Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for June 29, 2009

Iranians and Baghdad? You shouldn’t need a degree in Geography to catch Zonker’s glaring error. Baghdad is in what country?

Oh man. Ever been on a train or a bus listening in to some conversations? Or seeing others reading red-top tabloids screaming inane headlines? I often feel like throwing out their tabloids and pleading with them to read my newspaper instead.

MX, the free commuter newspaper here in Brisbane (I think they have MX in other Australian cities as well) has a section where readers can send in stupid things they overhear.

One time it someone had said “He asked for a fax of my drivers licence. I didn’t send it to him because I didn’t know if I could trust him to send it back”

I caught The Daily Show segment the other day where they asked Iranians about the US and Americans about Iran. Iranians won hands down. The show asked a young man in Times Square if he could name a Middle East country, four letters starting with I, not Iraq. They fed him clues but they had to tell him it was Iran. “Nope, never heard of that.” Painful.

Well skyhawk_maintainer, the only “credit” one can give Zonker is that he managed to show multiple-subject ignorance

geography religion environment

But the discredit that he got even when BD offered him a paper is irreparable.

There is only one newspaper stand left in my city. Plenty of headphones

There used to be a Row of News paper Machines down by the psot office, so you could grab one on your way home from work or the like, now thers 2 and one of them is the local free paper.

About the guy in Times Square, one thing to consider: If an interviewee was one of those with some working knowledge of current events and was able to readily list most of the Middle East countries, would the Daily Show have shown this person?

Morons are more entertaining - to watch, not to be with.

good point alabama, propaganda can be useful in more than one way…. to gain political advantage or to just to get laughs

Alabama Al: the Daily Show segment did include one guy who seemed to be able to answer questions about Iran. He was wearing a business suit and looked and sounded kinda middle-eastern, so I was actually a bit surprised when the segment DIDN’T end with the revelation that he was a visitor from Jordan or something…

Of course, some will argue that given the relative military strength of the two countries (and the leaders’ demonstrated willingness to use it), the Iranians need to know a lot more about the US than Americans (feel they) have to know about Iran…

Italy! That has 4 letters!

“I” is the first letter; “t” is the second letter; “a” is the third letter; and “ly” is the fourth letter!

Simplicity itself!

I understand its prudent to learn the cultures of other geographical areas, but if one doesn’t know, that shouldn’t given you reason to judge them. Some Americans shelter themselves from the outside world due to all the uglyness. I can honestly say that doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Although my neighbor doesn’t even like to check his mailbox.

I at least need to do that. The only thing I know about Iran and Iraq is what I read in the papers. I’m not trying to piddle my brain with all of that. I have two growing children that I have to deal with each day. That’s enough to clutter your mind.

Like “T” “I” “double Ge” “eR” has four letters.

Growing children need role models who are engaged citizens of the planet.