which country is the dumbest?

[tk2kewl]

[datasuspect]

1. Uhhhhmerica

[Capt. Obvious]

2. Duh

Jersey Shore is the dumbest country

[orpupilofnature57]

5. Texas & Florida close 2nd.

[Spoonman]

15. From all Texans.....

Bite Me!

[orpupilofnature57]

36. Collectively it would be us ,see what I mean?

[rufus dog]

37. I will keep that in mind

but since you will probably be at a BBQ drinking Lone Stars I will have to say this.... Getting your ass kicked at the Alamo is not what is defined as a success in the majority of other US States. But hey, you have the Cowboys. (and they suck too)

[awoke_in_2003]

38. yeah, being outnumbered 8 to 1...

the Texians should have won

[Spoonman]

42. Not very educated on Texas history or Texas beer

We won our independence without any military assistance from the U.S. to become an independent nation from 1836-1845.
We achieved this in the battle of San Jacinto were many of my ancestors defeated the Mexican army.

Yes, the massacre at the Alamo was a setback, but I'm certain YOU couldn't win a fight with 8 to 1 odds either!

You forgot about the Battle of Goliad (Presidio La Bahia- Goliad massacre).

Lone Star? Stuck in the 70'S?


Spoetzl Brewery (Shiner Bock)
Saint Arnold Brewing Co.
Real Ale Brewing Co.

Hook Em' Horns!

[orpupilofnature57]

40. Ann Richards ,Tommy lee Jones ,Ross Perot

Sam Rayburn ,Buddy Holly , ZZ tOP , Walter Cronkite ,Dan Rather ,Sissy Spacek and many more gifted people from Texas.

[steve2470]

32. Yes, Florida's educational system sucks

There is no argument there.

It sucks for two reasons: 1- the biggest industry here is tourism, and before that it was agriculture; 2- the state constitution prohibits the income tax. It was prohibited to encourage people to settle here, and it worked (in addition to the climate).

Dumb ? That's debatable. There's plenty of smart people here (Democrats of course mostly lol ) but our problems are a reflection of the culture that has been here for decades, and which won't change anytime soon.

[orpupilofnature57]

3. If you gauge , resources vs well-being ?

US hands down.

[Xyzse]

4. LOL

I can't help but laugh, no matter how sad that is.

[sinkingfeeling]

6. Come on, everybody knows it's Amercia!

[BlueCaliDem]

7. I'm ashamed to say . . .

America. I mean . . . George W. Bush - TWICE. People here believe universal health care for everyone is evil. They believe health care is a privilege not a right. They don't believe investing in education, but they do believe abortion should be criminalized and even murder well-meaning doctors because of it. They believe blacks are inferior, Latinos are prolific breeders and welfare drainers, tax cuts for the rich and corporations will create jobs, and that Republicans are fiscally conservative when the numbers show they're the biggest spenders.

Most don't even know how their own government works for chrissakes.

[corkhead]

11. Remember this?

[BlueCaliDem]

12. Dang, I do. :-( I thought my world had ended when I saw that

because I knew the 2000 election could be explained away by the shenanigans and SCOTUS, but what excuse could we use with any credibility for Duhbya's 2004 RE-election?

[Life Long Dem]

20. Yep

And we were told because he was a sitting war president. Something you don't even hear today.

[NNN0LHI]

17. US elected a washed up B-movie actor whose claim to fame was co-starring with a chimpanzee twice

And the chimpanzee was the smarter one of the two.

And he won by a landslide both times.

Think about that for a minute.

We would have been better off with the chimpanzee as president for 8 years.

Don

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. We GOT the chimp, later, remember???

[Initech]

19. Frightening statistic of the day: 60% of Americans can't name *A* SCOTUS justice.

[harun]

23. In so many words, yup, I think you nailed it.

[amuse bouche]

8. That is funny

because it's so true.

[hifiguy]

9. USA, USA!! Number one

in dumb of all the developed countries.

[Cali_Democrat]

10. HAHAHAHAHA!!!

The rest of the world just points and laughs

[The Wizard]

13. American exceptionalism

Just another way to say master race.

[TrollBuster9090]

14. I dunno...Sarah Palin said AFRICA might be the dumbest country. But..

but she'll have to do some research on that after she's finished looking up which countries are involved in the NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT.

[B2G]

16. If the replies to this thread are any indication

I'd have to agree.

I get so tired of this shit.

[NCTraveler]

33. +1

[mlevans]

18. We're number one! We're number one!

[Quantess]

21. Dumb people live all over the world. The rest of the world is no smarter.

One notable difference is that in the USA, stupid people are the ones that get all the love.
In many other countries, smart, informed, and educated people are respected and are listened to. In the USA, stupid people rule. That is the only real difference.

[TrollBuster9090]

26. One time I saw Charlie Rose interviewing Richard Dawkins...

Rose said "are you aware that 40% of Americans don't believe in evolution?" Dawkins responded with "Well that doesn't surprise me. There are probably an equal number of stupid people in Britain. It's just that in Britain we don't give them all the political power."

There are ignorant people in ever country, but the United States is unique in that it's the only developed country where a) the ignorant people are actually PROUD of their ignorance, and consider it a virtue, b) they are politically active and outspoken, whereas the more enlightened people are politically timid, and c) the politicians actually let them drive the agenda. The last part is understandable, I guess, in that politicians respond to the people who make the most noise (or in some cases donate the most money to their campaigns, but political activism counts on election day too). So, it really comes down to the educated people not being loud enough, or politically active enough. We have nobody but ourselves to blame.

[LuvNewcastle]

39. People who take pride in their ignorance annoy me more than

just about anyone else. These people often go so far as to denigrate educated people. I think everyone could use a healthy dose of humility, the educated as well as the ignorant, but to live in this age and remain purposely ignorant (and proud of it) is almost unforgivable.

[TrollBuster9090]

44. Yes, especially given how hard our ancestors had to fight to get universal public education.

And break out of the cycle of a permanent ruling class that was based on the wealthy's exclusive access to education. To think that some of their descendants now seek to destroy public education simply because they're jealous and resentful of those who've made better use of it than some of them did.

But certainly I don't get the obsession with keeping our best and brightest OUT of public office for the sake of identity politics. If I have a brain tumor, I want the smartest brain surgeon I can find to remove it, and I'm not going to ask if he/she wears a flag pin, or prefers beer to wine spritsers. Ditto for government officials and people who are crafting regulations on the economy.

[tk2kewl]

29. ONLY!11??!

it is a pretty big one

[Plucketeer]

22. AMERCIA ROCKS! NT

[secondwind]

24. I love Murka, ah don't care about any place else.

[RZM]

25. Here is a link to a chart ranking the 2009 PISA scores by country

PISA (Programme for International Student Achievement) administers a test to 15-year olds around the world every few years. Many of the countries participating are members of the OECD (Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development) which contains many of the world's wealthier and more developed countries.

The US fairs OK, though not great. The mean reading score is a bit higher than the OECD average, while the math score is a bit lower. OECD-wise, the US is roughly in the middle of the pack. Some non-OECD countries are pretty high as well.

None of this means the US is 'smarter' or 'dumber,' but it is food for thought. China (not an OECD member) is number one in reading, though I believe the scores all come from Shanghai, which is a fairly well-off city. S. Korea, Finland, Hong Kong, and Singapore round out the top five.

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/54/12/46643496.pdf

[tk2kewl]

28. thanks for the link

my OP was a bit tongue in cheek... good to have some facts

[KamaAina]

27. Uzbeki-beki-bekistan?

[libtodeath]

30. When you have half the population that vote against thier own best interests

at every election it is pretty obvious who the dumbest country is.

[Mira]

31. I once had a 50 year old American woman stand in front of my world map

"Where is America"
I showed her.
"When did it get so small? I thought we were number 1."

I left the room

[Whisp]

35. lol. home of duh free.

[raps]

41. minority education scores skew the US results

If you remove minorities from the nation education comparison results the US ranks at the very top. That sounds racist but it's the truth and something that desperately needs to be fixed.

[deaniac21]

43. Here is a good starting point.

[link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_literacy_rate|