Lawrence Davidson: Why Americans Are So Ignorant!

It's not only Fox News, there are some understandable reasons for it, In 2008, Rick Shenkman, the Editor in Chief of the History News Network, published a book titled Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth about the American Voter. In it he demonstrated, among other things, that most Americans were: (1) ignorant about major international events, (2) knew little about how their own government runs, and who runs it, (3) were nonetheless wiling to accept government positions and policies, even though a moderate amount of critical thought suggested they were bad for the country, and (4) were readily swayed by stereotyping simplistic solutions, irrational fears, and public relations babble. Shenkman spent 256 pages documenting these claims, using a great number of polls and surveys from very reputable sources. Indeed, in the end it is hard to argue with his data. So, what can we say about this? One thing that can be said, is that this is not an abnormal state of affairs. As has been suggested in prior analyses, ignorance of non local affairs, often leading to inaccurate assumptions, passive acceptance of authority, and illogical actions is, in fact, a default position for any population. To put it another way, the majority of any population will pay little or no attention to news stories, or government actions, that do not appear to impact their lives, or the lives of close associates. If something non local happens, that is brought to their attention by the media, they will passively accept government explanations and simplistic solutions. The primary issue is, does it impact my life? If it does, people will pay attention. If it appears not to, they won't pay attention. For instance, in Shenkman's book unfavorable comparisons are sometimes made between Americans and Europeans. Americans often are said to be much more ignorant about world geography than are Europeans. This might be, but it is, ironically, due to an accident of geography. Americans occupy a large subcontinent isolated by two oceans. Europeans are crowded into small, contiguous countries that, until recently, repeatedly invaded each other, as well as possessed overseas colonies. Under these circumstances, a knowledge of geography, as well as paying attention to what is happening on the other side of the border, has more immediate relevance to the lives of those in Toulouse or Amsterdam, than is the case for someone in Pittsburgh or Topeka. If conditions were reversed, Europeans would know less geography, and Americans more.