http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/08/24/dumb-things-americans-believe.html

Newsweek did a study of some crazy things that Americans believe or are just ignorant about. It's pretty shocking. Most of these results came from Gallup polls so they aren't super statistically accurate, but still, . Some highlights:

- Only 39% of Americans believe in evolution
- 21% of Americans believe that witches/warlocks actually exist
- 41% believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11 (Even though President Bush himself said that he wasn't)
- 20% believe the Sun revolves around the Earth.
- 63% of young Americans can't find Iraq on a map. 90% can't find Afghanistan. More than 30% can't find/don't know the continent that the Amazon River is in.

8/25/2010 9:22:47 AM

Shit kills me

8/25/2010 9:25:59 AM

Quote :

"Think of how dumb the average person is. Then realize that half the people are dumber than that."

8/25/2010 9:26:02 AM

Yeah, we're dumb...what's new?

8/25/2010 9:26:16 AM

I heard all americans are fat too.

8/25/2010 9:29:56 AM

This isn't about being dumb, it's about having limited information (whether by choice or not)

8/25/2010 9:32:01 AM

I'd really like to see some of these polls done in other countries to see how much of a difference there is... even if it were done in Canada.

8/25/2010 9:32:07 AM

Quote :

"Poll: Only a third of Americans say Obama is Christian; almost one in five say he's Muslim"

8/25/2010 9:34:09 AM

Quote :

"I'd really like to see some of these polls done in other countries to see how much of a difference there is... even if it were done in Canada."

I think you'd be surprised. I'd say the majority of Europeans can identify and locate most of our 50 states. When I was backpacking Europe, they had more knowledge and more of an opinion on stuff that was going on in our country than probably 90% of our population. It was kinda sad.

8/25/2010 9:39:25 AM

^I wouldn't go that far, actually. I'm originally from England and all my friends and family over there only know of the most famous states like New York, Texas, Florida, and California, and even then I don't know if they'd be able to point them out on a map. When I first moved to the USA they were all like "wtf is a North Carolina?" That might just be England though, the rest of Europe could be different.

8/25/2010 9:46:28 AM

You can't expect foreigners to know US States

That's like expecting an American to pick out Kent and Suffolk on a map of England

8/25/2010 9:48:03 AM

"America the Who Gives a Shit"

8/25/2010 9:52:26 AM

^^Yeah that's exactly what I'm saying.

8/25/2010 9:52:55 AM

If the town in England has a Premier League team, I know where it is.

Other than that, it's a craps shoot.

8/25/2010 10:02:05 AM

8/25/2010 10:08:24 AM

Maybe these people are just trollin' for the polls skew.

8/25/2010 10:09:46 AM

^^ Fuck yourself, redneck

8/25/2010 11:34:33 AM

it's painful to think about how ignorant (often times, willingly misinformed) so many people are

8/25/2010 11:42:15 AM

THEY BELIEVE IN WITCHES AND WARLOCKS

8/25/2010 11:43:32 AM

People would rather fuck around in their spare time than sit down and read

Sad fucking shit

8/25/2010 11:44:55 AM

comments on online news stories are all I need to convince me that an appalling # of people are really fucking stupid

8/25/2010 11:49:52 AM

Where's the one about the amount of people who believe in God?

8/25/2010 11:59:16 AM

It is actually pretty tough to find places on a blank map. You can't expect people to be able to fill in a blank map of the earth to perfection, but I don't think it is too much to ask to know the general area or continent that a nation is loacted in. I would hope most people would know that Iraq is in the middle east not too far from Europe and Africa.

8/25/2010 12:00:42 PM

^I can see where you are coming from there, but since we've been at war with Iraq and Afghanistan for a while I'd think that people would know. And not knowing which continent the Amazon River is in is a little sad.

8/25/2010 12:25:49 PM

Quote :

"Where's the one about the amount of people who believe in God?"

if you were that smart, you'd know the correct form is "number of people," not "amount of people"

uppity atheists

8/25/2010 12:27:57 PM

Quote :

"if you were that smart, you'd know the correct TERM is "term," not "form""

[fail]

[Edited on August 25, 2010 at 12:37 PM. Reason : ...]

8/25/2010 12:35:52 PM

if you were that smart, you'd have gotten it right on the first try

8/25/2010 12:38:23 PM

look at least atheists don't BELIEVE IN WITCHES AND WARLOCKS!

you know that most of that 21% are Christians

8/25/2010 12:40:47 PM

oh yes, there are plenty of stupid Christians

but atheists who think their atheism automatically makes them intellectually superior to all religious people, really get my goat

8/25/2010 12:42:21 PM

yeah those people are obnoxious

but be careful not to assume that all atheists are like that

however, we should ALL feel intellectually superior to people that BELIEVE IN WITCHES AND WARLOCKS!

also, people that believe the Sun orbits the Earth

8/25/2010 12:45:35 PM

Quote :

"however, we should ALL feel intellectually superior to people that BELIEVE IN WITCHES AND WARLOCKS!"

FTW

8/25/2010 12:47:08 PM

Hold on... you're telling me witches and warlocks really don't exist?

8/25/2010 12:56:24 PM

of course they do, buddy

that's why we've all got to be Christ Warriors

8/25/2010 1:00:16 PM

Quote :

"^^ Fuck yourself, redneck"

haha! ignorant yourself! or you can't be ignorant if you either 1) agree with mchippy 2) vote for liberals

8/25/2010 1:02:11 PM

Quote :

"- 21% of Americans believe that witches/warlocks actually exist"

They play WOW, what do you expect?

8/25/2010 1:04:51 PM

you're ignorant if you believe some medieval shit

like WITCHES AND WARLOCKS

and SUN REVOLVING AROUND EARTH

8/25/2010 1:04:51 PM

8/25/2010 1:08:35 PM

How can it revolve around the Earth if it's flat?

8/25/2010 1:08:57 PM

Quote :

"haha! ignorant yourself! or you can't be ignorant if you either 1) agree with mchippy 2) vote for liberals"

who said it was about being liberal or conservative?



even if you're apathetic politically, and you believe that the fucking sun revolves around the earth, you are a fucking moron.



stop trying to make shit political when it isn't. Americans are fucking stupid, and it's morons like you that carry the banner because they try to blame it on shit that doesn't even relate to the situation.

8/25/2010 1:23:33 PM

Quote :

"AMERICANS ARE FUCKING"

8/25/2010 1:26:28 PM

8/25/2010 1:34:26 PM

^^^TROOF

Actually, I find that some of the dumbest people out there are ones that claim to be either democrats or republicans, when really they are just blind followers that are ignorant about everything including politics.

8/25/2010 1:35:57 PM

8/25/2010 1:36:09 PM

I'm working everyday to improve everything on that list.

8/25/2010 1:44:40 PM

are you a teacher?

I bet you're a teacher

8/25/2010 1:47:45 PM

lol, look who showed up in the "America the Ignorant" thread

8/25/2010 1:47:47 PM

really, what was the point of posting those obama videos?

8/25/2010 1:49:13 PM

"America the Ignorant"

8/25/2010 1:51:44 PM

ITT we discuss other people's problems because we're better than them? AMIRITE?

8/25/2010 1:53:24 PM

Quote :

""America the Ignorant""

but then someone calls you a redneck

its like a weird circle

8/25/2010 2:00:53 PM