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Perceptioncheck
Joined: 13 Oct 2008
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 Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| morrisonhotel wrote: |
^There are stupid people in every country. Unfortunately, studying for or having a university education does not mean that you are clever, well read, and have a good knowledge of the world. Case in point: a university educated person that I met recently from NZ who had never heard of Adam Smith.
Stupidity and ignorance are universal problems. Berating Americans for being stupid is pointless, naive and entirely ignorant. |
Well, I believe a university education should mean that you are clever, well read and have a good knowledge of the world. It really should. So I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on that point.
And I'm not doing any 'berating'. I'm merely pointing out that the stereotype that Americans are somewhat lacking in the intellegence department has some basis in reality, at least in my experience.
And of course there are stupid people in every country. That doesn't make it right, does it? |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005
Location: Easy Street.
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:24 pm Post subject: |
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| nautilus wrote: |
| caniff wrote: |
| Americans can be pretty dumb, but after traveling to and/or living in 20+ countries I have yet to see anyone else lighting up the Genius Scoreboard. |
I get the impression there has been a general dumbing down of the population over the past century. IMHO.
My grandfather spoke 4 languages and had 3 degrees. Basically a self-taught man. He was very able as well- built their house, made beautiful furniture for it. My grandmother was very knowledgable about all kinds of stuff that women these days just wouldn't know. Things like medical procedures, the herbal and medicinal uses of all the wild plants where she lived, poetry, novellists and history. She could not only take care of any family emergencies, she could converse decently on just about any topic.
I think back in those days people had to really get educated by hard study..and have a lot more practical everyday skills.They didn't have all our conveniences.
Nowadays people just watch TV and learn things passively if at all. Popular culture doesn't have the same values any longer, people have even lost their social skills to some extent. They're not as hardy or resilient I think. |
That's so true and that's not just America by any means. Definitely the same in England, and probably the same goes for Korea too. |
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morrisonhotel
Joined: 18 Jul 2009
Location: Gyeonggi-do
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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| Perceptioncheck wrote: |
| morrisonhotel wrote: |
^There are stupid people in every country. Unfortunately, studying for or having a university education does not mean that you are clever, well read, and have a good knowledge of the world. Case in point: a university educated person that I met recently from NZ who had never heard of Adam Smith.
Stupidity and ignorance are universal problems. Berating Americans for being stupid is pointless, naive and entirely ignorant. |
Well, I believe a university education should mean that you are clever, well read and have a good knowledge of the world. It really should. So I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on that point.
And I'm not doing any 'berating'. I'm merely pointing out that the stereotype that Americans are somewhat lacking in the intellegence department has some basis in reality, at least in my experience.
And of course there are stupid people in every country. That doesn't make it right, does it? |
You might want to believe that and hope for well educated university graduates but it doesn't make it so (unfortunately).
The berating comment wasn't aimed at you but people generally. |
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kinerry
Joined: 01 Jun 2009
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| Posted: Tue Feb 23, 2010 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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| DorkothyParker wrote: |
The Irish are drunks!
The French are wimps and snobs!
Russians are even worse drunks than the Irish!
Germans are perverts!
Polish are stupid!
Canadians are boring!
English people are ugly!
Etc.
All cultures have stereotypes. I think the only people who make these generalizations are ignorant folks who have no interest in meeting new people or learning about different cultures. Anyone with half a brain knows that people are individuals and not silly broadly painted stereotypes These same intelligent people know that it's not okay to judge an individual for aspects of their culture which they do not agree with or have control. Why bother with ethnocentric jerks? |
stereotypes are typically based on general truths |
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