Are american citizens getting dumber? What role does the media play in this dumbing down?

Question

Can you give examples of the dumbing down of america?

Who benefits most from the increasingly dumbed down citizenry?

Answer 1

is dumbing down the same as brainwashing. if it is then the gov benefits and their partners (big corporations)

Answer 2

Education is dumbed down so that the appearance of democracy can be sustained. Proof?

If you are against the war... who do you vote to end it, right now?
There are plenty of candidates but only one who talks about immediate withdrawal. Anybody know? The media make voting so difficult. Better get back watching american idol.

How about Iran? How many people here know why it is unlikely IED's are coming into Iraq from the Iranian government? No one? Come on!!! this one is real easy!!! You guys want to bomb Iran but you don't even know what the rest of the world knows? Do you want to find out?

Would you like to read the series of articles by the renown journalist Alex Cockburn or would you prefer a sound bite? How about Franklin Lambs' recognition of that simple fact making it unlikely for the Iranian government to deliver IED's to the Iraqi people? Would you like links?

How about history? How long after an event can the media change what happened without your questioning? How many of you believe Hizbullah attacked Israel pre emptively? I thought so.

Peace.

Answer 3

The media doesn't play nearly the role that govt and education play. A 1999 college diploma is the equivalent of a 1955 high school diploma (talk about a $50,000 rip off). The government and employers benefit from dumbed down employees and voters.

Answer 4

Yes they are getting more dumber and more childish as the years past. The citizens are responsible for their on dumbness. Government officials and corporations benefit from the dumbing of Americans.

Answer 5

I won't say that all Americans are dumb because that is just another fancy generalization. The drawback is that some Americans are easily receptive and influenced by bias media. Apart from that since Bush's reign, US economy and markets begin to experience a major decrease. As a result, this would benefit another potential economic growth country, such as China.

Answer 6

We have too many information inputs... And, those inputs are focused on the wrong things. Who cares about Britney Spears' mothering instincts, Brad Pitt's children and the 4 ton porcine named "Hogzilla"?

Why do you know about these things? Because your life is saturated in meaninglessness.

We don't have time to absorb and analyze the real and important facts of our lives as we sift through the morass of all that stuff.

Are Americans getting stupid? No. Are they VERY VERY distracted? You bet they are.

The rest of the world had better watch out if we ever get our collective attention on one topic again....

Answer 7

The elite benefit and they encourage it by manipulating everything in our daily lives. I am sure you can come up with some examples of your own. I don't want to say too much as I will get reported as usual. Too many Clark Kents on this site.

Answer 8

We let the media choose who we should vote for. Most are too lazy to make up their own minds.

Answer 9

Yes, the education system in this country is failing our children. No wrong answers, and everything is ok, just try and thats good enough. No child left behind is insuring that no smart child moves ahead. This leads to complacency among our brightest kids. We are wasting a great natural resource and it is appalling. Think I am wrong? Look up a test to pass the 8th grade from 1910 and i would wager you that 80% of the adult population in this country would fail it. I will see if I can find one and provide a link. Ok, found one from 1895, all you who gave me a thumbs down, take the test and see how you do!

P.S.
A related issue - - textbooks & teaching methods dumbed-down

Were you surprised in June 2004 when Achieve, Inc., a bipartisan, nonprofit education organization formed by governors and prominent business leaders, found that math and English tests for high school diplomas require only middle school knowledge, and that those math graduation tests measure only what students in other countries learn in the seventh grade? - - should we care?
If 2000 mathematicians and scientists, including four Nobel Prize recipients and two winners of a prestigious math prize, the Fields Medal, deplore math teaching methods saying they are 'horrifyingly short on basics' - should we care?
Were you surprised in February 2005 to read that China produced 4 times more BS engineering degrees than the U.S., and Japan twice as many. Nobel Prize-winning scientist R.E.Smalley of Rice University reported "by 2010, 90% of all Ph.D. physical scientists and engineers in the world will be Asian living in Asia." The International Math & Science Study reported U.S. 12th graders were out-performed by 90% of other nations in math and 76% in science. In advanced math the US was out performed by 94% and in science by 100% of other nations. The American Association for the Advancement of Science reported 90% of math books and 100% of science text books are unacceptable.
Were you suprised in 2005 when the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reported that the testing of 300,000 students nation-wide showed that 82% of 12th grade students were not proficient in math and science - - even worse than 10 years earlier. 73% of 4th graders failed to gain proficiency scores. 8th graders showed no improvement in the past 10 years. (Imprimis, Feb. 2005, page 2)
Were you surprised in 2006 to learn that 65% of 12-graders were not proficient in reading, a worse result than 1992 when the test was initiated. http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/view_from_america/index.html?siteSect=221
If the president of the American Association of Physics Teachers and his review committee say, 'none of the 12 textbooks used by 85% of middle school students have an acceptable level of accuracy' - - and that 'honors high school texts are no more difficult than an eighth grade reader was before World War II.' - - should we care?
Additionally, are too many teachers of math and science so inadequately educated in their subject as to be unable to identify error-laden text books and inadequate teaching methods to keep same out of the classroom? Many make excuses, trying to deflect blame. What action is being taken to protect students?

Answer 10

No - American citizens are not getting dumber.