Voters Are Uninformed But Some Less Than Others

We all laugh at the ambush videos on YouTube. College kids that don’t know how many states are in the country, oops that was a president my mistake, have no idea what the constitution says or can’t even match a policy with a party or a politician. We watch them and think well they are showing us only the funny ones. We like to think our fellow Americans at least know the bill of rights, even though congress and the courts seem to have no idea the 10th amendment is there. It’s a good laugh and then we go on about our business.

Turns out things may really be as bad as those man in the street videos present them to be. A recent  poll by JustFacts found that not only were a majority of voters uninformed the were misinformed about basic issues in our country. There’s no patting any particular group on the back here when you see the questions you’d really hope for scores of 75% or better.

Percentage Correct Answer By Demographic

• 47% for Republican voters
• 43% for males
• 42% for 35 to 64 year olds
• 41% for 18 to 34 year olds
• 38% for 65+ year olds
• 38% for third-party voters
• 37% for females
• 34% for Democrat voters

—JustFacts

No real surprise Republicans as a group topped the list. We get upset when rights are lost or when the government abuses its power because we know it’s actually happening and what we are losing. 47% though is still a sad number. It’s particular bad when you consider the questions the survey had. While there were some I certainly wouldn’t expect most people to know most were of the sort you could likely guess correctly.

Question 1: Relative to other nations, how do you believe U.S. fourth graders rank in terms of their reading and math ability? Are they in the bottom 50% or in the top 50%?

Correct Answer: Top 50%. In international tests administered to students in dozens of nations, U.S. fourth graders rank in the top 30% of nations for reading and for math. Confusion about this issue may stem from the fact that the relative performance of U.S. students declines over time, and by the age of 15, they drop to the bottom 50% in reading and to the bottom 20% in math. This suggests that the problems of the U.S. education system may occur in the later years, not the early years, as many have claimed.

Question 13: Now, just thinking about the United States, in your opinion, is the air generally more polluted than it was in the 1980s?

Correct Answer: No. EPA data shows that ambient levels of all criteria air pollutants have declined significantly since the 1980s.  (Ed note: pollution in general has been in decline for nearly a century now)

Question 15: Without government subsidies, which of these technologies do you think is the least expensive method for generating electricity? Wind turbines, solar panels, or natural gas power plants?

Correct Answer: Natural gas power plants.

Pretty tame fare. The Education question  might be considered a gotcha or a test of how you view the country, it’s still kind of hard to imagine anyone looking at any of the data and coming away the impression we are in the bottom.

Lack of knowledge of the issues, doesn’t explain all of our current political divide, after all if an issue is important to you, you will run into the facts sooner or later. It does however highlight the ignorance and apathy that have become baked into our society.

“An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.

—Thomas Jefferson”

Still just as true as when he said it. So while we may survive as a nation, unless we can improve ourselves, surviving as a free people is problematic.

 Those That Sow The Wind Shall Reap The Whirlwind

Ever hear the term corporate mission ? Then wonder just why it needed to be defined as anything than providing goods and services for the customers, proper working conditions for the employees and a profit for the stakeholders ? Well it’s the 21st century and little things like making a profit, honoring contracts, and doing your job have become passe. It’s all about creating outrage, appeasing the outraged, and praying to heaven that the outrage doesn’t wind up targeting you because no matter how big you are, or how much you have done no one is safe. It looks like google is finding out first hand just how crippling their policies can wind up being.

First they had an internal firestorm over the James Damore memo, sparked by his audacity in realizing that men and women are different and might just have different interests. Then the company allowed it’s employees to force it out of participating in U.S. Government contracts

Earlier this year, a group of influential software engineers in Google’s cloud division surprised their superiors by refusing to work on a cutting-edge security feature. Known as “air gap,” the technology would have helped Google win sensitive military contracts

(Ed Note: Air Gap is a security technology that protects data center equipment from being hacked through a network. It’s a means of making certain there is no permanent connection, not a weapons system nor an implement of violence)

––Bloomberg

All this while being willing to build technology for the Chinese that will allow them to spy on their citizens and censor the information they receive.

Well now Google’s management may get to see just how little control they have left of their company, as their employees are now demanding the scalp of the man responsible for Google’s wildly successful Android system.

(SAN FRANCISCO) — Hundreds of Google engineers and other workers are expected to walk off the job Thursday morning to protest the internet company’s lenient treatment of executives accused of sexual misconduct

The Google protest, billed “Walkout For Real Change,” is unfolding a week after a New York Times story detailed allegations of sexual misconduct about creator of its Android software, Andy Rubin. The report said Rubin received a $90 million severance package in 2014 even though Google concluded the sexual misconduct allegations again him were credible.

Rubin derided the Times story article as inaccurate and denied the allegations in a tweet .

—Time

Google has an ongoing interest in Mr. Rubin’s new phone company Essential. His accuser had waited over a year to make her “credible” allegations, and much of the corroboration comes from his Ex-Wife who he is in the process of divorcing.

Not going to defend a sexual harasser but Google when it was a young company is said to have operated on San Francisco values. They are going to have a fun time going forward now that they are being turned into a target rich environment.

Till Death Do Us Part ? ????

Well it’s the Day Of The Dead, so this seems appropriate.

A British woman who claimed she has slept with at least 20 ghosts says she’s now engaged to a poltergeist.

In December, Amethyst Realm told British TV show “ITV This Morning” that she cheated on her fiancé with a ghost, and has since gone on to have supernatural affairs with at least 20 paranormal beings.

Well, now she says she’s found true love with an apparition.

— The New York Post

Tell me again how redefining marriage was all about dignity and not catering to mental illness ?

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Drink up That’s it for the Watercooler today. As always it’s an open thread