Here Today... Gone To Hell!

More Americans know who Harry Potter is than Tony Blair, according to a survey commissioned by producers of an online game show based on modern pop culture.
Of the 1,213 US citizens questioned by polling firm Zogby International, 57% knew of JK Rowling's boy wizard.

That compares with the 49.5% who could name Tony Blair as the British prime minister when asked.

Organisers insist the aim of the poll was to gauge how effectively popular culture information is disseminated.

"These results are not about how 'dumb' Americans are, but about how much more effectively popular culture information is communicated," said Professor Robert Thompson of the Bleier Centre for Television and Popular Culture in Syracuse, New York.

Krypton factor

According to pollsters, the findings suggest Americans have a more detailed knowledge of The Simpsons than they do of classical literature and are more aware of Superman's home planet than those in our own solar system.

Six out of ten people surveyed knew Homer Simpson's son was named Bart. Asked to name one of Homer's epic Greek poems, however, only a fifth could name either The Odyssey or The Iliad.

Sixty per cent of the respondents knew Superman hails from Krypton, meanwhile, compared to the 37% who knew the closest planet to the sun was Mercury.

There was a similar disparity between the 74% who could name the three members of comedy act the Three Stooges - Larry, Curly and Moe - and the 42% who could correctly name the three branches of the US government - judicial, executive and legislative.

The survey was commissioned to publicise Gold Rush, an "interactive reality game" hosted by the AOL website.

How do Americans do it? The same results appear again and again in surveys by all manner of groups

Are they just incredibly self absorbed? The product of a dismal education system? Naturally stupid?? Or are each and everyone of these surveys done by Al- Queada?

Personally i blame MTV, its invariable responsible for everything bad in the world

And people wonder why we were so easily duped into a war against a fake threat..............duh.

I know a girl who thought that Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden were the same person.

I'm not sure if we have all too much to brag abouts on our side of the ocean.

(Or, our side of Russia...

... Maybe, our side of China, these days)

That's really sad and pathetic.  More Americans vote for american idol than the US presidency.  But what do you expect when a retard, a welfare receipient and high school drop out's votes all count the same.  The only thing I hate about these polls is how quickly US Haters will appear and mock this reality (as any intelligent person would) but if given these same questions, they'd fail just as badly. 

i think american a very nice.
but i know the us enough to understand how it is harder for an american kid to access culture and an open-mind than for an european kid.

Hey, at least they know the three stooges! I didn't even know that. Well done, America!

the marx brothers ? those are obnoxious.

it's just the american way...genreally americans know alot about the USA but their knowledge of other countries is sketchy at best...on the other hand USA is such a powerful country so lots of info about it is known to non-american citizens..what do european countries know about china or japan or africa? not a whole hell of a lot i bet

I got a couple questions for non-canadians

who is the political leader of canada? and what is their title? what's a double-double?

Good point, not that I excuse the general ignorance of the public it's not as if we have another single country that is so powerful that people feel compelled to learn a lot about it (I have a hunch your average American knew a lot more about Russia from 1946-1992 than they do now). But still more know Harry Potter than Blair? Jesus....the scope of popular culture.

meh, ask the right question to the right person and you'll get the answer you want.

Isn't a double-double a burger from In N'Out Burger.  I've never been there myself as all the locations are on the West Coast, but I here they're fantastic.

the political leader of canada?? queen elizabeth?

stephen harper. prime minister. err, quadruple.



(like i said, "ask the right question to the right person and you'll get the answer you want".)

U.S.A., U.S.A., U.S.A.

What do you want, most people still think "Born In The U.S.A." is a positive song ::)


Yes, that is a Double Double. They are real and they are spectacular.

Not as good as a triple triple mind you.

I'm gunna say one thing, it doesn't bloody matter if more young people know more about the Simpsons than the Odyssey and the Iliad!! For fuck's sake! The Odyssey and the Iliad are not publicised like the Simpsons is!! And of course more young Americans are going to know more about Harry Potter than Tony Blair. Tony Blair has fuck all to do with America! He's just Dubya's fuckbuddy! And why the fuck would a young person, American or otherwise, want to know more about politics when there's more fun things to do!?

These polls are just ways of saying how BAD the world of entertainment is! Entertainment isn't bad, it just doesn't include politics because people just aren't into it! And kids don't want to know about the Odyssey and the Iliad because it is learned about in school, and to them that automatically renders it boring... even if it isn't. Kids want something they can relate to, and there is no way that a kid would relate more to Odysseus than to Bart Simpson.

You can not compare those things to each other because they are in no way akin!!

Also, I'm pretty damn sure that Matt Groening (the creator of the Simpsons) has earned a shitload more money than Homer (the author of the Odyssey and Iliad). Reason: TV. They didn't HAVE TV back in the time of the ancient Greeks! They didn't have newspapers, magazines, the Internet, any of that!! All they had back then was word of mouth!

OH, and who the fuck wants to know about Tony Blair. I'm sorry, but I prefer to concentrate on my life and being happy than worrying all the time about what bogus changes he's going to make or which bandwagon war he's going to jump on the back of.

The only way these polls would be rendered valid would be if politics was publicized in the form of a television show other than the news, and if every school subject was turned into something entertaining... something that people would like.

But you can bet your bottom dollar that THAT ain't gunna happen for the next fifty to fifty million years. ::)

Thinly veiled nihilistic assertions are funny. You're funny... :yes:

SkynyrdGirl, you've gotta stop holding your feelings back....let it OUT!!!!

Not enough Caps Lock or exclamation marks or emoticons? ??? :hihi:

yay!!! you get a cookie


 :hihi: maybe but as a Canadian dietary staple it's a coffee...double cream-double sugar

a triple triple is like coffee flavoured kool-aid :hihi:


Does Blair appeal to the general US populace and have 6 books and 4 movies and toys and video games bearing his name? thats what i thought :-*

Edit: Also i don't think Blair is frowned on upon by the Vatican :hihi:

I'm hearing you!!!!

 :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
THAT was the best thing i read on the internet ! EVER !!!!  :hihi: :hihi: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: : ok:

dude, you rock.  :beer:

Wow thanks... that was certainly unexpected from you... thanks a lot! :beer:

It was about Reagan winning the cold war stoopid!

They are taught in 9th grade if I recall............

YEAH! Heroic rock at it's finest.

Stewpid  :P

Wait a minute.......................9th Grade????????????????

I need to get out of Florida, I thought we stopped after 6th here.

9th grade is when you have your baby...........

10th Grade - Married
11th Grade - Pose for inappropriate photos
12th Grade - Make first appearance on COPS

Whereas the Simpsons is played almost constantly on television all over the world...

I went to private schools my whole life, two different ones.  On the first day of my US History class at a school rated as one of the top 100 private schools in the US, the teacher handed all of us a blank map of the US and told us to fill in all the state names and capitals.  Out of 20 of us in the class, at least half of whom had been attending this school since middle school, 1 of us got the whole map correctly filled in.  4 of us got 75% or more correct.  9 (including only one of the two German exchange students) got less than half.

Now I could understand not being able to fill in a whole WORLD map with all the country names and capitals, but your own country?  Good lord, you've got to be kidding.  Granted, I could fill in about 75% of a world map, but still, not being able to get at least 80% of your own country right is pathetic.

And I read The Odyssey in 10th grade.  Never read The Iliad, however.

I live here, and yes, like all countries, we have our issues.  Education is one of them.  It's a combination of the breakdown in family structure and discipline, coupled with institutional apathy, low expectations, and lack of discipline.  Parents don't read with their children.  They are selfishly preoccupied with their own matters when their children should be the focus.  It's so easy to park them in front of an idiot box, a.k.a. tv.  By the time the kids hits elementary and middle school, the parents wonder why their kids are out of control. 

When I say discipline, I don't mean corporal punishment which solves nothing.  I mean tough and consistent consequences. 

I was a substitute teacher full-time for a year and a half and I saw it all.  3rd graders who came in to class visibly soiled through lack of bathing, kids unable to spell their name, and kids who couldn't tie their shoes.  I would see a kid whose mom was strung-out on crack, and whose "father" aka sperm-donor, was in jail.  I'd have pregnant students and students who were mothers already in high school.  You'd see kids who just didn't care about learning, and when they were sent out of the room to the principal, the principal would just send them right back with no penalty.

There are alot of great kids and parents in the US, so don't get me wrong.  All hope is not lost.  Changes do need to be made though.   :( 

You missed the point........

Maybe you were talking about anal sex during that class?

Yup, it's true, Americans are retards... : ok:

it was hilarious to hear howard stern try to name 2 supreme court justices. he was struggling big time. he finally did it, but only after a few incorrect guesses.

Actually you'd be surprised what the ancient Greeks got up to regarding that matter... :hihi:

I suppose you were paying attention in class afterall............

Alleged author.  ;)