Posted on 02/04/2008 5:51:05 AM PST by jdm
Every once in a while, some pollster comes up with a survey that shows what idiots Westerners can be. They especially like to pick on Americans and their rather insular attitude towards geography, being unable in large numbers to actually find Iraq on a globe or to identify the correct continent for Guyana (South America, in case anyone asks). Jay Leno has a running gag on the Tonight Show where he goes out in the street and asks people simple questions and films them getting the answers spectacularly wrong.
So I have some sympathy with our friends in Britain this morning, who have to be slapping their heads with the results of a poll taken by a television production company that found 23% of their fellow countrymen didn't believe that Winston Churchill actually existed:
Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real.
The survey found that 47 percent thought the 12th century English king Richard the Lionheart was a myth.
And 23 percent thought World War II prime minister Churchill was made up. The same percentage thought Crimean War nurse Florence Nightingale did not actually exist.
Even more laughable, the man who most exemplified peaceful protest in this century also got relegated to mythical status. Mohandas Gandhi appears in the Top Ten of Mythical Creatures in this poll. In contrast, a majority -- 58% -- believed that Sherlock Holmes was in fact a real person, and not a fictional character from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's excellent novels.
One might forgive those who consider Richard Lionheart and the Duke of Wellington mythical. Especially with the former, the myths may have overtaken the actual history, to some extent. The British can afford to have a mythical Wellington now, even if they should be grateful for having an actual Wellington when they needed him most against Napoleon.
But Churchill? Not only was Churchill the truly indispensable man of World War II, he was also captured on miles of film. He served a second term as prime minister just fifty years ago. His descendants still work in politics and speak on ceremonial occasions that celebrate his life. Most critically, Churchill produced some of the most important volumes of history during his long lifetime which grace libraries around the world.
I mean, what more does a man have to do to gain some measure of immortality?
At least 23% of Americans don't believe that FDR or Abraham Lincoln never existed. Or at least I hope they don't. Maybe we shouldn't ask questions for which we'd rather not hear the answers.
I'm 56 years old and received a good public education. What I don't know is my fault. In my lifetime, it has collapsed to a point my wife and I had to home school my daughter. If you are hoping or waiting for a change, your child will graduate with brain damage, and it's too late then. Public school is permanently broken, and can't be fixed, only shunned. The liberal administrations and teacher unions have a strangle hold on a system in a death spiral. You aren't going to "vote" in school boards and politicians to fix a dead dinosaur. There isn't enough time or money to fix something this broken. It's hurting America and killing our children.
I recently watched the movie "Idiocracy". I thought it ranked as one of the worst movies ever made, but since, have decided it is a "must see" for people wanting to see the future.
“Double down that 50 % of white school children...”
I wouldn’t take that bet. I know I would lose! Just ask what the “Emancipation proclamation” is and probably 97% wouldn’t have so much as a clue.
What are they teaching in schools these days?
—Professor Kirke, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
“I recently watched the movie “Idiocracy”. I thought it ranked as one of the worst movies ever made”
Considering how accurate is was about our pop-culture, it was one of the best movies made and scarier than any Holloween flick.
"Sheesh," is the only word I can think of.
5.56mm
I'd say the Brits are doing pretty well in the "reality" department!
I’m more cynical = They REALLY DO THINK this way - because this is what they are taught by their press and “teachers” in school:
Then again, ask about a soccer player, tennis star, movie star, or Britney’s next/latest/past boyfriend.
The mob who worshipped their Roman gladiators while the barbarians invaded Europe have nothing on today’s socialists.
If liberal Brits are anything like American liberals, they probably feel Churchill was responsible for the Blitz.
A long time ago I saw a column by a British columnist (now deceased) who was amused by a recent book which claimed that Jesus Christ never existed. His comment was, “if that is true, then the Thirty Years’ War wasn’t necessary.”
Wanna bet that half of black Americans cannot say who Lincoln was or what he contributed to their history?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Based on personal polling I will bet that at least ninety percent of black Americans cannot tell you Lincoln’s political party.
1 in 6 Brits are also cheeky jokers, and 50% of commentators writing on this poll are gullible.
“cannot tell you Lincoln’s political party.”
Yep. They think the Democrats, who wanted to keep slavery, are their friends. The Pubbies freed them and even based their party of freeing them, yet, they think Southern and Northern Democrats, the most racist people on the planet who wouldn’t even vote for the 1964 Civil Rights Act, are their friends. Iguess promises of free can buy even the ethics of black people.
I must stop typing now... every flickering pixel contributes to Global Warming.
Purposely not teaching the children the history of whom they have to thank for their freedoms and safety is the quickest way to expose them to loss of those precious things. The democrats, media, and liberatie od America are accomplishing the same thing here as is now showing up in England. And I hate them for it, literally, God help me. The devils of democrat party and their degenerate media sycophancy are shaping my granddaughter’s future to be void of the very values which established this nation, and endangering her very future existence in the filthy process. What is even more hideous is, the leftists bastards think they are right to destroy the values of this nation in order to pander to human degeneracies like rampant homosexuality, abortion slaughter on deamnd, and socialist obsequities that serve to enslave the subsequent generations. I hate democrat politicians and despise their vapid funders and voters. May Soros and two-thirds of Hollywood rot in hell, sooner rather than later.
Exactly.
You obviously know nothing about my country, so kindly refrain from commenting in such an insulting manner.
So yes, I can believe there are so few who believe in his existence. It’s easier to accept him as fantasy than to judge yourself against the ideal and know you aren’t worthy to stand in his shadow.
While there are a few decent and honorable Brits, those few are a dying breed. Just like here in the states.
And some think the holocaust, 9/11, the moon walk, etc. never happened too. Silly.
Although I am a bit suspicious of this poll (25% seems way high), I am sadly not surprised.
There is a section of British society that just watches soaps and Big Brother and knows nothing of even basic history, despite TV docs,the internet and the easy availability of books.
Id be interested in finding just who they asked. As IMO the vast vast majority of teenage and adult Britons know who Churchill is (even at a very basic level) and know that Sherlock Holmes et al are novel/film/tv characters...
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