Knowledge

As regular visors to this blog may recall, I am an unashamed  Americophile and I share the following YouTube clip with some regret as I know that not all Americans are as ill-informed as the interviewees it contains. You may need to click off the irritating advertising bar at the bottom.

  

Of course, at least five of our American cousins are regular visitors to this humble blog and I know that all of them are well-informed and highly intellectual, having a keen grasp of current world affairs and world geography. They would certainly not have fallen into the traps that were prepared for the dumbasses in the video. For example, my friend Chris in Ohio is well aware that they speak French in France and Richard in Minneapolis knows for sure that America's northern border is with a vast nature reserve known as Canada

Mind you, if I was stopped in the street and asked a bunch of random mathematical  or numbers-related questions, I too would appear like an absolute dunce. I guess that different people know different things and place high value on different pots of knowledge. The stuff we retain is linked with perceived "need". If you're working and happily raising a family in the heartlands of America - still the wealthiest and most powerful country on the planet - why would you need to know who Tony Blair was or the location of North Korea? Better to know the current price of pork loins at the Piggly Wiggly.