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: 01010 on April 06, 2004, 12:37:49 pm
Ha ha, how can you not find your own country on the bloody map, especially when it's as big as the US is.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Lt.Cannonfodder on April 06, 2004, 12:41:09 pm
I remember reading a similar survey a couple of years ago. It was pretty big one, covering the whole EU. Luckily (?), finns were a bit better than an average European, but still there were people here who thought Earth is flat and we are at the center of the universe :wtf:
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: karajorma on April 06, 2004, 12:43:02 pm
See what I mean. It's not just the brits. :)

Kazan : for Trisha read Rikki Lake or Jenny Jones.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 12:54:34 pm
01010 - i can find my own country on the map, i can find all of those countries on the map.  Infact if you name a country i can probably tell you what continent it is on off the top of my head
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: 01010 on April 06, 2004, 01:04:20 pm
Didn't say you couldnt, just makes me laugh how some people can't.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: J3Vr6 on April 06, 2004, 01:06:13 pm
lol, u tell'em Kazan!
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 01:08:29 pm
it's rather pathetic that some people cannot
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Zeronet on April 06, 2004, 01:10:12 pm
Hmm, i dunno whether i trust this article. Bet they were all interviewing townies. At least some of them were taking the piss, lol, apes ruling the Earth.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Rictor on April 06, 2004, 01:14:30 pm
Kazan: Palau which continent. And no Googling :D:D

I live in Canada, and I think that if such a survey were to be taken, we would fare better than Americans. There probably has been a survey like that conducted for Canada, it just a matter of finding it.

I shudder to think what the results might be if someone *gasp* asked these people to identify the capital city of Iraq, or maybe Iran, Syria, Israel, Germany etc etc. Perhaps even asked them to name one country that shares a border with said nations.
Title: Re: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: jdjtcagle on April 06, 2004, 01:15:33 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Kazan



average human being = moron

a quote: More than 60 thought the Battle of Helms Deep in the Lord of the Rings trilogy actually took place. [/B]


:lol:
That's actually very funny
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Rictor on April 06, 2004, 01:18:17 pm
The Idiots are taking over - NOFX

_________________


it's not the right time to be sober
now the idiots have taken over
spreading like a social cancer, is there an answer?

Mensa membership exceeding
tell me why and how are all the stupid people breeding
Watson, it's really elementary
the industrial revolution
has flipped the ***** on evolution
the benevolent and wise are being thwarted, ostracized, what a bummer
the world keeps getting dumber
insensitivity is standard and faith is being fancied over reason

darwin's rollin over in his coffin
the fittest are surviving much less often
now everything seems to be reversing, and it's worsening
someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool
now angry mob mentality's no longer the exception, it's the rule
and im startin to feel a lot like charlton heston
stranded on a primate planet
apes and orangutans that ran it to the ground
with generals and the armies that obeyed them
followers following fables
philosophies that enable them to rule without regard

there's no point for democracy when ignorance is celebrated
political scientists get the same one vote as some Arkansas inbred
majority rule, don't work in mental institutions
sometimes the smallest softest voice carries the grand biggest solutions

what are we left with?
a nation of god-fearing pregnant nationalists
who feel it's their duty to populate the homeland
pass on traditions
how to get ahead religions
And prosperity via simpleton culture

the idiots are takin over

:D:D
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 01:36:19 pm
palau is part of micronesia
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Goober5000 on April 06, 2004, 01:50:00 pm
Quote
More than a quarter of people do not know in which century the Great War took place
That's Freespace for ya. :)
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: 01010 on April 06, 2004, 01:50:37 pm
Ahhh NOFX. Made my day listening to "Idiot son of an asshole" at Reading Festival two years ago.
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: karajorma on April 06, 2004, 02:27:55 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Kazan
palau is part of micronesia


Close but no cigar. It's independant. :p

The geography is correct though :)
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: Kazan on April 06, 2004, 02:29:00 pm
"Micronesia" IIRC is also a geopgraphic location, which is how i was using it
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: karajorma on April 06, 2004, 02:34:53 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Kazan
"Micronesia" IIRC is also a geopgraphic location, which is how i was using it


You could be right there :)

Once you get to the pacific island states my knowledge of geography starts to break down. In my defense though I'm almost completely self taught when it comes to geography and history cause the teaching in schools was so ****e.

What makes me laugh is that I found history boring in school. A lesson which contains wars, intrigue, backstabbing, love stories and the odd cunning plan was somehow made boring by my teachers. To this day I can't figure out how you make history lessons boring. It should be the most interesting subject taught in school. :confused:
Title: And people say the US is messed up (non-war)
Post by: SadisticSid on April 06, 2004, 03:48:22 pm
Somehow I think the poll may have not been exactly truthful - unless they asked a bunch of seven year-olds:

Quote
War of the Worlds , Martian invasion - 6 per cent
Battle of Helms Deep , Rings Trilogy - The Two Towers - 3 per cent
Battle of Endor , The Return of the Jedi - 2 per cent
Planet of the Apes , the apes rule Earth - 1 per cent
Battlestar Galactica , the defeat of humanity by cyborgs - 1 per cent


But in agreement with the article, Britain is most certainly becoming dumber. Our basic education has been going down the crapper since the abolition of grammar schools by Labour decades ago. Higher education (6th forms and technical colleges) was dealt a blow a few years back with the abolition of 'A' Levels and replaced with a ghastly 'AS' system which caused nothing but a bureaucratic mess. As for universities, they are rapidly becoming in-and-out processing farms where the objective isn't to give students any practical skills, but to see how many footnotes and references they can insert into their reports and essays.