Informed Americans--these people are allowed to vote?!?!?!?!

[DFW]

Recounted by Susan Jacoby, author of "The Age of American Unreason."

On September 11, 2001, she was as dazed as anyone else in NYC, and
stopped in a bar on her way home. Two guys in suits were talking
about what had just happened. She recounts the conversation:

Suit One: "This is just like Pearl Harbor."

Suit Two: "What is Pearl Harbor?"

Suit One: "That was when the Vietnamese dropped bombs in
a harbor, and it started the Vietnam War."

That is what inspired her to write the above-mentioned book.

And people wonder how there can be Republicans..............

[fenriswolf]

1. lol thought we were supposed to learn from history

[hobbit709]

3. If we REALLY learned the lessons of history

We wouldn't have history as we know it because history pretty much consists of the same stupid mistakes made over and over again.

[China_cat]

8. You have to be taught history to be able to learn from it.

And that's not happening.

[hobbit709]

2. I heard this twit one day state

"We wouldn't had to use the nuke on Japan if we hadn't attacked them at Pearl Harbor first."
My reaction was WTF!?!?!?!

[taterguy]

4. Democracy is messy

There are imperfections but it's far superior than any alternative.

What should the cut-off be?

I don't think anyone whose SAT score was less than 1310 should be allowed to vote.

[DFW]

5. LOL!! OK, point taken

And if these guys were Manhattan suits, their SATs probably WERE over 1310.
That is the scary part. I don't think it is a lack of intellectual capacity,
but rather emotional disfunction. Look at Jersey's post of how her dad pulled
over to the side of the road after listening to Billy Graham on the radio for
20 minutes and converting to born-again Christianity. Of course, if the same guy
had heard about a similar conversion to Islam, he would have called it the Devil's work.

[annabanana]

13. the SATs don't DO "history". . just english & math.. that's part of the problem.

NONE of the standardized tests that have sucked the air out of the public school system have a history or civics component.

(I believe that to be by design, but then, I sport a pretty tinfoil bonnet)

[taterguy]

14. I scored 5 on the AP History exam

Anyone who scored less than that isn't allowed to vote :)

OTOH, people who still talk about things they did in high school shouldn't be allowed to vote either.

[DFW]

6. Apologies to kpete

I didn't realize from the title of your post that you had
printed the entire NYT article. This didn't appear over here
(Central Europe) until today.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. NY Times book review (BTW, #1 most e-mailed article).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/14/books/14dumb.html?em&ex=1203397200&en=38525b1af4915364&ei=5087%0A

[Yellow Horse]

9. With "No Child Left Behind" and other teach-to-the-test programs, this will only get worse!

We are "teaching" America's kids to take multiple choice tests -- NOT to learn and think for themselves.

And Social Studies such as History and Civics are among the first "non-essential" classes to be cut (right after Music and Art.)

Readin' Ritin' and 'Rithmetic are right.... (Well, right wing at least!)

[mwb970]

10. We live in a nation of idiots.

With a fool at the helm. And the downward spiral accelerates. It makes me want to go back to the 60s.

[Echo In Light]

12. Who believe "change" will occur by repeating the same failed attempts over and over

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. With all due respect,

should we be relying on bar patrons as a source of facts? What was their BAC when this conversation took place? I hate to think of some of the things I said in bars.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Standing in line to hear Bill Clinton speak a few weeks ago,

the woman in front of us asked how she could find out if she was registered to vote. Her husband said don't worry, he would go over to the election office and register for her.