People still ignorant about current events
 

I could live on a diet of Pew Research surveys. They are always awesome.

Public Knowledge of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions

http://cellar.org/2007/pew1.gif

This next result is priceless!

http://cellar.org/2007/pew2.gif

too much news is bad for you

UT, I think that it is a problem in the whole Western World. People, especially younger ones, are more interested in their daily lives, careers (money), and possessions. I bet if the researchers had asked what brand of plasma HD TV gives the best picture, 80% of respondents would be able to give an answer (not the same answer, but an answer, rather than "I don't know"). It just seems to be the way our world is now.

The Daily Show audience is the most knowledgeable?!

That's hysterical!

bluesd, I did think about saying "Americans still ignorant..." but you and I and everyone else knows, it's pretty much the same everywhere: a third follows as much as they can, a third follows the gossip of their street and who's on TV, and a third follows where the opener is kept.

I'm not the slightest bit suprised that watchers of colbert/stewart are the smartest. Those two are brilliant.

I find it interesting that a single show on a network (the O'Reilly Factor) could score so much higher than the network as a whole (Fox News Channel.)

Haha, my roommates New Year resoltion was to watch morning shows to catch up with current events. Irony? Plus the fact that I bring home two newspapers everyday that he can read.

I'm not suprised that current event knowledge is going down. People are less and less interested in what is happening as long as it doesn't directly affect them. And for the studies defense, I didn't know some of the answers.

I got tha' fear

Interesting results.

I think I'm pretty knowledgeable on current events, but I can't saturate myself in news like I used to. I did that a few years ago, then got so sick of it, I quit watching it for like 2 or 3 months.

It would take me a few moments of thinking to remember who Robert Gates is without some sort of context. So I'd probably fall in with the 79% majority on that question. But that's just a testament to his lack of public screw ups like Rumsfeld. Besides, he's kind of new. All the rest from both decades are ones I know.

I think the reason that Daily Show/Colbert Report viewers know more about current events is that if you don't already know at least a little about current events, they aren't funny. The shows cater to people who've already gotten their news from another source.

All this week, PBS has been running a superb report called "America at a Crossroads". Well, since you could not watch Denny Crane womanizing, then watching the next best thing was this.

For those overseas who want to see what Americans could understand and most will ignore (research shows the young are George Jr's strongest supporters), this series should be available in the internet.

Last night was Richard Pearl making the case for more war.

Great. Supporting documents?

Not only do we not know, we don't vote when we do.
If you don't vote, including locally, you have no right to bitch about how your nation acts.
Not voting is NEVER a form of dissent... that is an excuse for being lazy and ignorant.

I agree, but I know that a lot of people disagree with that line of thinking.

Of course, they are lazy, physically and intellectually.

Nope. When we vote we give sanction to the system. If you don't buy into the idea that the majority owns everything and everyone, one rational response is to not give the system your support. I vote but every time I do I have to consider that whoever wins will use my support for the system as an excuse to initiate force. It could even be argued that the act of voting is an initiation of force, although I rationalize it as more of a defensive measure.