Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Silly Americans

It's well documented that Americans don't score as well as other developed nations on math and science tests. But David Warlick found a publication that ilustrates just how silly we can be. Among other inanities, 25% of all Americans don't know that the earth orbits the sun.

The metric system is taught by science teachers everywhere. But the U.S. government still can't follow the Metric Conversion Act of 1975. Thirty-two years ago and our street signs are still marked in miles! Our silly government amended the Act three times (as recently as 2004) but still can't get on the SI.

American social policy is at odds with most western nations too. With our laudable freedoms and economic opportunity comes a government of the silly people, by the silly people, and for the silly people. Just this November 15, the U.S. voted against a U.N. resolution for a moratorium on executions. From Mary Shaw's OpEdNews story:

Want to guess who voted against the resolution? Yep, the good ol' United States of America, along with Afghanistan, China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Zimbabwe, and a handful of other countries known for their systematic violations of human rights.


Want one more bit of silliness? Read the That Was Then, This Is Now by Californian Daniel Miessler. Best comment was this one:

Hi, I’m from Europe, I just realized reading the comments that, in your culture, a) you find it normal to go to school with a shotgun in your truck b) you find it normal to put children on psychotic drugs Boy, how pervert your culture is when it comes to this kind of things. I’m glad I always turned off all job offers I received from there.

Comment by db — 11/18/2007 @ 10:57 pm


Based on his grammar, I believe db is actually an American. Probably from Alaska.

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