I put politically in there because of the stats I quoted.

Go to the article here for other stats. Here's a teaser: the best score was in history - 25% could answer basic history questions.

You're referring to science, which the original author didn't address (in the post I read and quoted on my original blog entry). I would bet that in science, MAYBE 1% could answer questions.

And don't start me on the ignorance of ID and the flat earthers. Ugh.

hey now... in practice:

The President pretty much has suspended the constitution, declared war without congressional authority and stacked the federal benches with his cronies... Maybe people aren't stupid, they're jkust answering cynically!

Nah, they're probably stupid.

Good post.

Now maybe some people will get an idea of what Obama's up against while he's trying to get 51% of the vote. Throw in Fox News, a corporate media, and a Rovian smear machine and you're starting with a pretty narrow field of reference that can easily be tainted by those with unscrupulous intent.

(The term 'field of reference' here refers to knowledge that one can assume the speaker and listener (or writer and reader) share, therefore enabling messages to be properly decoded. I'm adding this because I'm not sure if everyone here majored in communication and it's in their "field of reference" :-))

These statistics clearly demonstrate the near impossible challenge Obama faces in communicating an accurate image of himself to certain segments of the population and the ease for those interested in distorting that image.

Recommended.

ahem... and the ... i refuse to look it up but it is a gawdaufl share... who participate in organized superstition called religion?

Your comments on how the US Public has been "dumbed down" are well taken... however, many on TPM don't understand the basics of government either. (And by basics, I mean truly how the government works.)

Examples:

a) Most here don't seem to know what it takes to be a Senate Majority Leader -- or even what the job entails. (I suggest reading about 100 pages of Robert Caro's book MASTER OF THE SENATE for a real introduction to that body of Congress.)

b) Many don't know much in the way of historical antecedents. Even comments made about the Reagan years (only 25 years go) seems to be filtered through memes (of the right or left of center kind).

c) Even fewer understand the true workings of how key departments of government work (e.g. Dept of Homeland Security).

While this is more complex than how many bodies in Congress, the people here are actually trying to talk politics, so this basic knowledge is just as important.

One reason for this is that not enough TPMers' read much in the way of history -- they are always concerned with "news". You will find many presidents love to read history and historical biographies.

History allows you a perspective to see movements and trends. It also allows you to learn from the past and project into the future.

Thanks for bringing up this important topic - for all of us.

You know, I wanted to comment on this thread, but the best I can offer is that this is why I have so little hope for the future, Obama notwithstanding.

But I try anyway.

Raider, UGH. Must you remind us that that asshat gasbag makes ridiculous amounts of money for selling hate and ignorance.

"Tis a wise man who knows that there is more unknown than known..."

Maybe this is too fine a distinction, but I don't think we are stupid so much as uneducated.

I think we are seeing the final result of a decades long project to destroy our education system, addict us to mindless shopping on credit, hypnotize us with pretty pictures and make all of this easier by medicating us to the point of catatonia.

Orwell would be so proud of this little neocon experiment.

The enthusiasm for politics this year seems to indicate a general awakening of smart people to their own ignorance. I must confess to 34 years of "stupidity" myself before I became aware and involved.

It is going to be a graduated awakening for this country, I think, that can start with Obama being elected with a large majority. Once we fix our schools, we can begin the generation's long work of using that to fix our society.

Just because the neocons broke our country doesn't mean that Americans of good-will, both conservative and liberal, can't put it back together again.

I do not see the fact that 40% of the population believes that the President can suspend the Constitution as necessarily discouraging. It would appear to be an accurate reality check: de facto Bush has violated the Consitution.

Both Pelosi and Obama oppose impeachment.

Change the word "complaint" to "compliant" and you've won me. Of course, quibbling aside, what you are saying is on the money. The government has deliberately denied adequate money to fund good education. Ignorance is bliss as far as they're concerned. If Americans can't engage in critical thinking, they are less likely to realize what the government is really doing.

I sat for the MCAT many many years ago. I am curious. Is there anyone here who has taken it more recently who could say if Young Earth Creationism or Itellegent Design is part of the test now?

I would love to know, if I had cancer, if my Oncologist believed that people walked with dinosaurs.

This doesn't prove we are stupid, it just proves we are smart about the wrong things.

Point being that the idea of Intelligent Design can easily be applied to the rules of creation as we find them.

If someone needs tidy excuses, we can reply that "Evolution is the intelligent design God had in mind."

I will take exception with one thing your said, though, that evolution is random. That is hardly an accurate description of Darwin's theories.