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Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

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61–70 of 104 posts

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#61

How the heck someone put Iran in South America? Just a little exposure to everyday media should give you enough to rule out that completely. That's such a basic geography understanding. This completely blows my mind.

Far more alarming is that so many US voted marked The United States as Iran.

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#62
Not sure if only taking into account the % of voters that precisely mapped where Iran is located is enough, as it would put someone that selected Egypt and South America in the same group (wrongly identified the location).

I would prefer an 'average distance from the border' analysis, in which we would be able to compare which group is clearly unaware of Iran's location (selecting Europe or even North America, for example) and which group at least has a basic idea of the location (Middle East).

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think being able to accurately tell where Iran is is a requirement for wanting to kill someone from there, no. Knowing approximately where it is is useful, but what does it really matter if you confuse it with the next country over?

It means that you have been wholesale influenced rather than informed about the conflict that politicians are peddling to you, as you don't have a grasp on the most basic facts of the matter. We're talking of civilian support for acts of war here. Specially since an actual war with the people of that polity is an obvious outcome.

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Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#65

How the heck someone put Iran in South America? Just a little exposure to everyday media should give you enough to rule out that completely. That's such a basic geography understanding. This completely blows my mind.

I'm pretty sure this was just an internet survey that people didn't answer seriously. About 1% of the clicks are in the water and a lot of answers are in North America. I have trouble believing anyone is that ignorant.

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#66

To paraphrase what wise people have warned for millenia: Democratic government by an ignorant populace is a recipe for disaster. We get the government we deserve, but that same malfeasant government we deserve is responsible for educating us.

I’m not sure we “deserve” the unprecedented propaganda efforts, the weaponization of social media, the think tanks that have been iterating more and more sophisticated manipulation methods, gerrymandering which makes voting useless in key districts etc.

Also see the work of George Lakoff. Enlightenment thinking is a myth. We’re super easy to manipulate and that’s where the effort and money goes.

Confident good looking people on tv repeating carefully constructed lies with authoritarian voices and straight faces. It is impossible to argue with their viewership.

Propaganda works.

Do we deserve this almost impossible to navigate environment where it’s hard to tell what’s real and what’s not?

In my opinion this is the result of criminal efforts to normalize crime.

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#68
post #35
post #27

"Men were about twice as likely as women to be able to identify Iran on both maps" Wow, that's unexpected. Is there some credible source on why this is the case? Also curious if this is generally true...would you get the same result if they were asked to identify Belgium on a map?

Scientific studies suggest men generally have a better sense of direction than women, and use that sense of direction more effectively. Kind of makes you wonder where the "fails to ask for directions" trope comes from! :) https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.org/2015/12/10/do-...

I'd guess the trope comes from a combination of men traditionally doing more of the driving and having a stronger desire to figure out problems on their own.

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#69
post #4
post #2

This sort of poll is perennial but never says anything interesting, imo.

It’s akin to asking Iranians, can you point out Missouri [or Texas or Calif] on a map?

I'm European and California, New York, Hawaii, Florida would be easy (and relevant for me).

Missouri...to tell you the truth I don't even know what is interesting about it (I'm sure it has a lot of interesting things going on though).

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it not interesting because of the lack of novelty, or not interesting because you think it's acceptable to want to kill someone but not to actually know much about them?

I don't think being able to accurately tell where Iran is is a requirement for wanting to kill someone from there, no. Knowing approximately where it is is useful, but what does it really matter if you confuse it with the next country over?

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