Maclean's: America dumbs down

Angstrom

Hall of Fame Member
May 8, 2011
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No matter how dumb the average American is they still are the dominant country on earth. By a long shot
In a all out war against the whole planet they could win. That is survival. That is dominance. So the articles point is irrelevant.


The bottom line is. The Americans are smarter stronger more efficient then the rest of the planet. They have the ability to dominate us. And if we do not comply with their demands they can exterminate us and we have no ability to stop it.


Bottom line is we only exist because they allow us too. They dominate.
 
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Colpy

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 5, 2005
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No, humans are smart because we adopted standards that reinforce intelligent behaviour. Our greatest pushes forward came during the humanitarian revolution and in the latter half of the 20th century. These were periods of widely adopted action on justice, peace and (to some extent) liberty and are a big reason why we haven't gone back to clubbing each other.. to survive.

.

That is simply laughable.

Wow.
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
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Sorry, Ton. The article was trying to draw a direct connection between the hook and the more general stuff. It's this type of illogical and dishonest trash that is the heart and soul of yellow journalism (which mentalfloss calls "fact").


Um. . . so f*cking what? Who cares what a truck driver thinks about Darwin? Surely it's more important what the country's molecular biologists think of Darwin.


Here's an example:

1. Do you believe a woman should have the right to control her own body?

2. Do you believe women should have the right to kill their babies?

These two poll questions will produce wildly different statistics which will be presented as "America's Opinion on Abortion."

Do tell, what does abortion have to do with killing babies?
 

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
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Do tell, what does abortion have to do with killing babies?

You can't have the former without the latter... and his dichotomy was meant to illustrate that the form of a question can greatly influence the results of a survey.
 

darkbeaver

the universe is electric
Jan 26, 2006
41,035
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RR1 Distopia 666 Discordia
and it all began with the recognition of the opposable thumb...one of the few things I remember about grade 8...the influence of the opposable thumb

2001: A Space Odyssey - The Dawn of Man - YouTube

The lobster has four opposable thumbs. What's their problem?

ITT we learn that rhetoric and purple make a convincing argument.

Meanwhile, people who burned witches at the stake and prophecies the end of the world are more intelligent than today's average American.

And you guys call me insane lol

People are still tortured brutally all over the world on a dayly basis. I cannot understand how you have gotten this superiority complex of yours based on chronological progression. There certainly were intelligent people in every era of the past just as there were idiots and I really don't think the ratio of one to the other has changed quite as much as you believe. We have more sophisticated spears but we still have to struggle to survive and that will never change.
 

gerryh

Time Out
Nov 21, 2004
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You can't have the former without the latter... and his dichotomy was meant to illustrate that the form of a question can greatly influence the results of a survey.


Really? You needed to explain this? Remember, it's the americans that are the morons, not the Canadians. Or is taxslave really an american in Canadian disguise?
 

mentalfloss

Prickly Curmudgeon Smiter
Jun 28, 2010
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well certainly not while those ignorant Christian redneck hillbilly gun-slingers are around anyway.

Are you kidding me?

Russia is not going to invade us because the cost would not be worth it.

Even if we didn't have a military, we would see strong support from many other states.

It's clear now, especially after Ukraine, that there is no bogeyman. We have to scale down on military significantly and start paying down the debt.

People are still tortured brutally all over the world on a dayly basis. I cannot understand how you have gotten this superiority complex of yours based on chronological progression.

I never said there is no problem. You argued that it is worse now, when it the truth is that it's better.
 
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Locutus

Adorable Deplorable
Jun 18, 2007
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Are you kidding me?

Russia is not going to invade us because the cost would not be worth it.

Even if we didn't have a military, we would see strong support from many other states.

It's clear now, especially after Ukraine, that there is no bogeyman. We have to scale down on military significantly and start paying down the debt.

are you double kidding me sonny? do you for a minute think this is a serious conversation? good gawd, you need a nap. :lol:
 

Sal

Hall of Fame Member
Sep 29, 2007
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The lobster has four opposable thumbs. What's their problem?

yeah, sucks for them, they just weren't high enough yet in the food chain for it to make a difference to their species

maybe later, we'll be attacked by high thinking lobsters trying to avoid the boiling pot
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
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You can't have the former without the latter... and his dichotomy was meant to illustrate that the form of a question can greatly influence the results of a survey.

Abortions have nothing to do with killing babies. For someone that claims to have bin to skool you should know that. Or did you run out of purple ink again?