Homer, Marge, Bart and the Five Freedoms
Scary, but true. A new poll conducted by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that only one in four Americans could name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment - press, religion, speech, assembly and petition for redress of grievances. But more than half could name at least two members of ''The Simpsons'' TV cartoon family. And more people could name the three "American Idol" judges than could identify three First Amendment rights.
Scarier still, the survey found that about 20 percent of those polled thought the right to own a pet was one of the guaranteed freedoms. Even my dog knows better than that.
Maybe it's time for the writers on the "The Simpsons" to crank out a script on the five freedoms. And time for "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell - ever quick with the insult - to let his viewers know what he thinks about their cluelessness.
Scarier still, the survey found that about 20 percent of those polled thought the right to own a pet was one of the guaranteed freedoms. Even my dog knows better than that.
Maybe it's time for the writers on the "The Simpsons" to crank out a script on the five freedoms. And time for "American Idol" judge Simon Cowell - ever quick with the insult - to let his viewers know what he thinks about their cluelessness.
posted by Randy Bergmann at 11:32 AM
4 Comments:
True, Americans are generally stupid. Thank God, so we smart people can get the good jobs. But shows such as the Simpsons and American Idol allow us - even the intelligent ones - to turn our brains off for a few minutes in this crazy world we live in.
I don't think that can be done by reading the Constitution.
Sure, they didn't know that it was specifically the First Amendment that contained all those items. But how many Americans knew that Americans have all those rights? I'll bet quite a bit more than one in four.
Why should this be such a surprise. Teachers are too busy teaching political correctness, multiculturalism, black history month, instilling undeserved self-esteem and tolerance to actually teach the importance of our foundings major documents, let alone the founders themselves.
This only shows what a miserable failure our education system has become, much like Lindon Johnson's "Great Society".Spend trillions of dollars for public schools and produce birdbrained students and teachers with permanent union jobs.I would bet that home schooled and voucher students would know most of the answers.
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