Americans apparently know more about "The Simpsons" than they do about the First Amendment.
Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey.
The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms.
This is so sad. People don't know the basic freedoms our country operates under but can name American Idol judges and Simpson characters.
Some of us wonder how people can be so willing to voluntarily give up their freedoms. This explains why, they don't even care enough about them to know what they are. If you don't care to know what they are, you can't worry about losing them. Some would say it's a matter of education. I disagree, it's a matter of caring. Caring about your rights and people intruding on them. Most people obviously only care about their right to mindless television programs that desensitize the brain into caring for anything important. I've heard of the two programs mentioned but I have never watched them. Now I'm really glad for that.
So, the question becomes how to get people to understand their basic rights and care about them? Any idea's out there? I'm not sure it's worth it to try and get such mindless automatons to care.
I don't care what people think or say about me, I know who I am. Jonathan Davis
This 80% of idiots that don't care is screwing things up for the rest of us, and explains how our political system has devolved to what it is today.
What are the "symptoms of the problem, and what is the problem itself in you opinion. If I read your comment right you think the education system is the problem. Please elaborate.
I can teach someone to memorize anything they want but to really care about it and want to understand it takes more than simple education. It takes caring, compassion and heart. Too many people today don't have that when it comes to how the Government is taking away our rights since they don't understand their rights. A perfect example is the USDA and its NAIS scheme to strip our private property away from us.
I've heard this theory about farm/ranch kids are more responsible and care more. I am not too sure I buy it. I see a lot of city kids that care and do well in this world and I've seen lots of farm/ranch kids die from drug overdoses or who don't care about anything they do.
Your comment on nature and nurture probable comes closest to the truth. It's how the people are raised if you ask me. Are they raised to care or not. Nature is to take the easy way and not worry about things. Through nurture we learn to care about things and open our hearts and minds to bigger things in this world.