For those of us who don't sit around all day playing violent video games :), I have another suggestion. Make them explain it. According to this study, people THINK they understand a lot more about politics than they actually do. If you ask them to list the reasons why they support a policy, their opinion becomes even more extreme. But if you ask them to explain, methodically, step by step, how a policy works, they are at a loss. All of a sudden they begin to recognize, "hey, I'm kinda stupid!" When they recognize this, their opinions about said policy become much more moderate.
So this is what I suggest. We canvas the US with official looking questioners and make everybody back up their opinions with proof that they actually know what they're talking about. It could even be fun watchin all the crazy progressives try to appear intelligent while they fail, over and over, to be able to explain the policies that they support. Voila! The progressives feel sheepish and will LEAVE US ALONE. I don't know. What do you think? It could work.
If there's any doubt in your mind that Americans are less than savvy about politics, take a quick quiz here, and see how you fare. Then look at the dismal results for the nation. If we can't smarten people up, let's at least help them recognize their own ignorance.
The only flaw in the plan - in order to make someone feel "sheepish", they need to have a sense of shame.
ReplyDeleteI've never met a liberal with one of those.
Maybe that's where the hippie punching comes in. If they don't feel enough shame in their own stupidity we punch 'em. :)
DeleteDid you take the quiz?
12/13
ReplyDeleteI may just bring this quiz on the street with me and see what happens.
Not a bad score! You should get David Letterman's crew to go with you. It'd be awesome.
Delete13/13 for me. I love those kinds of quizzes. Moar!
DeleteOf course you loved it, cuz you aced it, obviously. Next time I'll have to find a TOUGH one...
Delete13 of 13, along with 8% of respondents.
ReplyDeleteI totally rock!
I think it's safe to say that the entire 8% either writes for NP or comments on it. :P HIGH PRAISE!!
DeleteI must admit, I only got 11 of 13, but I put it down to not knowing or caring what most people look like.
ReplyDeleteIn fact that's my one gripe with this quiz: You can ask me a zillion "actually political" questions of all sorts, but show me a picture of someone and ask "who is this?" my answer is likely some sarcastic and hyperbolic nonsense from which "I don't know" could be justly derived.
"Gunga Din, as played by Muttley"*
"Fauxcahontas"
"The Personification of Graft"
"Steve? Good heavens! I haven't seen you since Junior High! Oh, sorry, you're not Steve..."
"The rare dark spawn of potatoes and ham" (Potatoes and Ham go so well together they only very rarely produce dark spawn, but some people just seem to fit that description)
I did get "Chris Christie" right though - kinda hard not to, given all the left-wing mocking of his weight.
Oh, and that "Attorney General" thug too. I remember that face. I'll always remember that face. Sometimes I lie awake at night, dreaming that face is permanently behind bars. Hopefully chained to the walls. Upside down. And the exit has been bricked over. Don't worry - I don't obsess on him or anything - in my dream he has LOTS of company, almost all from DC.
And they dream for the mercy of a gun.
(shakes out of the reverie)
Anyways, I'm guessing that the most well-connected, politically astute, blind quiz taker would have gotten, at best, around 60%. Maybe.
Hey! I consider that an ADA violation!
* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dastardly_and_Muttley_in_Their_Flying_Machines
Hunter, you're AWESOME in my book. I'm with you. I didn't know what they all looked like, either. I'm trying to learn. How are things? I hope you're hanging in there. Praying for you.
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