Bad Statistic or Stupid Americans?
Saw this on Hardball last night. Do these people know something that I don't?
<a href="http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm"; target="_blank">Iraq Polling Report</a>
Two questions from the Knight-Ridder polling:
[code]
"Please try to answer my next questions about Iraq
to the best of your knowledge. But if you're not
sure of an answer, that's okay -- just tell me and
I'll go to the next question. Do you think Iraq
and Al Queda -- Osama bin Laden's organization --
are allied and working together to plan new acts
of terrorism, or not?"
%
Are allied 65
Are not 16
Don't know 19
"As far as you know, how many of the September
11th terrorist hijackers were Iraqi citizens: most
of them, some of them, just one, or none?"
%
Most of them 21
Some of them 23
Just one 6
None 17
Don't know 33
</pre><hr></blockquote>
Frell, 50% of Americans in this poll believe at least one of the 19 September 11 hijackers was an Iraqi national. Does this mean that even though Americans watch 20 hours of TV a week, and is at least exposed to some sort of other media (print, radio, Internet, friends), they are not understanding what they hearing? Is the GWB administration propaganda so good that this myth can arise? Or maybe their reading comprehension is not any better than a 6-year-old's? This statistic is like what you see in Jay Leno's Jay-walking bit...
Really just too flabbergasted to say anything about it or to understand how it could be.
[edit: "code" doesn't word wrap! I didn't know that...]
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: THT ]</p>
<a href="http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm"; target="_blank">Iraq Polling Report</a>
Two questions from the Knight-Ridder polling:
[code]
"Please try to answer my next questions about Iraq
to the best of your knowledge. But if you're not
sure of an answer, that's okay -- just tell me and
I'll go to the next question. Do you think Iraq
and Al Queda -- Osama bin Laden's organization --
are allied and working together to plan new acts
of terrorism, or not?"
%
Are allied 65
Are not 16
Don't know 19
"As far as you know, how many of the September
11th terrorist hijackers were Iraqi citizens: most
of them, some of them, just one, or none?"
%
Most of them 21
Some of them 23
Just one 6
None 17
Don't know 33
</pre><hr></blockquote>
Frell, 50% of Americans in this poll believe at least one of the 19 September 11 hijackers was an Iraqi national. Does this mean that even though Americans watch 20 hours of TV a week, and is at least exposed to some sort of other media (print, radio, Internet, friends), they are not understanding what they hearing? Is the GWB administration propaganda so good that this myth can arise? Or maybe their reading comprehension is not any better than a 6-year-old's? This statistic is like what you see in Jay Leno's Jay-walking bit...
Really just too flabbergasted to say anything about it or to understand how it could be.
[edit: "code" doesn't word wrap! I didn't know that...]
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: THT ]</p>
Comments
You know like, "Who's buried in Grant's tomb?"
"Uhhhh ... Washington?"
<strong>You know like, "Who's buried in Grant's tomb?"</strong><hr></blockquote>
Actually...
Nobody is buried there at all. Ulysses S. Grant and his wife are entombed there, but no dirt is involved.
I think they understand what they are hearing. Except that what they are hearing isn't about Iraq. It's about Friends returning for anther season, it's about Joe Millionaire porking some golddigger, it's about the Raiders' short passing game, it's about Ozzy ****ing Osbourne, it's about Ben Affleck caressing the rotund expanses of JLo's booty etc. That's not to say that there are not millions of Americans looking for thoughtful discussion on the topic or to say that some of these other forms of entertainment are not also enjoyed by others who will give the Iraq issue some more serious consideration. But those people are certainly outnumbered by many others who dont want to be bothered by such details.
<strong>How can you NOT know there are 52 states in the US?
I thought there were only 50?? Am I missing two somewhere? <img src="confused.gif" border="0">
<strong>52 includes Hawaii and Alaska. The contiguous United States has 50 states though so it is usually referred to as the 50 states. Although really there are 48 besides Hawaii and Alaska but we have to pretend that there are 50 since the goddamned Texans think that they are such hot shit that Texas deserves to be counted three times.</strong><hr></blockquote>
I guess that explanation will have to do, but I know that Hawaii is the 50th state,(i.e. the last to join). So I was curious. Count Texas 3 times huh, I will have to remember that.
heh heh
Or even funnier, ask someone from the US.
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
<strong>Just ask a Canadian how many provinces and territories we have.
heh heh
Or even funnier, ask someone from the US.
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: murbot ]</strong><hr></blockquote>
Aren't there 13?? At least thats what I remember, and I am American, do I make you laugh??
We americans have it too easy here. Before 9/11 all we worried about is who won $1million last night on Who Wants to be a Millionaire, who in Hollywood is banging who, and what Monica Lewinski was doing with a cigar. All of a sudden the world has to get political and stuff and next thing we know 3000 people get thrashed and we are scrambling to understand why. Suddenly we watch more CNN and Foxnews than MTV or Spice and all these words wizz by our ears, Iraq+Arab+Muslims+airplanes=BAD MOJO. The details get fuzzy, made up, conclusions are jumped, etc, etc. We end up being interviewed on the street by some jackoff with a mic and then even the goddamned French are making fun of us across the ocean because we end up looking like uncooth simpletons!
<strong>
I thought there were only 50?? Am I missing two somewhere?
Israel and soon to be Iraq.
I think Osama bin Laden = AL Qaeda, so I might be inclined by association to say that Saddam and Osama had some sort of association under terrorism. Can't tell you about the second though. Most of those killers were Saudi, Yemeni or Egyptian. God, I hate mock "democracies."
[PS - don't forget the US Virgin Islands!]
[ 01-15-2003: Message edited by: BuonRotto ]</p>