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I am not surprised.. a lot of people use the "i don't watch the news" as an excuse. I don't think one should be glued to the tube, but at least have some understanding of the world around you! I couldn't name all of the justices either, for what it's worth.. Breyer didn't come up in my memory, either! I'm part of that 97%, haha.
<~Guilty
I'm in my own little bubble of military stuff and what pertains to my job, news-wise.
I'm guilty too like ejs! I really am so out of the loop with politics.
Sad indeed, but not surprising. Almost every semester after discussing immigration/citizenship (in a historical context and today’s immigration debate) my FH gives his intro students a copy of the US citizenship/naturalization test – the vast majority fail it, and fail it *hard*.
It’s especially annoying to know that someone who can’t name a SC Justice (or even what the SC does!), name the states or any of their Senators/Congresspeople, can't discuss the Constitution or Bill of Rights (let alone any of the Amendments) can cancel out my vote, but such is democracy! ;-)
Edit: I don't think it essential to know every Justice's name, but it's more about being involved/informed in how our country works - and involved/informed at least somewhat on your own local/regional or national politics.
I'd think this was really sad, but I just read an article today about people whose parents died when they were young which was an absolute tearjerker. :(((
The level of willful ignorance, though, is pretty disturbing.
@ Entangled: I did actually think, "well, maybe sad is the wrong word, considering all of the heart breaking news out there." Just a different kind of sad, I guess.
Consider, I'm sure more Americans can name members of the Kardashian family than can name members of the Supreme Court, or the Senate, or the House, etc. etc.
I can't either, but while iiving in the States I did keep pretty aware of what they were doing.
But I'm terrible with names. That guy in the last movie I saw? I have no idea what his name is. Last time one of my friends asked if what I thought of a famous singer I asked if it was someone we worked with.
So I don't feel bad at all about not knowing the names of supreme court justices or politicians or anyone else.
@monitaja: no, this is sad, too. I'm just all weird and weepy over that one. Seriously, I'd link it but 1) wsj.com so may be pay and 2) way depressing. this is more galling sad. I know that you can be generally aware of what's going on without knowing details, but it seems like so many people treat politics and world affairs like sports games, with a rooting interest but little critical, open-minded thought.
Yes, thank you @Entangled! Yeah let's root for the Republicans or the Democrats b/c it's the popular thing to do rather than let's carefully, critically consider with our CONSCIENCE what the best thing is to do. Yes, it's very sad. However, I can't say that I know alot of politics--I hope I know more than the general public which isn't much.
Sad sad sad. I get disappointed when people don't know all 9 justices, but maybe I hold a higher civic standard than is reasonable. Of course I'm also the type of person that would go to the senate gallery and watch laws being made! I think everyone should be as informed and as involved as is possible. You can't complain about your government if you don't participate!
Edited to add: I don't have a TV so I don't think watching news is a prerequisite for knowing what is going on :) I get my news much faster online and read what I'm interested in.
i choose to stay out of politics although it is sad, it really creates too much conflict in a conversation. the only time i really pay attention or actively participate is during the presidential elections...and i have only been able to vote twice...
I can usually only name seven or eight. But I have the same problem naming all seven dwarfs. There's just one that I can't quite think of. We were naming that at work the other day and three of us did all nine in about 30 seconds, so it's not like we're uninformed. Just forgetful.
I also have trouble with naming all the state capitals. I get screwed up on the Dakotas and the Carolinas.
yikes. Some things I can kind of see not knowing... I'm not sure it is necessary to know the names of all nine justices. But not knowing what they do? Not knowing what the bill of rights is, what is in the bill of rights, or when the revolution happened? That's kind of scary.
I feel like I have a skewed view of what people know because no one can get through undergrad (poli sci minor) and law school without fully understanding government and memorizing not only the justices but also previous justices and what each justices' points of views are. So most of my group of friends knows this stuff. I just find it really hard to believe that any adult could not know when the revolution was.
@ Corgi: yeah, I was actually much more upset about the fact that people know so little about our founding documents or the function of government. But you would think people could at least name Sonia Sotomayor. She was in the news for like three months straight. I guess I find it amazing that I can know who is competing on Dancing with the Stars, even though I've never watched that show, but so few people know anything about some of the most important people in the country.
It's disturbing because there are a lot of politicians and pundits out there who exploit this kind of ignorance.
And you don't have to watch the news, you can read it online :)
@monitajb- i think its pretty easy to tune out what you don't care about. I couldn't name one person on dancing with the stars, or one person competing on american idol. I totally zone out when people start talking about celbri-drama and I guess people do the same for politics.
@ribbons- i agree. it always reminds me of mine/FI's favorite episode of family guy (the one where lois runs for mayor and no one listens or understands her when she talks about the real issues so she just starts repeating "9..11... terrorists.... 9..11..." and people start throwing cash at her)
It's sad. I'm sure I couldn't spit out all 9, but I'd get pretty far. Especially because there really isn't a need to stay in the dark with the internet at your fingertips.
I can consider myself to be informed and aware on the subject of politics, economics, current events, ect, but i still have issues remember all their names. I'm just REALLY bad with names. I'll remember their positions on subjects before I remember their names.
I don't know that I think it's sad on peoples part but I do wonder what this says about education and news in the country.
It seems it's so good at focusing on the irrelavent. I couldn't name all 9 and I stay or used to stay really on top of the news (but I'm bad with names even in my field, unless I've directly met the person). You really have to seek out the information, there's little to hold representatives and people in power directly responsible. I think this is more representative of the sad shape that our news system is in. I can't go to a news page without seeing celebrity news and boobies on display and that makes me sad.
I'm terrible with names and could probably only name half of the justices (which I'm embarrassed about).
Let's see: Roberts. Sotomayor. Ginsberg. Scalia. Clarence Thomas is still on the bench, right?
NO clue about the others. Ugh.
WOAH that is SHOCKING! I hate that people who are not informed at all have the same voting power as someone who works as a citizen to understand what is going on in our country... I'm sad to say that now that I think about it, I'm not surprised, a lot of people just don't pay attention.
Honestly, I'm not surprised. For a nation so devoted to our "freedoms" and "rights" we're startlingly unconcerned with how our government *actually* functions. Whatever happened to civics classes in school?
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I don't know if I'm shocked at this information, but I am sad:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ynews/ynews_ts2356