Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on May 1, 2013 17:05:32 GMT -5
Well, I'm glad I'm the only one who has never heard of the backwoods area of Russia the Boston Bomber's came from.
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haapai
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Post by haapai on May 1, 2013 17:51:49 GMT -5
I frequently feel uninformed, out of touch, or out of the loop but rarely uneducated.
Every once in a while somebody tries to make me feel uneducated and it's a fairly reliable sign that either they don't know what they are talking about or that they should not be trusted.
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Tired Tess
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I'm so ready to wrap it up.
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Post by Tired Tess on May 1, 2013 18:28:28 GMT -5
Geeze, all the time. I find the biggest block to remembering things I read or hear is that I find most of these foreign names and countries hard to pronounce. They just go in one ear and out the other.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2013 19:39:59 GMT -5
I know y'all are going to rip me to shreds or hang me in effigy or tar and feather me, but...really?
Didn't know who Osama bin Laden was until after September 11? Don't know where Dagestan or Kyrgyzstan are? Ukraine. Anybody heard of Ukraine? Any idea about the Taliban or the Russian occupation of Afghanistan and the war that went on against the Mujahideen for more than nine years?
Cuba? Anybody know anything about Cuba besides the fact that we can't vacation there but Canadians can?
Is anybody concerned about China, or are we all too busy quaking in our boots over North Korea and their saber-rattling?
What about the on-going feud between Pakistan and India over Kashmir and the border between the two countries (for the past 65 years)? And they both have nuclear capability, never mind the IAEA.
Aren't we even curious? Are we all so comfortable and well-fed and well-employed and caught up in EFs, retirement accounts, Little League and Pop Warner, to breast feed or not to breast feed, are those veggies we bought organic, that we really don't give a rat's rear what goes on in the rest of the world and believe that what goes on in the rest of the world has nothing to do with us? That what goes on in the rest of the world will never have anything to do with our children?
Oy.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on May 1, 2013 19:43:53 GMT -5
After 9/11 I became we'll verses in the Taliban and Afghanistan and Russia etc. and I also became pretty knowledgeable about how Iraq used to be our ally against Iran and saddam Hussein was seen as a "moderate, reasonable guy we could work with" and was rumsfelds buddy.
Until then , nope.
I do however, know what the Ukraine is.
I also know something about Cuba.
I can't know everything.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2013 19:52:20 GMT -5
But Swamp! You didn't just go to college, you actually finished and went beyond undergrad. Are you telling me that after all these years of wishing I'd gotten a degree, I still wouldn't have known everything?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2013 19:55:34 GMT -5
I can remember some times I've been painfully Ill informed.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2013 20:03:29 GMT -5
I don't think anyone here isn't curious. I think there is just too much to be on top of it all. And you need a good way to get caught up when something rises to prominence.
Prior to the Arab Spring, my knowledge of Tripoli was pretty well limited to the Marine's Hymn.
I studied in geography before the fall of the Soviet Union, so while the names of places have become familiar, I need to pull out a map to know where they are.
I didn't know who Joseph Kony was until that video came out. I had read about child soldiers and various atrocities, but I didn't know much about the underlying conflict or who was behind it. It is hard to remember now, but I bet my knowledge of bin Laden was similar pre-9/11.
I'm pretty well-educated, and pretty curious about the world - but I know that I am woefully ignorant about a lot of world issues.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2013 20:07:33 GMT -5
Oksana Baiul is from the Ukraine. The hot guy in my communications class was from Kazakhstan. There was a scene in Bridget Jones' Diary where she was rehearsing for a fancy dinner party by saying "Isn't it terrible about Chechnya" in a bunch of different inflections.
If I didn't learn it in high school, you've got have the thing that sends me to wikipedia. Frankly, if I did learn it in high school, I probably still need the wikipedia refresher from time to time.
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Formerly SK
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Post by Formerly SK on May 1, 2013 20:19:14 GMT -5
I know y'all are going to rip me to shreds or hang me in effigy or tar and feather me, but...really? Didn't know who Osama bin Laden was until after September 11? Don't know where Dagestan or Kyrgyzstan are? Ukraine. Anybody heard of Ukraine? Any idea about the Taliban or the Russian occupation of Afghanistan and the war that went on against the Mujahideen for more than nine years? Cuba? Anybody know anything about Cuba besides the fact that we can't vacation there but Canadians can? Is anybody concerned about China, or are we all too busy quaking in our boots over North Korea and their saber-rattling? What about the on-going feud between Pakistan and India over Kashmir and the border between the two countries (for the past 65 years)? And they both have nuclear capability, never mind the IAEA. Aren't we even curious? Are we all so comfortable and well-fed and well-employed and caught up in EFs, retirement accounts, Little League and Pop Warner, to breast feed or not to breast feed, are those veggies we bought organic, that we really don't give a rat's rear what goes on in the rest of the world and believe that what goes on in the rest of the world has nothing to do with us? That what goes on in the rest of the world will never have anything to do with our children? Oy. I could write a paragraph on each of the issues you brought up. I think, though, there is a huge difference between writing a general paragraph explaining most global issues and being informed enough to debate something specific like which heir apparent of China's communist party is best for future US trade relations. I just don't think it is possible to be fully informed of all issues enough to converse on those intricacies, yet people often feel they are an expert because they read one NYT article or watched a segment on Fox.
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haapai
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Post by haapai on May 1, 2013 20:26:30 GMT -5
missrigby, almost none of the stuff that you mentioned in your first post is actually taught in college. With few exceptions, undergraduate programs simply don't teach geography or current events. The library may post the first page of the NYT on their bulletin board every day and there may be a lot of free copies of the FT and WSJ floating around, but reading them is optional.
You can easily learn more by taking a job that entails a 30-minute one-way commute and tuning your radio to NPR or a Canadian station.
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Lizard Queen
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Post by Lizard Queen on May 1, 2013 21:37:10 GMT -5
missrigby, almost none of the stuff that you mentioned in your first post is actually taught in college. With few exceptions, undergraduate programs simply don't teach geography or current events. The library may post the first page of the NYT on their bulletin board every day and there may be a lot of free copies of the FT and WSJ floating around, but reading them is optional. You can easily learn more by taking a job that entails a 30-minute one-way commute and tuning your radio to NPR or a Canadian station. I agree. I learned a lot about world events listening to NPR while at work.
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Virgil Showlion
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[b]leones potest resistere[/b]
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Post by Virgil Showlion on May 1, 2013 23:23:04 GMT -5
Too many people confuse data with information with knowledge with wisdom.
I tend to keep a close eye on world affairs and I devote a fair bit of time to browsing articles, blogs, newspapers, etc., but the broader your search, the shallower the depth. In several areas my knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep. What I don't know could fill a universe. And even Jeopardy champs with eidetic memories crammed full of trivia go back to their run-of-the-mill jobs and average lives. The ability to aggregate and store information doesn't magically give you the ability to apply it.
I'd say that as long as you have even the faintest spark of curiosity and act on it once a week or more, you're doing fine. Besides, when somebody asks me something that I'm clueless about, it gives me an opportunity to find out about it.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2013 9:43:39 GMT -5
I am very uneducated I think. I don't think I learned much until I probably hit around 25....before that, I just skated through HS and college with no knowledge of the outside world or events.
-When I was a senior in HS, I didn't know about the OK city bombing until a week after it happened.
-When I was in college, I took an international business class and (on our first day) the teacher had us fill in a blank map of the world. I didn't know more than a handful of countries.
-After college, someone told me they were going to Vermont on vacation and I said, outloud, that I couldn't point out Vermont on a map if it was a bet.
Once I hit my mid-20's, I became more interested in certain things so I don't think I appear to be too much of an idiot. But still, anything related to anything overseas, I have no clue.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2013 9:50:39 GMT -5
I think you and I are about the same age, davebo. The Oklahoma City bombing happened while we were on Spring Break. We heard about it on the drive back from Florida.
I wasn't completely clued in back then, but I choose to believe that if I had been at home I would have known in a more timely manner.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2013 9:53:37 GMT -5
So we would all be current affair unschooling failures? ![](http://syonidv.hodginsmedia.com/vsmileys/tongue2.png)
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on May 2, 2013 9:55:55 GMT -5
I just don't think it is possible to be fully informed of all issues enough to converse on those intricacies, yet people often feel they are an expert because they read one NYT article or watched a segment on Fox.
![](http://syonidv.hodginsmedia.com/vsmileys/yeahthat.gif)
I can tell you where the Ukraine is but as for the rest of them it's changed so much so many times since I took geography that I'd have to pull out a map. I hardly consider myself uneducated because I can't name every country in that region off the top of my head. I can get a general sense of where it is during a conversation based on it's name. Most other people probably couldn't locate Georgia or Dagestan on a map. But since they heard about it they'll talk about it in order to sound educated. The majority people who bitch about Muslims have probably never bothered to educated themselves about Islam, let alone actually read the Koran while they "quote" it and interpret it. What they've gathered has come from snippets on Fox News or random articles on the internet. Just because someone can pontificate doesn't mean they are an expert.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2013 10:02:18 GMT -5
I don't think it's lack of knowledge on the subject that's making thyme feel uneducated. Perhaps a new group of friends is in order! ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/grin.png)
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 2, 2013 10:26:59 GMT -5
When my Dad had surgery we were talking to the nurse in the recovery room, and my Mom asked where she was from and she answered "Persia." We all nodded and then my father said "Isn't that Iran?" And she said "We left when it was Persia." That didn't sound right, because she wasn't an old lady, and they have been Iran for a long, long time. It was awkward. But, I can see why she maintained her status as a "Persian" rather than an Iranian.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2013 10:31:10 GMT -5
I think you and I are about the same age, davebo. The Oklahoma City bombing happened while we were on Spring Break. We heard about it on the drive back from Florida. I wasn't completely clued in back then, but I choose to believe that if I had been at home I would have known in a more timely manner. Yeah, I was on spring break but was at home so I'm not sure what my excuse was ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/tongue.png) Another embarrassing thing is that I really didn't know what the "Twin Towers" were when 9/11 was going on. I couldn't get on the internet at work to see what they were talking about and the entire drive home I wasn't exactly clear what got hit. Everyone kept saying "The twin towers got hit with an airplane" and I was thinking "What the hell are the twin towers?", but felt too stupid to ask cause it seemed like common knowledge.
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thyme4change
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Post by thyme4change on May 2, 2013 10:37:36 GMT -5
LOL - Davebo - I think I knew they were buildings in New York, but I wasn't totally clear either. Luckily I was at home when we got the news, so I turned on the television and got more info.
I have a real problem with New York in general. They seem to think everyone understands everything about it. They refer to "West 83rd" and I'm suppose to know what kind of people they are referring to. I don't really know much about any of the Burroughs or anything. It just bothers me - like an inside joke that no one will explain to me. It makes certain television shows and movies almost unwatchable, because I don't know what they hell they are trying to tell me.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2013 10:52:17 GMT -5
I live about an hour's train ride from NYC and I have never been to anything in NYC other than downtown Manhattan.... and very specific areas in Manhattan. NYC is a very large and intimidating city IMO.
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swamp
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Post by swamp on May 2, 2013 10:57:44 GMT -5
obviously you guys are just hick potato farmers if you don't know where west 83rd street is, or everything else in NYC.<br><br>I'm one too.
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Waffle
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Post by Waffle on May 2, 2013 11:00:07 GMT -5
I think you and I are about the same age, davebo. The Oklahoma City bombing happened while we were on Spring Break. We heard about it on the drive back from Florida. I wasn't completely clued in back then, but I choose to believe that if I had been at home I would have known in a more timely manner. Yeah, I was on spring break but was at home so I'm not sure what my excuse was ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/tongue.png) Another embarrassing thing is that I really didn't know what the "Twin Towers" were when 9/11 was going on. I couldn't get on the internet at work to see what they were talking about and the entire drive home I wasn't exactly clear what got hit. Everyone kept saying "The twin towers got hit with an airplane" and I was thinking "What the hell are the twin towers?", but felt too stupid to ask cause it seemed like common knowledge. OH - I am so glad you said that. I had absolutely no idea what the twin towers were before 9/11. I thought I was the only one. ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/tongue.png)
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on May 2, 2013 11:03:23 GMT -5
missrigby, almost none of the stuff that you mentioned in your first post is actually taught in college. With few exceptions, undergraduate programs simply don't teach geography or current events. The library may post the first page of the NYT on their bulletin board every day and there may be a lot of free copies of the FT and WSJ floating around, but reading them is optional. You can easily learn more by taking a job that entails a 30-minute one-way commute and tuning your radio to NPR or a Canadian station. Yes, this is true. Unless you're a history or cultures major, most college students take ONE history class. That's all I took. I took other humanities courses, like english and anthropology and even a mythologies class, but most of those were focused on specific, older subjects (especially in the case of anthropology). Unless you're specifically majoring in it, most college classes do not focus on current (as in the last 100 years) of events. The vast majority of your classes you take in college are related to your major. So I took lots and lots of physics courses, along with a fair amount of math and computer science courses. For those subjects, international relations with China or the history of Iraq were not really relevent to the discussions of quantum mechanics, elementary particles, and electricity. Simply put, one's ability to rattle off facts and data about history and geography is not the only measure of how educated or informed one is. The body of human knowledge is much wider than the history of some country halfway across the world, and no one can know everything.
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on May 2, 2013 11:04:20 GMT -5
Virgil is correct in that there's a difference between data and facts and knowledge and wisdom. They are not the same thing.
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NomoreDramaQ1015
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Post by NomoreDramaQ1015 on May 2, 2013 11:07:04 GMT -5
I wonder if white coat syndrome works when discussing current events? I'll have to wear my lab coat next time I have dinner with other people.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2013 11:07:05 GMT -5
I know there is a great deal I do not know. But that may be a sign of intelligence because the more you know more you know you don't know.
![](http://syonidv.hodginsmedia.com/vsmileys/thumbsup.png) Phoenix. ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/smiley.png)
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Phoenix84
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Post by Phoenix84 on May 2, 2013 11:07:25 GMT -5
LOL - Davebo - I think I knew they were buildings in New York, but I wasn't totally clear either. Luckily I was at home when we got the news, so I turned on the television and got more info. I have a real problem with New York in general. They seem to think everyone understands everything about it. They refer to "West 83rd" and I'm suppose to know what kind of people they are referring to. I don't really know much about any of the Burroughs or anything. It just bothers me - like an inside joke that no one will explain to me. It makes certain television shows and movies almost unwatchable, because I don't know what they hell they are trying to tell me. I know what you mean. When people talk about the Bronx or Queens or Manhatten in the context that it's supposed to mean something about the people there or the neighborhood, I have no idea what they're talking about. I've only driven through New York City once.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 2, 2013 11:10:04 GMT -5
Too many people confuse data with information with knowledge with wisdom. I tend to keep a close eye on world affairs and I devote a fair bit of time to browsing articles, blogs, newspapers, etc., but the broader your search, the shallower the depth. In several areas my knowledge is a mile wide and an inch deep. What I don't know could fill a universe. And even Jeopardy champs with eidetic memories crammed full of trivia go back to their run-of-the-mill jobs and average lives. The ability to aggregate and store information doesn't magically give you the ability to apply it. I'd say that as long as you have even the faintest spark of curiosity and act on it once a week or more, you're doing fine. Besides, when somebody asks me something that I'm clueless about, it gives me an opportunity to find out about it. ![](http://syonidv.hodginsmedia.com/vsmileys/yeahthat.gif)
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