"We Will Never forget!"...Yeah, right!

[Rick Lee]

MRM, true dat. Interesting too that T. Jefferson died on July 4. Sorta like Stephen Hawking's b-day being the same as Galileo's and Isaac Newton's, or something like that.

[84porsche]

Originally posted by MRM
The actual dates are less important than the sequence of events and understanding the context of the event.

Very true on the sequence but the date is the identifying factor that determines the sequence of events. I certaintly could have asked

What event was a contributing factor to the United States entering WWII? What day did this occur?

What event was the turning point of WWII?

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know many of the in-depth history questions but I know the basics how and where to find the answers. Some of these questions I asked are probably the same on the US Citizenship test. I believe their was a post about this a couple of years ago. To see Americans be this ignorant in the posted video bothers me.

[84porsche]

Originally posted by Rick Lee
MRM, true dat. Interesting too that T. Jefferson died on July 4. Sorta like Stephen Hawking's b-day being the same as Galileo's and Isaac Newton's, or something like that.

And so did John Adams and they died on the same exact day within hours of each other.

[84porsche]

Originally posted by 84porsche
Very true on the sequence but the date is the identifying factor that determines the sequence of events. I certaintly could have asked

What event was a contributing factor to the United States entering WWII? What day did this occur?

What event was the turning point of WWII?

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I don't know many of the in-depth history questions but I know the basics how and where to find the answers. Some of these questions I asked are probably the same on the US Citizenship test. I believe their was a post about this a couple of years ago. To see Americans be this ignorant in the posted video bothers me.

Could you pass a US citizenship test?

[Rick Lee]

Originally posted by 84porsche

What event was a contributing factor to the United States entering WWII? What day did this occur?

I can't remember the date of the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, but it was sometime in 1919 and I would answer with that.

[Rick Lee]

Originally posted by 84porsche


What event was the turning point of WWII?

The day Hitler decided to leave Moscow and Lenningrad alone and head for Stalingrad.

[MRM]

Tough to pick a single turning point. Midway and D Day notwithstanding, the outcome of the war was not decided until the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Talk about heroism and cowardice, luck, the Big Man losing his nerve, the underdog rising to the occasion, good ideas and stupid moves, this battle had it all. The real turning point was probably the US entry into the war, but you can't say that the German diversion away from Moscow is a wrong answer.

See? This is a discussion of history. How the US came to be in WWII and how it became the victor is more important than remembering that Pearl Harbor Day was December 7, 1941, or that D Day was June 6, 1944, although both should be in the cultural subconscious of the country. Whether WWI and WWII were extensions of the same 30 Years War with a short time of no hostilities in between is a more important debate than when the Treaty of Versailles was signed. Being able to debate the issue intelligently shows an understanding of history, not being able to name the dates of the major battles of the Revolutionary War. But if you don't know the year the War of 1812 started, you are too stupid to live, even though the date important.

[sammyg2]

They need to come out with a new series of schoolhouse rock shorts. That's the only way most people around here learn anything important.

Conjunction junction, what's your function?

[sammyg2]

Ooh, there's gonna be fireworks
On the Fourth of July
Red, white, and blue fireworks
Like diamonds in the sky.
We're gonna shoot the entire works on fireworks
That really show, oh yeah,
We declared our liberty 200 years ago.
Yeah!

In 1776
There were fireworks too
The original colonists,
You know their tempers blew
Like Thomas Paine once wrote:
It's only common sense
That if a government won't give you your basic rights
You'd better get another government.

And though some people tried to fight it,
Well, a committee was formed to write it:
Benjamin Franklin, Philip Livingston,
John Adams, Roger Sherman, Thomas Jefferson,
They got it done
The Declaration, uh-huh-huh,
The Declaration of Independence
In seventeen hundred seventy six
The Continental Congress said that we were free
Said we had the right of life and liberty,
...And the pursuit of happiness!

Ooh, when England heard the news,
They blew their stack
But the colonies lit the fuse,
There'd be no turning back
They'd had enough of injustice now
But even if it really hurts, oh yeah,
If you don't give us our freedom now
You're gonna see some fireworks!

And on the Fourth of July they signed it
And 56 names underlined it,
And now to honor those first 13 states,
We turn the sky into a birthday cake.
They got it done
The Declaration, uh-huh-huh,
The Declaration of Independence
In seventeen hundred seventy six
The Continental Congress said that we were free
Said we had the right of life and liberty,
...And the pursuit of happiness!

We hold these truths to be self-evident,
That all men are created equal
And that they are endowed by their creator
With certain inalienable rights.
That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

And if there's one thing that makes me happy,
Then you know that it's
There's gonna be fireworks!

[sammyg2]

Hey, do you know about the U.S.A.?
Do you know about the government?
Can you tell me about the Constitution?
Hey, learn about the U.S.A.
In 1787 I'm told
Our founding fathers did agree
To write a list of principles
For keepin' people free.

The U.S.A. was just startin' out.
A whole brand-new country.
And so our people spelled it out
The things that we should be.

And they put those principles down on paper and called it the Constitution, and it's been helping us run our country ever since then. The first part of the Constitution is called the preamble and tells what those founding fathers set out to do.

We the people,
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our posterity
Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

In 1787 I'm told
Our founding fathers all sat down
And wrote a list of principles
That's known the world around.

The U.S.A. was just starting out
A whole brand-new country.
And so our people spelled it out
They wanted a land of liberty.

And the Preamble goes like this:

We the people,
In order to form a more perfect union,
Establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
Provide for the common defense,
Promote the general welfare and
Secure the blessings of liberty
To ourselves and our posterity
Do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

For the United States of America...

[126coupe]

Now I really believe half the people in the US have an IQ lower than 100!

[widgeon13]

I think 100 is being much too generous, unfortunately.

[stuartj]

Originally posted by widgeon13
I think 100 is being much too generous, unfortunately.

Thats being unfair. Clearly, most of the people in that grab are of average intelligence and represent a cross section of demographics, although theres no suggestion this is representtive sample.

How tho, can you explain the young smart guy in the suit who things the attacks - possibly the most widely visible events ever in history - only happened in NYC?

[nota]

the day the germans attacked russia they lost the war
sure it took awhile to slow and stop their panzers
but the lack of basic supplys fuel and manpower
made the result a forgone conclusion only the time and place was in dought of the turn to retreat
if the germans could have changed their plans and means
they might have got lucky but thats a very very slim chance
and as nazi nuts they couldNOT change in the needed ways
to use the people they had under their control as anything but slave labor and the jap's racist ideas did them in too

that said midway and stalingrad were the points of turn
in a unwinable war but neathor was the reason for the lost
just the markers

[Rick Lee]

Originally posted by nota
the day the germans attacked russia they lost the war
sure it took awhile to slow and stop their panzers
but the lack of basic supplys fuel and manpower
made the result a forgone conclusion only the time and place was in dought of the turn to retreat
if the germans could have changed their plans and means
they might have got lucky but thats a very very slim chance
and as nazi nuts they couldNOT change in the needed ways
to use the people they had under their control as anything but slave labor and the jap's racist ideas did them in too

that said midway and stalingrad were the points of turn
in a unwinable war but neathor was the reason for the lost
just the markers

Disagree. While it turned out to be a huge blunder, it was frighteningly close to being a smashing victory. Hitler would have won if he had taken Moscow and Lenningrad and left Stalingrad for later, like after the winter.

[widgeon13]

Originally posted by stuartj
Thats being unfair. Clearly, most of the people in that grab are of average intelligence and represent a cross section of demographics, although theres no suggestion this is representtive sample.

How tho, can you explain the young smart guy in the suit who things the attacks - possibly the most widely visible events ever in history - only happened in NYC?

WTF makes the guy in the suit a "smart guy"? Just because he has a suit on just means he most likely has a job, doesn't mean he is smart, far from it.

I'll stick with my original statement that 100 is much too generous. Thanks

[Rick Lee]

Originally posted by widgeon13
WTF makes the guy in the suit a "smart guy"? Just because he has a suit on just means he most likely has a job, doesn't mean he is smart, far from it.

I'll stick with my original statement that 100 is much too generous. Thanks

Absolutely. Just watch some of our elected officials in suits and tell me they're smart.

[stuartj]

Originally posted by widgeon13
WTF makes the guy in the suit a "smart guy"? Just because he has a suit on just means he most likely has a job, doesn't mean he is smart, far from it.

I'll stick with my original statement that 100 is much too generous. Thanks

No, thank you.

What (TF) makes you think the guy in the suit has a job? It just means he has suit.

[berettafan]

Agree with Tyson to an extent.

Agree with Nota re: Germany.

[berettafan]

Eddie Izzard has a great bit about Hitler/Russia.