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Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

morningconsult.com

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Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#91

Post by dkarl »

tyingq wrote: 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?

I have been surprised to discover how many people know very little about geography but even more surprised to learn what a high proportion of people who do know geography know it mostly from military history, which is a stereotypically masculine interest.

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#92

Post by dang »

amflare wrote: post #55
magicalhippo wrote: post #23

Back in late 2003 I was visiting a friend in Florida. News was filled with the war on terror, with the invasion of Iraq starting a few months earlier. He introduced me to his neighbor, who asked where I was from. Norway I replied. "Oh, hmm, we haven't bombed Norway yet... where is it?" After a moment he added that he was only half joking, as a reference to the geography lessons he had received at school and the news…

"God created war so that Americans would learn geography." - Mark Twain - The Innocents Abroad

That doesn't appear in the Gutenberg.org version of the text [1], and according to the Quote Investigator, Twain didn't say it [2].

1. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm

2. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/05/19/geography/

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#94

Post by hackeraccount »

mc32 wrote: post #4
juped wrote: 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?

Christ. I'm from the U.S. and I can pick Iran on a map without thinking. If you asked me to pick Missouri and Missisippi on a map ... I'd probably get it but I'd sweat a little bit until I heard I was right.

Missisippi is a bit further south but it's not Louisiana.

Missouri is a bit further north but it's not Kansas.

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#95

Post by hackeraccount »

hackeraccount wrote: post #94
mc32 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Christ. I'm from the U.S. and I can pick Iran on a map without thinking. If you asked me to pick Missouri and Missisippi on a map ... I'd probably get it but I'd sweat a little bit until I heard I was right. Missisippi is a bit further south but it's not Louisiana. Missouri is a bit further north but it's not Kansas.

Now that I've looked at a map I can safely say, yeah, I woulda got that wrong.

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#96

Post by hinkley »

smcl wrote: post #64
hinkley wrote: post #57

Can we talk about how the map they chose doesn’t show Kuwait?

But ... they do. It's right there where it's supposed to be. https://morningconsult.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/2020-P...

Oh my, you are correct. The southern border is obscured by dots. On my screen I couldn't see it at all. It looked like Saudi Arabia had absorbed Kuwait.

My brain zeros in on irony, and I thought it was funny that we're talking about not finding things on the map and the map was wrong.

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#97

Post by hinkley »

I've gotten to observe some tutoring recently and it gives me a different perspective on this than the typical "Oh look how stupid people are" reaction than probably got this post flagged.

Some people, when faced with a problem they can't answer, respond with a glib answer, or a panicked one. I propose that when you ask someone where Iran is and they don't know, they click on Northern Africa not because they think it's in Africa but because as soon as they give any answer they can be done. "Fuck it, I'm choosing North Africa."

It's like that kid who answers '5' when the teacher asks what 2x4 is. How the fuck could five be the answer? It's not even an even number! Are you stupid? No. You've given up, and you think guessing will get you out of this experience. Many of the teachers I knew would double down in this situation. Yes, you should not condition the child to get out of things by doing them badly, but now they're the focus of everyone's attention which is also detrimental to the process.

I would like it if education focused on making people more resilient and empowered to figure out what they don't know instead of trying to get out of the uncomfortable situation. If people can learn on their own you don't have to min-max education to help the most people with a single process (leaving both the gifted and the slow kids in the dust in the process).

I've said before that I think physical education should focus on how to do physical things without hurting yourself (ex: how to fall properly).

Now I'd also like it if academic education focused not on how to cram things into people's heads faster but how to keep from getting frustrated or panicked when facing adversity in learning.

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#98

Post by Izkata »

ianleeclark wrote: post #5
juped wrote: post #2

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

There were a worrying amount of people clicking on the water.

If they used the same map as in the article (edit: rather, the first regional map, not the world map), that actually doesn't surprise me. It took me a good 10-20 seconds to figure out what part of the world and scale the first picture was at, because I had land and water inverted in my head.

Why would anyone use blue for land instead of water?

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#99

Post by csours »

LyndsySimon wrote: post #86
csours wrote: post #9

47% supported the strike? How could they possibly have had enough information to support it? Iran = Bad Man from Iran = Bad Kill Man from Iran = Good???

How about: Soleimani = Quds leader Quds = responsible for Iranian military actions outside Iran Kill person responsible for Iranian military actions outside Iran = Good Reading the above seems a bit contrived, but I know it pretty much fits for me. I had heard his named before the news broke, but wouldn’t have been able to tell you what he did upon hearing it again. As soon as I discovered he was a Quds general, I ha…

That is by far more informed and sophisticated than most people's knowledge on this topic.

Further questions: Why was he in Bagdad? Why did the US use an airstrike? Why was he not arrested? Did the Iraqi government invite him to the country? Was he pursuing diplomatic relations with the Iraqi government, the nominal allies of the United stakes?

Speaking for myself, I could not support the killing without answers to those questions.

Re: Can You Locate Iran? Few Voters Can

#100

Post by jlangemeier »

I came to complain about the graphs...

Their 38%s don't line up; like at all.

Also, they don't go into what they mean by "unlabeled" in either the current methodology or their previously linked North Korea methodology either for how the people selected where Iran was. With the datapoints on the map, I'm wondering if they even had country borders; otherwise I'd think a heatmap of the selected countries would be a better telling of the data.

In general, their visual representations of what was produced was, in short, hot freaking garbage. Which may mean that the data is; and kinda throws the entire survey into question.

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