Idiot Bloggers Fall For "Stupid American" Meme

[mishalak]

The headline should read "Self Identified Government Officials on the Anonymous Internet Flunk Badly Worded 'Test' Created By Group With An Ax to Grind". I can't believe the number of people who fell for the test by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. Go look at that Wikipedia page. They're a conservative pressure group that wants intelligent design taught in schools. And even if they were not they get money by proving that people are undereducated about their most important lessons. If they found that the majority of Americans actually knew about government it would be a surprise.

Yes, most people are woefully under educated, but so apparently are the bloggers who uncritically pass this on as "news". It's not news, it's fark.

Comments

[meowvatar.livejournal.com]

*raises hand self-identifying as idiot blogger*

*grins*

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Idiot in that you got it wrong, or that you fell for their "news" story?

[meowvatar.livejournal.com]

That I fell for it. Actually, I've reported on this before in years past.

Me and The Denver Post are in good company, though -- that's who originally wrote about it this time and gave me the idea for the post. :)

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

For your penance I assign you the book "It's Not News, It's Fark", available at your public library.

[meowvatar.livejournal.com]

Awesome, will do! I actually checked that out once and never got around to reading it. I hear it's excellent!

[kevin-standlee.livejournal.com]

Well, Cheryl did say she thought that a bunch of the questions were intended to catch out dumb liberals, but not stupid conservatives. Still, I think most educated Americans should be able to get at least 80% of those questions right.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

What I hint at, but don't come right out to say until now, is that I think they picked their sample carefully to give the results they wanted before releasing the thing onto the internet. Thus giving most people a smug sense of superiority over public officials. It is the usual operating method of these sort of groups.

[dd-b.livejournal.com]

I agree there's some slant to some of the questions. However, I don't see any excuse for getting under about 80% right if you went to school in the USA and are of average or better intelligence. The questions aren't especially tricky -- in fact, the twists and contortions in the questions generally make them *easier*.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

I think they picked their sample carefully to give the results they wanted before releasing the thing onto the internet. It is not an uncommon act among the government breakers like ISI to put their thumbs on the scale to give the result they want. Much like the AFA "survey" that showed support for gay marriage at under 5%.

Not to mention the possibility of a few jokers putting in deliberately wrong surveys to drive down the average.

[gomeza.livejournal.com]

Wait, Fark, what? How is this related to Fark? Is this a new slang term with which I was heretofore unfamiliar?

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

Drew Curtis, the guy who founded Fark.com, wrote a book entitled It's Not News It's Fark with the subtitle "How Mass Media Tries to Pass Off Crap as News". It is all about media filler stories and how stuff passes into papers without a lick of research.

[gomeza.livejournal.com]

AAAH.
*ding* (fries are done)
Thanks.

[mishalak.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. And I may be poor, but I still have my bottles of Scotch from when I was employed. Just sayin'.