I'm sorry, but what? That would have been as stupid a question as the original to any sufficiently-informed listener: "Obamacare" isn't a manifestation of the ACA, it's exactly the same single thing as the ACA ... If one knows that (and if you're going to go spouting-off to a reporter with a microphone, you'd probably better know what you're talking about), there is no rational way to have a differing opinion of the two labels.

FWIW, the questions came in the form of on-the-street interviews conducted by the Jimmy Kimmel show. Were the questions intended to reveal the ignorance of the interviewees? Of course, that was the whole point. I think the purpose was much less to embarrass people than to show how a large chunk of the national dialogue on this issue is in fact based on an almost complete ignorance of what's being debated ...

"Low information voters" is a misnomer. I encounter people who are low information everything on a daily basis.

So do I, but in my case . . . they're students !!

I hear ya buddy !

A few days ago I trying to establish a no brainer, something everyone knows, example to make a point with an intern, "so like, a question such as "how many states make up the US?" and the intern (who could have just nodded realizing the question was rhetorical) said, "um, 56?"



I'd've been less shocked if she hadn't been an American, just graduated from high school.

I am often stunned how little my students know... we were talking about the Nobel Prizes the other day and I asked who Alfred Nobel was, what did he invent? , . . . and NONE had a clue !!

Everyone knows he was the founder and CEO of Taco Bell !!



Bonus question on a test:
Lysol contains the disinfectant alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium saccharinate. What class of disinfectants does it belong with:
A. alkylating agents
B. heavy metals
C. quaternary ammonium salts
D. halogens
E. phenols



Answer is C ... ammonium in both. I thought that was a gimme but only about 25-30% got it right ! Aye -yae-yae ! (shaking head) No wonder the US is 25th in science !!

I recently gave a test in an English lit survey course. We'd been working on medieval English lit for five weeks. One question: in what kind of English did Chaucer write?

After 5 weeks of reading Anglo-Saxon and Middle English, you wouldn't believe how many kids said "Old English"--a phrase that after the first day of class we never used because, as I said, it's misleading.

Another question: when did the Roman Empire withdraw from England?

I had many of the kids say 11th century. That is so wrong that it would be laughable if it weren't so painful.

And when did William the Conqueror invade England? Somewhere around the 16th century according to some kids.

And these are kids who are supposedly majoring in English.

So the problem is not just in science. Nor is it stupidity. Ignorance, willful ignorance--sure.

"willful ignorance"

I used that exact phrase a few days ago to describe the lunatic right.

The old Roman Empire collapsed between 400-500 AD. 11 the century ??

As far as Chaucer I was going to answer pig Latin

These kids had been reading Anglo-Saxon and then Middle English for five weeks. And they can't tell the difference between "Hwæt, we Gar-Dena in gear-dagum gode gefrunon" on the one hand and "When that April with his showeres swoote the droughte of March hath perced to the roote." Seriously!

And yea, if the western Roman empire stuck around till the 11th century, boy would world history have been different!

Well don't blame them too much..... they didn't get the tweet from Julius C !!!