<![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"? - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"? - Jezebel Comments]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @snarkhunting: Knowing too much--and revealing that knowledge--that's just snobbery. Dead on. And you know what's the worst is that well-intentioned egalitarianism on the part of liberal intellectuals is part of the problem. We say, oh, no, this isn't the fruit of hard work and taking advantage of opportunity; it's nothing but class privilege. And while I'm not willing to say that it's entirely not class privilege, I have to wonder why I'm paying all these student loans if I'm so fortunate. Paris Hilton can be dumb as a stump and still wearing an outfit that cost more than I made last year, but people don't get that being dumb didn't make her rich. Being rich enables her to be that dumb and not making a living as a crack whore.

TheFormerJuneBronson

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I have to say that men and women are equally ignorant but that, unfortunately, society has objectified women to such a degree that they don't even feel shame at their horrific lack of general knowledge (see: Miss Teen South Carolina, Paris Hilton, etc.) Men, while just as stupid, are more likely to hang around people just as dumb as they are so that no one realizes that they are fundamentally retarded. Notice that neither dude in Jacoby's anecdote knew what the hell they were talking about and that they are blissful in their mutual idiocy.

Jazz_Hands

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> "We have fooled ourselves into believing there is no piece of information worth knowing that can't be distilled into a pithy blog entry, because no piece of information longer than a pithy blog entry seems capable of finding a viable market of readers these days"
Hanging head in shame at the truthiness of this sentence.

mariamariamaria

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @badmutha: Hahaha!! I sort of embarrassingly love that show. Can we talk about how Charlie Sheen has come full circle and is awesome again?

wednesdaywolf

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> It's not stupidity. It's anti-intellectualism. Most people aren't really dumb, but intelligence isn't really valued--whoever mentioned Bush's "science nerds" bullshit is dead on. Ignorance is classy and charming, apparently. Knowing too much--and revealing that knowledge--that's just snobbery.

My brilliant BFF has always said she hopes she has children with average intelligence, b/c it's so hard to be a gifted child (or an adult with well above-average intelligence). And she's kind of right. I've spent half my life wondering why people don't know the things I know, why people look at me like I'm the freak for knowing those things. (It's one reason why grad school was a relief--suddenly, I'm totally average!)

snarkhunting

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @ArtBitch: and that you have a penchant for humor

tetracycloide

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> True story: I convinced a coworker for two days that we sold Alaska to Canada in 1978. That's why we call it the "Alaskan Province." We kept the mineral rights in exchange for wildlife protection, which is why we can drill there. American citizens in Alaskan retain dual citizenship, which is why they don't need passports to visit.
My coworker is a woman, but so am I, so I don't know what that proves. Except that I'm mean.

ArtBitch

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @Neodymium: Sure, but that's not so bright of them, either then. I spent a few semesters abroad and I promise you that there are idiots everywhere. That sterotype of Americans is so tired that it speaks more to the stupidity of the person repeating it for the 900th time (usually without knowing a single American).

@SeraSera: Yeah, then Kosovo has to go and get all independent and it's back to the drawing board.

fulanita

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @JennaW: a friend of mine likes to call it 'blithe ignorance'. And I like that term, even if it means the same as willful, also, from now on I'll call myself an overweening bastard instead of an arrogant bastard.

And of course Moe's taking the piss. 'taking a piss' would be 'going for a slash' 'taking the piss' is 'pulling one's leg'. I think.

@BeachLover420: And I think it had something to do with Jeff Foxworthy.

aspiringexpatriate

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> i got to admit the MIGO factor is responsible for all this dumbness, not us. MIGO is what newspaper people used to call the "My Eyes Glaze Over" factor involved in trying to explain something complicated in more than ten inches of newsprint.

fr instance

just try explaining that climate change means warming and then an ice age, and how come, and you'll see wot i mean.

krismry

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> You guys realise this is how much of the world sees America, right?

Neodymium

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @whynotshesaid: When did this happen? I am in my mid 40's and for the life of me cannot figure out when this 180 degree turn occurred. When was it that the most vapid, stupid, uninteresting people started becoming rewarded by our society?

I cannot explain how curious I am about this acceptance of the "Dumbing Down of America" syndrome".

(The prophetic Daniel Patrick Moynihan is rolling.......)

BeachLover

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @incurable paranoiac: I am so glad that you are still here with us after that discussion. Personally, I would have either immediately found the closest bridge to jump from, or gone home, retrieved travel gear and went somewhere, anywhere other than were these geniuses existed. Shudder.

BeachLover

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Ya, I don't think Americans are any dumber than citizens of other countries, it's just that your elected leaders tend towards willful ignorance. I have met some Americans who cannot name a single province here in Canada, but I've also met Canadians with PhDs who can't operate a computer, and probably don't know how to do laundry. I've met over-educated British people who think all of Canada is in the Arctic...

rebs

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Also, I hate the idea that someone's intelligence is predicated on whether or not they can locate a country on a map. I'm more interested in attitudes towards learning, education and intelligence, which, in my experience, have not been exactly been positive. A lot of people that I run into seem to look at education and learning as merely a means to an end (i.e., making money) as opposed to something with intrinsic value.

whynotshesaid

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Oh, and RE traveller IQ test, my knowledge of Europe is brilliant, Asia/Oceana passable, US/Canada/South America shit-to-nonexistant. Draw your own conclusions....

beastybeatsy

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Moe, why do you always insist on insulting your audience and talking shit about your chosen medium? I may read blog posts (uh, like YOURS) but I also read books and newspapers, too, and I feel that all three are good sources of information in their own way.

whynotshesaid

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Damn, I hate that I was gone today and missed this discussion when it was happening. I was wondering if we were going to talk about that article when I read it this morning. As to the question, I find that men are more hostile to knowledge where my students are concerned, but not where men my own age are concerned. The men and women in my own age group are about equally intellectually curious, and they *are* intellectually curious. But of course, that's only the people I know. I find the attitude of my male students to be downright alarming, frankly. They're so hostile to learning that I don't know whatever possessed them to come to college. There are so many perfectly good retail jobs in this area for people who are satisfied with their twelfth-grade education.

The question of whether Americans are familiar with Middle East geography seems spurious, though. It's not like I have to drive around there. I don't know all the streets in Tallahassee, either. But one should definitely know during which war the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred. That's about the basic plot of fairly recent American history. The last living veterans deserve that much from us.

TheFormerJuneBronson

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> My 7th grade geography course included a drawing unit for each region of the world and culminated in a world map freehand test (countries drawn, (and I think capitals??) labled and in the proper place). I scored in the 90's, so I did know where almost everything was at one point! Thirteen years later, however...

golden-gama

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @rocknrollunicorn: I sure as hell couldn't find more than two or three countries of Africa on a map.

@Archetype: But, er.....how does her thesis explain the stupid Canadians, Koreans, British, Iranian and South American people I've met?

Bwahahahaha! Damn straight, seriously. And this from someone who thinks we are fatally, tragically, painfully, revoltingly ignorant as an electorate.

It seems that no matter how shitty we are everyone else is at least as bad, or worse. That might be a generalization esp. if you consider an issue like gun violence or healthcare....but in terms of assholery and foolish policies, I dunno how special we are. Maybe for the industrialized democratized country with rule of law and functioning infrastructure, we might be "special."

marie123

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> People have been hostile to knowledge for way longer than the US of A has been around (see the Encyclopedia entry under "Socrates"). This is not my own original observation, but maybe knowledge just isn't that dangerous anymore. Maybe people don't think enough about it to be hostile to it. Socrates would be, today, 'irrelevant'.

LyrasDice

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I wonder if American children in the 50s could identify those various countries on a map, or in the 20s. At some point children past a certain grade school age weren't even expected to finish school in many demographics, so I'm fairly sure they weren't better at their geography. This isn't to say that we shouldn't know where things are in our world, but the amount of things that we expect people to know at a very early age has risen exponentially over the past few decades.

fizzyg

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @BlueEyedBitchface: Or confuse it with Long Island!

MsMerlin

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> The last time I needed to feel smart, I went to Snopes to see what people had forwarded along as "This is TOTALLY true!" in the last few weeks. It worked quite nicely, and I was convinced for two whole days that I was one of the smartest people in the WORLD.

alicetheowl

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I hate knowing how dumb I am. I want to blame the culture, but I know I have a personal responsibility in it as well. I live in a culture that feeds me stupid information on an ongoing basis rather than the stuff I would probably be better off knowing. Of course I also live in a culture where I have to constantly be 'on and going' all the time, and which doesn't exactly leave me much time for research and study... but I guess that's not an excuse either.

sparklytoesfairydustbutt

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @SeraSera: I learned world geography at a very good prep school. Then the USSR broke up and this hard-won knowledge was useless. I can find middle eastern countries on a map, but Kosovo, Chechnya and the various -stans? Not a chance. At some point in my thirties (yes, I'm one of those elderly over-40s) I stopped trying to keep up. Not proud of that, but there it is.
As for Moe's question, I don't know which is more depressing, the incredibly dumb yet know-it-all men, or the women who pretend to be dumber than the men so the men will like them.

Cynica

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @badmutha: The point isn't why. The point is only that a society run by men doesn't necessarily preclude being one that values intelligence.

braak

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I don't think people are particulary dumber as a whole today than they ever have been, but I think the amount of people on the far ends of the spectrum is growing. Add that to a population explosion, and suddenly there are idiots everywhere. The median IQ probably isn't going anywhere, but the number of outliers is growing exponentially.

Scoregasm

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @thatgirlinnewyork: You'd think that after buying his way into Yale and all, our faithful leader would've gotten over that one fundamental highschool principle: if you're smart, you're a loser. Apparently the dumbass is still in 9th grade. Intellectually and emotionally.

Lipstickiller

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @HeatherNumber1: Very Zen.

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> When a country is hostage to a cocksure president that is quoted using the term "science nerds" to describe high-achieving students, then it's safe to say mens is the reason for this. God forbid we have a leader who can spell, edit himself for grammar (or stupidity), or make intelligent decisions based on available data--it wouldn't look cool.

thatgirlinnewyork

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @incurable paranoiac: You should've punched Natty Ice in the face.

As for the women are dumber/men are dumber argument, I think there's way too many variables to answer a question that broad. If I answered based on my own life experiences, I would, hands down, say women, only because I've somehow always managed to associate myself with girls who think acting dumb is the way to a stranger's heart (and that applies to both men and women). There is nothing more stupid than someone who THINKS stupid looks smart.

Looking outside of my own bubble, I'd have to say our lack of knowledge has everything to do with apathy. If you seek knowledge out and you give more than a casual shit, dare I say, you might be a bit smarter than the average American. It's willful ignorance that's killing this country. It's not that hard to understand the difference between the Vietnam War and WWII. It's not wanting to understand the difference that matters.

Lipstickiller

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @omerhi: No, I agree. And I can spot them in context. But those geography quizzes that take those leeeeettle tiny states and you're supposed to identify them out of context? Can't really do it.

Of course, I can differentiate between all the square states, so it's definitely a regional thing. (I'm midwestern).

TruculentandUnreliable

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @hammerimissu: Comparatively speaking, yours is a faaaaaaaaaar distance from terrible.

hubris

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @BlueEyedBitchface: As a Rhode Islander, I think of that as a fighting offense.

@TruculentandUnreliable: Yeah, I can totally understand that. A lot of it is sphere of relevance. I bet more people know where the Middle East is now than they did before the 1st Gulf War, cause it's suddenly relevant (at least I hope that's the case; I wish to keep my illusions intact). But New England, if you don't live here or in the area, wouldn't hold much relevance unless you sat down and decided to learn all the states. Which I did back in the day and I can eventually get all of them, it just takes me a little while on the middle ones.

But really, thinking that RI is an island is just stupid.

hubris

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @rocknrollunicorn: They probably were brain idle until the shooting and bombing part of the movie.

ZonzoMaster

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @BlueEyedBitchface:

yes i love when people say with all seriousness that they believe Rhode Island is part of Long Island.

what makes people stupid to me isn't memorizing geography. it's people who've stopped doing any critical thinking for themselves. people who accept as word what they're force-fed through the media. people who then turn around and parrot phrases and ideology without considering whether it makes sense.

msAnthrope

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @hammerimissu: with a pen and paper im an awesome speller, with a keyboard nothing seems to look right or i skim the typos and read them as correct.

pink_orchid_martini

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I have to say because of myspace and blogs I can not fucking spell. Side note: thank you all for putting up with my terrible spelling!

hammerimissu

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @braak: Baby, I am surprised at you. Or are you being funny? It looked like dudes ran everything b/c they wouldn't let women, or minorities have any of the credit.

badmutha

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Ms. Jacoby sucks, big time. A post of her in the On Faith section of the Washington Post was dumb...because she hadn't read the guy she was attacking. Soooo...how about a spoon of yr own medicine, honey?

ghost

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @cardboardbelt: Ah, but true knowledge exists in knowing you know nothing. I'm not sure the problem is that people are getting any dumber, but that idiocy and ignorance are being promoted as virtues (you know, like abstinence-only sex ed).

HeatherNumber1

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @JennaW: "It's not the things that you don't know that will get you in trouble, it's the things you know that just ain't so" ~Mark Twain

I'm sure I butchered that quote but it seemed relevant

whats_in_a_name

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> My goal in life is to become an education lobbyist and make the "Map of the Modern World" course I had to take freshman year mandatory in all high schools. Learn the locations of all nations in the world, along with (where applicable) their colonizing powers, their dates of independence, their current territorial disputes, and fun facts like "this is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere." I thought I'd forget everything after the pass-fail final -- and, indeed, I'm no longer sure which African nation is Mali and which one is Mauritania -- but you get a good amount of retention from that shit.

World geography/contemporary global issues needs to be a mandatory program. And, while we're at it, "current issues in American politics," too. One semester of American civ isn't enough for anyone.

SeraSera

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @braak: Good call.

cardboardbelt

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @incurable paranoiac: This is it exactly! People are *so fucking sure* they're right that they cannot be bothered to learn the actually correct information and THEN it becomes all about not knowing the correct info but about being right no matter what!

This guy with the Alps? He probably thought that up after hearing the term. He didn't know what it meant so told himself this little story, decided that was the truth, and now refuses all new input that conflicts with the fictional assumption he made rather than to, y'know, ask someone when he heard an unfamiliar term what it meant and... LOOK STUPID!

JennaW

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> It can't be a men/women thing. Men ran the intellectual establishment for years, when it produced some of its best thought, science, philosophy. I'm not saying men are inherently superior, or anything like that. Just that a male-dominated culture is certainly capable of being intelligent, and of valuing intelligence.

braak

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> That article NYTimes article is ass. Susan Jacoby was on Moyers Friday night and she became my new hero. Her nuanced arguments were balled up into tasty tidbits for quick newspaper consumption.

Her arguments are so much more than "people are getting dumber." For example, back when Roosevelt used to do his Fireside Chats, he would ask Americans to pull out their maps and walk listeners through the news from the various fronts.

Do you think Dubya can find Afghanistan on a map?

veryrestricted

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Oh man, this is going to devolve into the old "I'm surrounded by morons! Everyone's dumber than I!" game in a hurry.

Moe, I think you're perfectly correct about people forwarding that story around to somehow assert themselves as 'Not one of those people'.

No matter how bright or well-informed you are, it's worth remembering that there's a whole gang of people out there much smarter who could make you look like Paris Hilton on 'ludes.

But can those eggheads practically act out entire episodes of Saved By The bell from memory? I thought not.

/so excited, so scared.

cardboardbelt

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @incurable paranoiac: That sounds totally plausible. Unfortunately I am exactly opposite and see everything in my head, from maps to weird number lines when I am doing math in my brain. So I don't have any excuse, I'm just kind of a jerk :(

rocknrollunicorn

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> and speaking of stupid americans (culled from my blog- back when i smoked)
actual overheard conversation at the convenience store:
The following conversation, between a freckled cashier with an unkempt dark red mullet and a broken front tooth and a portly, gold jewelry wearing african american security guard took place at approximately 11:45 pm last night at the Rebel gas station/ mini mart on the corner of Sahara and Hualipai.

Freckles: "Nah, man, you're wrong, man."
Gold Chains: "Shit, man. You don't know shit."
Freckles: "I know shit."
Gold Chains: "Ask that lady, man. She'll tell you you don't know shit."
Me: "Can I get a pack of Camel-"
Gold Chains: "Wait, man. Ask her."
Me: "Ask me?"
Freckles: "Nah, man. It's okay."
Gold Chains: "Seriously, ma'am, make him ask you."
Me: "Allright."
Freckles: "Well, isn't it true that when people talk about The Alps mountains it's just another way of saying, I mean a shorter way of talking about the Appalachians?"
Me: "Oh my god."
Gold Chains: "I know, right?"
Me: "The Alps are in Europe. There's the Italian Alps...the Swiss Alps..."

AT THIS POINT THE MAN BEHIND ME IN LINE BUYING NATURAL ICE BEER INTERJECTS-

Natty Ice: "That's not possible."
Me: "What's not possible?"
Natty Ice: "Switzerland and Italy are separated by an ocean."
Me: "Oh my god."
Gold Chains: "I know, right? We're the richest country in the world...and this is the conversation we're having."
Natty Ice: "You all don't know what you're talking about."
Gold Chains: "I don't know what I'm talking about? You don't even know what Europe is."
Natty Ice: "I know what Europe is."

incurable paranoiac

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @rocknrollunicorn: i think my geographic ineptitude has a lot to do with my inability to see things spatially in my head. i can tell you all about a state's history, its flora and fauna, what cities it has, and its approximate locale (midwest, south, north, east) but still be completely unable to locate it on a map. unless it's the wang of america, like florida.

also- i cannot put on lipstick without a mirror. i get it all over my face, and i think this has to be related somehow.

incurable paranoiac

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> There's a large difference between knowledge and reasoning, so it depends on your definition of "stupid". I probably don't remember all the U.S. state capitols or the Presidents in order, so does that make me stupid? Because memory is a capricious thing, and if certain memories are not used regularly, they become increasingly hard to access as the brain re-purposes neurons.

I think there's a big difference between not knowing where something is on a map and knowing not to smoke while pumping gas.

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> There is a really big difference between real stupidity (the inability to learn beyond a certain point) and ignorance (not having learned things one ought to have or others around you have) and willful ignorance (President Bush).

We have a hell of a lot of willful ignorance these days compared to even recent-past eras when education wasn't easily accessible or open to all and had to be fought for. The minute something goes from a privilege to everyday, a lot of people don't value it.

I don't know if there is a gender difference here except in how the willful ignorance manifests itself.

JennaW

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I guess I would blame our terrible bureaucratic public schools for not giving a shit about any country other than America. But it's easy to blame someone else for you own lack of initiative to be well-informed. But it's also really easy to blame a shitty economy and shaky domestic political situation for not making many international issues relevant to the average blue collar American. So many choices....

RudyWaltz

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @HeatherNumber1: Yeah, stupidity seems to cross all boundaries. It's two highest concentrations though are in Washington, D.C. and Hollywood, CA.

NefariousNewt

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @BlueEyedBitchface: Seriously? Wowsa.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @omerhi: Heh. That's how I feel about all those tiny New England states.

TruculentandUnreliable

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @BiscuitDoughJones: Amen sister! I use "big" words all the time (and I know what they mean), it's fun and it annoys the hell out of people. Hah!

alexsim

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @omerhi: Word. I mostly just refer to it as "The Middle."

And sometimes I realize that I've completely forgotten about the existence of a state. Like Kentucky.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @BlueEyedBitchface: me. too.

titania1285

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @titania1285: As a New Englander, it blows my mind that some people think that Rhode Island is a not state and that it is actually an island.

BlueEyedBitchface

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @LuxLisbon: I think society is churning out a new breed of (mostly/unfortunately) female youth who actually think acting stupid makes them more attractive.

Who on earth would consider it appealing to proudly admit that they don't read?

I don't think I want to procreate.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @Archetype: I'm good with the coasts and the top and bottom of the country. But the flyover states? I just say "meh".

hubris

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I think most people, most of the time, are not really up on current or past events. They weren't when I was in school years ago and they aren't now. I was a bookworm/nerd who was accused of using too many "big" words. At least I knew what they meant. My parents expected their kids to be smart, and were merciless when we didn't know what was going on in the world. "Look it up!" was a constant comment. I am a librarian and teacher now - my students don't read the paper or watch the news, though I bet they know who Perez Hilton is (so do I, I love him!). "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it think." Too true!!!

alexsim

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> There are "stupid" people everywhere. Just as there are intelligent ones. And why slice it up between men and women? PEOPLE are dumb or smart, not genders.

hubris

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I don't consider myself to be very intellectual, but I always shudder when under the "favorite books" part of someone's Facebook/ MySpace/what have you they just put "I don't read." Well, of course you read. Or did you dictate this profile info to a literate person who typed it for you?

Lux Lisbon

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I've encountered "hostility" about knowledge from both sexes. Guys and girls alike have berated me for reading books and using "big words." Color me shocked that "casualty" and "verbatim" are apparently "big words."

BiscuitDoughJones

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @titania1285: Well, if I am being honest.....the square ones stump me too.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Does it have to be one or the other? If someone is too stupid to google a goddamned urban legend before forwarding it to me, I don't care what's in their pants. Les incompetents.

HeatherNumber1

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @rocknrollunicorn: which is totally different from recognizing states but there are areas of this world I have very little knowledge about. I am going to blame the clownish crazy lady we had for "Eastern Civilizations" in high school. And then I am going to buy a damn atlas, at least.

rocknrollunicorn

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @LuxLisbon: Remember Super Size Me? Those women visiting the White House who knew all the words of the McDonalds anthem but could not recite the Pledge of Allegiance?

That was sad.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> whatever. i am a well-educated person, i was the youngest person to qualify for the state geography bee in 4th grade, and i'm not sure that i could identify syria on the map 100% of the time, although i would certainly get close. small countries are hard to tell apart, and i wouldn't consider a syrian stupid for mixing up new hampshire and vermont.

kshenkshen

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @LuxLisbon: yeah. the "jaywalking" portion of the leno show. it makes me cry.

titania1285

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @TruculentandUnreliable: I hope she is. Also, after the Traveler IQ Challenge was posted a while ago, I know for certain I can find Israel, Syria, and Iran on a map.

Brianne

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @Archetype: I feel like I am such an ugly american because I'm best at states, horrible at countries. Every time Africa is a category on Jeopardy, I surrender before it's touched.

rocknrollunicorn

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @Archetype: as a new englander, i wonder how you can tell all those damn square states apart. at least connecticut has that discernable little leg on it.

titania1285

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I saw something on tv once where random people on the street couldn't recite the Pledge of Allegiance. If you think about it, when do you get a chance to say it after public school? Still, I was embarrassed. We're so stupid we can't even pledge loyalty to our stupid country because we forgot the words.

Lux Lisbon

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Ms.Jacoby is just another elderly intellectual in a centuries long tradition of calling the latest generation "the dumbest." Her rant is predictable and will be repeated (look for my book "The Dumbest Generation Ever" in 2030).

Sophie is addicted to Now 'n Laters

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @rocknrollunicorn: I have the most trouble with states within my own country. Especially New England.

Why can't all states have four corners.....

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @ilikenoise: I just mispelt "hostile" in a post about knowledge. Whoops.

ilikenoise

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Moe, are you taking a piss? I think you're taking a piss. :)

TruculentandUnreliable

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> all of us. i really think this is one thing that can't be divided up as more male or more female.

mova

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Mah butthole is hostile to knowledge.

TruculentandUnreliable

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> men. have you EVER tried to argue with your boyfriend about something that could easily be solved by wikipedia? god, they're belligerent.

titania1285

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I know I am stupid because I can't answer your question.

But, er.....how does her thesis explain the stupid Canadians, Koreans, British, Iranian and South American people I've met?

I'm confused.

Archetype

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I'm really hostile to knowledge about killing bugs. Every time ants invaded our last place, I'd throw up my hands and pretend I didn't know anything about it. In fact, I know plenty about killing ants, but I just was fucking sick of cleaning up other people's messes.

mocena

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> @ilikenoise: Also this just in: Daily Mail readers hostle to knowledge.

ilikenoise

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Uncapitalized Bloody Mary: so distracting! Can't think. Are dumb nao.

JessicaLovejoy is voting for Kodos

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> "But on to the fun part: who do you think is more hostile to knowledge? Men or women?"

Honestly? Kind of a dumb and irrelevant question in my opinion. Who likes to learn more? Well, don't more women go to college? I don't even know how to answer this.

katekate is squared isn't scared of you, Walnuts

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I have only met about a dozen Americans face to face. None of them were dumb.

ilikenoise

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> I need to get a mofo world map to decorate my bedroom because I am seriously guilty of the not-finding-places-on-maps junk.

However, the Pearl Harbor conversation has me completely stupified. For real? I mean they even made a damn movie about it with Ben Affleck.

rocknrollunicorn

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Women. Also, I am going to go read. A BOOK.

videogoddess

]]> <![CDATA[Are Men Or Women More "Hostile To Knowledge"?]]> Men,men,men,men, Meeeennn.

badmutha

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