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Americans knowledge of government

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Kraichgauer
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16 Oct 2014, 8:02 pm

Jacoby wrote:
wittgenstein wrote:
It is outrageous how uninformed the average American is. At work someone asked me who we (the US) fought in WW1. I answered the Germans. He replied,no you are thinking of WW2!
Sometimes I think we are being purposely dumbed down so we can be taken advantage of even more. The average guy just wants to zone out after a stressful day at work. The only things on are "reality tv", infomercials and other stupid stuff.
Yes, there is Jon Stewart, Colbert etc but all together thats less than 3%.


WWI is something most Americans are ignorant of, WWII is taught as a just war against an evil enemy but you cannot say the same about WWI. How the assassination of some Austrian Archduke by a Yugoslav nationalist somehow sparked a world war involving France, Britain, Germany, Russia, the Ottomans, and the US is pretty confusing even to me. It was a pointless war that led directly to WWII, it was the catalyst to led directly to rise of the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Woodrow Wilson should be remembered as the worst president in American history.


I'm pretty close to agreement with you concerning Wilson, though I would add that his wartime domestic policy was absolutely deplorable, as it had turned fellow citizens in the eyes of many Americans into possible enemies only because said citizens were of German extraction. This government inspired paranoia soon expanded to become anti-immigrant, anti-labor (the IWW was virtually outlawed by the Wilson administration, and union leader Eugene Debbs was sent to prison on a trumped up sedition charges), and of course you can't have hate without throwing blacks into the mix, as well. Many historians regard the legacy of Wilson's domestic policy to be the rebirth of the KKK, and the death of the Progressive Era, along with the First Red Scare.


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Raptor
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16 Oct 2014, 8:07 pm

Kraichgauer wrote:
Raptor wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
Raptor wrote:
U do it quite often, I've noticed.....


You do know that pointing out people's faults is considered very bad manners.


The same could be said about habitually double posting and not deleting the double.....


Oh, I'm sure I don't do it that often. And even when I do, it's unintentional, unlike having bad manners.


I take pride in having horrendous manners.
Get over it.......


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Kraichgauer
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16 Oct 2014, 8:57 pm

Raptor wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
Raptor wrote:
Kraichgauer wrote:
Raptor wrote:
U do it quite often, I've noticed.....


You do know that pointing out people's faults is considered very bad manners.


The same could be said about habitually double posting and not deleting the double.....


Oh, I'm sure I don't do it that often. And even when I do, it's unintentional, unlike having bad manners.


I take pride in having horrendous manners.
Get over it.......


I can just as easily say that double posting is an error that happens to everyone from time to time, and thus you, too, should "get over it."


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17 Oct 2014, 10:42 am

Image


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Kraichgauer
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17 Oct 2014, 4:45 pm

Raptor wrote:
Image


And right back at you. :lol:


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17 Oct 2014, 6:22 pm

I bet Raptors horrendous manners include cleaning his gun on the dinner table,and belching loudly after goat-n-gravy,probably doesn't cover his mouth.


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Dox47
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17 Oct 2014, 6:53 pm

Breakfast at Raptor's house:

Image


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Kiprobalhato
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17 Oct 2014, 8:45 pm

:lol: are those berries?^ raisins?

Raptor wrote:
wittgenstein wrote:
It is outrageous how uninformed the average American is. At work someone asked me who we (the US) fought in WW1. I answered the Germans. He replied,no you are thinking of WW2!
Sometimes I think we are being purposely dumbed down so we can be taken advantage of even more. The average guy just wants to zone out after a stressful day at work. The only things on are "reality tv", infomercials and other stupid stuff.
Yes, there is Jon Stewart, Colbert etc but all together thats less than 3%.


That material was covered in any K-12 public school system in the US.
You know what they say about leading a horse to water.......

it's not always the fault of the media for dumbing us down. the facts are there, they're easy to find but sometimes people just don't give a sh!t about that kind of stuff.

i've got a really deep interest in history, especially that particular time period. last year in my grade 11 american history class we just seemed to waltz right over it, not as in-depth to my liking but then again, it was not an honors or AP class. did most of my learning in my own time and reading the stuff those higher-up students got. (mein kampf was a total mess)

myself, i'll lap it up like a parched camel. teachers have their methods and mine didn't make the experience particularly enthralling.

who in my grade knew of Brazil in the great war?


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17 Oct 2014, 9:12 pm

Dox47 wrote:
Breakfast at Raptor's house:

Image

Close, but my AR has a shorter barrel, no bipod, no can, and an Aimpoint Comp ML-3 instead of the scope.


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17 Oct 2014, 9:16 pm

Misslizard wrote:
I bet Raptors horrendous manners include cleaning his gun on the dinner table,and belching loudly after goat-n-gravy,probably doesn't cover his mouth.


I have a dedicated workbench for gun stuff so I don't need to use the dining room table. you're right about not covering when I burp, though. I like my burps to ROAR, especially after a fine meal of roasted goat. AP gave me the recipe. :P


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Dox47
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18 Oct 2014, 3:39 am

Raptor wrote:
Close, but my AR has a shorter barrel, no bipod, no can, and an Aimpoint Comp ML-3 instead of the scope.


Now that is rude, you could hurt someone's sensitive little ears... :lol:


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18 Oct 2014, 12:21 pm

/\ What hurts my sensitive little ears are muzzle brakes on AR's. :x


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