Gatorade Frost

Here's how I look at the statistics:

I have a general idea of where t he states in America are but I probably couldn't pin point quite a few of them if you asked me to. The states in the North East are to me just a general jumble, and if I need to find out something specific about a state or find a state there, I've got pretty easy access to resources (maps, the internet, you name it) so I can understand how some people who aren't native to the region wouldn't know exactly where Louisiana or Mississippi are.

I'll agree that it's probably generally a good idea to know where important countries are, but on a day to day basis what happens around the world doesn't particularly apply to me. In regards to speaking another language, I don't intend to have any jobs in the future that will require me to know more than English. At this point knowing several languages is more of a fun fact to have on a resume than something altogether useful.

I didn't know that. My best guess would have been Iran.

I'm not entirely sure if I could find Iraq on a map. I could find the middle east and take a pretty good guess based on what I remember, but it's not as solid as knowing where Oklahoma or California is.

Alright, that's kind of crazy, actually. India's a pretty big place.

Gotta admit that's a little crazy, too.

I had to do a double take on that one before I realised native language, which I suppose would probably be Chinese. I can see how that's a reasonable mistake to make.

I did not know that. I knew it wasn't US/Mexico as proven by the protests going on recently, but I would have thrown out India/Pakistan, the Great Wall of China, or Israel/Palestine. Most heavily fortified comes across as a bit of an opinion. That could imply biggest walls, most guns, most secure check points, etc. There's a lot that goes along with most heavily fortified border.

With the Tonight Show street people, that's all staged. I knew a person who was 'interviewed' and asked specifically to say something obviously wrong about the US Government.

I'd say it's a mix of our educational system in some areas, and just generally how we're raised. I wouldn't say that it's that we don't care about the rest of the world, we're just pre-occupied with what goes on here. The news here, local or country wide, tends to take precendence for a lot of people. When I see an earth quake in Pakistan it's just a blip on my radar that I skim over. It's not really because I'm 'stuck in my own little world' it's just not something important at that moment.

I don't think that our ethnocentric tendencies need to change. I think in the majority of America we're pretty well rounded culturally. People may find that hard to swallow, but I think most people are pretty well integrated with other cultures - Italian, Chinese, Korean, Indian, Middle Eastern, etc. I have friends from all colors and creeds and I suspect most other people do, too.

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I got in a fight one time with a really big guy, and he said, "I'm going to mop the floor with your face." I said, "You'll be sorry." He said, "Oh, yeah? Why?" I said, "Well, you won't be able to get into the corners very well."
Emo Philips