silly things americans believe...

gimmesometruth27

from newsweek, based on polls over the years....pretty interesting...
http://www.newsweek.com/photo/2010/08/2 ... lieve.html

TriumphantAngel

Chances are that by now you've heard about the August 19, 2010 Pew poll that found that nearly one fifth of Americans (mistakenly) believe that President Obama is a Muslim. Perhaps you think that a terrifying outlier; or perhaps you're a believer, and then you are in good company. Either way, you're wrong: in fact, a remarkably high numbers of Americans believe the most unusual things. Although the portion of poll respondents who believe Obama is a Muslim has risen recently, some of these oddball opinions contain more consistent numbers of believers.

again,

whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there is something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim.

Is there something wrong with being a muslim in the US?

anyone?

Dirtie_Frank

TriumphantAngel wrote:

Chances are that by now you've heard about the August 19, 2010 Pew poll that found that nearly one fifth of Americans (mistakenly) believe that President Obama is a Muslim. Perhaps you think that a terrifying outlier; or perhaps you're a believer, and then you are in good company. Either way, you're wrong: in fact, a remarkably high numbers of Americans believe the most unusual things. Although the portion of poll respondents who believe Obama is a Muslim has risen recently, some of these oddball opinions contain more consistent numbers of believers.

again,

whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there is something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim.

Is there something wrong with being a muslim in the US?

anyone?

maybe you are just reading into it too much. I think has a lot to do with his name. Is it right? No, but I think that is the reason.

gimmesometruth27

my favorite, and perhaps the most worrisome of them all...

"What a bunch of knuckleheads: according to Zogby, the majority of Americans—three in four—can correctly identify Larry, Curly and Moe as the Three Stooges. Only two out of five respondents, however, can correctly identify the executive, legislative, and judicial branches as the three wings of government."

TriumphantAngel

Dirtie_Frank wrote:

TriumphantAngel wrote:

Chances are that by now you've heard about the August 19, 2010 Pew poll that found that nearly one fifth of Americans (mistakenly) believe that President Obama is a Muslim. Perhaps you think that a terrifying outlier; or perhaps you're a believer, and then you are in good company. Either way, you're wrong: in fact, a remarkably high numbers of Americans believe the most unusual things. Although the portion of poll respondents who believe Obama is a Muslim has risen recently, some of these oddball opinions contain more consistent numbers of believers.

again,

whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there is something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim.

Is there something wrong with being a muslim in the US?

anyone?

maybe you are just reading into it too much. I think has a lot to do with his name. Is it right? No, but I think that is the reason.

no, i'm not reading into it too much. the implication is that there is something wrong with with being Arab American or Muslim.

why continually bring it up otherwise?

gimmesometruth27

or this.....

"Didn't we clear this one up in the 16th century? Copernicus be damned, 20 percent
of Americans were still sure that the sun revolved around the Earth in 1999. Gallup, the pollster who conducted the study, gamely tried to dress it up by celebrating the fact that
"four out of five Americans know Earth revolves around the sun," but we're not buying."

lol.....

gimmesometruth27

Dirtie_Frank wrote:

TriumphantAngel wrote:

Chances are that by now you've heard about the August 19, 2010 Pew poll that found that nearly one fifth of Americans (mistakenly) believe that President Obama is a Muslim. Perhaps you think that a terrifying outlier; or perhaps you're a believer, and then you are in good company. Either way, you're wrong: in fact, a remarkably high numbers of Americans believe the most unusual things. Although the portion of poll respondents who believe Obama is a Muslim has risen recently, some of these oddball opinions contain more consistent numbers of believers.

again,

whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there is something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim.

Is there something wrong with being a muslim in the US?

anyone?

maybe you are just reading into it too much. I think has a lot to do with his name. Is it right? No, but I think that is the reason.

why would this have become the firestorm issue it has become, especially when he came out in support of the right to build the cultural center and mosque 2 blocks away from ground zero??? if there was nothing "wrong" with being arab american or muslim it would not be an issue at all.

Cosmo

One of the silliest things I think... that a 'Back to School' speech from the current president was going to be some sort of brain-washing indoctrination into Socialism... or Fascism... or Communism... or all three.

haffajappa

Didn't we clear this one up in the 16th century? Copernicus be damned, 20 percent of Americans were still sure in 1999 that the sun revolved around the Earth. Gallup, the pollster that conducted the study, gamely tried to dress it up by celebrating the fact that "four out of five Americans know Earth revolves around the sun," but we're not buying.

WHAT?

Jason P

haffajappa wrote:

Didn't we clear this one up in the 16th century? Copernicus be damned, 20 percent of Americans were still sure in 1999 that the sun revolved around the Earth. Gallup, the pollster that conducted the study, gamely tried to dress it up by celebrating the fact that "four out of five Americans know Earth revolves around the sun," but we're not buying.

WHAT?

I have not met anybody or heard of anybody ever support this claim.

For most of the other stuff, I could see those percentages working out. It is a combination of stupidity and exposure. You are exposed to the three major branches of government in for the first time in junior high school while the 3 stooges and the seven dwarfs are exposed to you in your infancy.

mikepegg44

TriumphantAngel wrote:

Dirtie_Frank wrote:

TriumphantAngel wrote:

Chances are that by now you've heard about the August 19, 2010 Pew poll that found that nearly one fifth of Americans (mistakenly) believe that President Obama is a Muslim. Perhaps you think that a terrifying outlier; or perhaps you're a believer, and then you are in good company. Either way, you're wrong: in fact, a remarkably high numbers of Americans believe the most unusual things. Although the portion of poll respondents who believe Obama is a Muslim has risen recently, some of these oddball opinions contain more consistent numbers of believers.

again,

whenever this gets raised, the implication is that there is something wrong with being an Arab-American or a Muslim.

Is there something wrong with being a muslim in the US?

anyone?

maybe you are just reading into it too much. I think has a lot to do with his name. Is it right? No, but I think that is the reason.

no, i'm not reading into it too much. the implication is that there is something wrong with with being Arab American or Muslim.

why continually bring it up otherwise?

People were talking about religion and the presidency for a long time before Obama. JFK being catholic was an issue for a lot of people...it is always brought up as a question of alligences(jfk's was supposedly the pope and not the US) and unfortunately the people who are not willing to understand seperation of church and state are also unable to understand that a person can lead a government without letting their religion cloud everything they do in office. I don't think it is the idea that all muslims are awful or anything like that.
I think it speaks more to how people get their information in the internet age than it does about the american people themselves.
Typically and contrary to what you may see or read in the media, the US is a pretty accepting place.

fife

I don't have stats for this but one thing i find silly that American believe is that driving around in a great oval is a sport.

Jason P

mikepegg44 wrote:

Typically and contrary to what you may see or read in the media, the US is a pretty accepting place.

Except at sporting events in Philladelphia

Jason P

fife wrote:

I don't have stats for this but one thing i find silly that American believe is that driving around in a great oval is a sport.

This coming from someone who lives in a country that likes to skate around in an oval and call it a sport.

polaris_x

Jason P wrote:

skate around in an oval and call it a sport.

we aren't so passionate about speedskating ...

fife

Jason P wrote:

fife wrote:

I don't have stats for this but one thing i find silly that American believe is that driving around in a great oval is a sport.

This coming from someone who lives in a country that likes to skate around in an oval and call it a sport.

don't make me hit the squirrel with my car. now that a sport i think everyone can get around.

Commy

mikepegg44 wrote:

People were talking about religion and the presidency for a long time before Obama. JFK being catholic was an issue for a lot of people...it is always brought up as a question of alligences(jfk's was supposedly the pope and not the US) and unfortunately the people who are not willing to understand seperation of church and state are also unable to understand that a person can lead a government without letting their religion cloud everything they do in office. I don't think it is the idea that all muslims are awful or anything like that.
I think it speaks more to how people get their information in the internet age than it does about the american people themselves.
Typically and contrary to what you may see or read in the media, the US is a pretty accepting place.

as an american i can say that "muslim" carries a negative connotation for many here.



and apparently you didn't see the video of the 'mosque' opponents at their rally.

gimmesometruth27

maybe we can add that "a large number of americans view the religion of islam in an unfavorable light"...

on cbs world news tonight they released a poll that said 42% of those surveyed viewed islam in an unfavorable light, 30 something percent had "no opinion" and the small remaining number viewed it in a favorable light. i tried to find a link but i could not find one. either way, if this is a good sample of the population, then it would certainly apply as a "silly thing americans believe"...

AELARA

Many people here consider american people naive.. I have never been to the U.S.A so I can't have my own opinion. But I've found a pic which shows what is the idea americans have for the world. Or at least what other people believe on how americans see the world...

http://www.funnyflash.com/img/funnies/submissions/19/american_view.jpg

cincybearcat

gimmesometruth27 wrote:

maybe we can add that "a large number of americans view the religion of islam in an unfavorable light"...

on cbs world news tonight they released a poll that said 42% of those surveyed viewed islam in an unfavorable light, 30 something percent had "no opinion" and the small remaining number viewed it in a favorable light. i tried to find a link but i could not find one. either way, if this is a good sample of the population, then it would certainly apply as a "silly thing americans believe"...

What about the large number of people here that view Christianity in a negative light?

gimmesometruth27

AELARA wrote:

Many people here consider american people naive.. I have never been to the U.S.A so I can't have my own opinion. But I've found a pic which shows what is the idea americans have for the world. Or at least what other people believe on how americans see the world...

http://www.funnyflash.com/img/funnies/submissions/19/american_view.jpg

lol that link is hilarious...unfortunately there are people in our country that see it like that...