ABSTRACT
Several years back, an amusing YouTube video generated a lot of buzz. An Australian reporter interviewed Americans on the street, asking them ridiculously easy questions about politics, and they answered them all incorrectly. I can’t show you what the people looked like, but try to visualize Americans of different shapes and sizes, some puzzling over questions, and others spouting confidently whatever popped into their minds. Here is some of the Q&A that is particularly memorable:
Reporter: Name a country that begins with U. Man 1: Yugoslavia? Man 2: With U: Utah. Woman 1: A country that starts with a U? Utopia. Woman 2: A country? . . . Reporter: What about this one? Woman 2: What? Reporter: United States of America. Woman 2: (Gasps, recognizing her obvious error.) Reporter: What is the religion of Israel? Man 1: Israeli. Man 2: Muslim. Man 3: Islamic. Man 4: Catholic probably. Reporter: What religion are Buddhist monks? Man 1: Buddhist monks? Man 2: Islamic, I don’t know. Reporter: Who won the Vietnam War? Woman: We did (laughing). Wait, were we even in the Vietnam War?
