letters to the prez...

[Ken Gargett]

apparenty there is a new book out with letters written by kids on all manner of topics. here are two that went to obama.

hope this thread is not too political.

"If I were president, I would help all nations, even Hawaii."

—Chad Timsing, age 9, Los Angeles

"I really hope you put America back together. No pressure, though."

—Sheenie Shannon Yip, age 13, Seattle

[shrink]

"If I were president, I would help all nations, except Australia. It's a bloody disgrace."

—Chad Timsing, age 9, Los Angeles

[SethG]

Americans are terrible with geography, glad to see the problem continues! Obama himself has been to 59 states so far!

Oh well, a smart man once observed that us Americans learn geography by invading countries, then they broadcast maps of surrounding countries on the news for 6 months straight and then we get it. And then we forget after awhile, most still can't find germany on a map or France.

[Ken Gargett]

"If I were president, I would help all nations, except Australia. It's a bloody disgrace."

—Chad Timsing, age 9, Los Angeles

shamefully, correct.

[Ken Gargett]

Americans are terrible with geography, glad to see the problem continues! Obama himself has been to 59 states so far!

Oh well, a smart man once observed that us Americans learn geography by invading countries, then they broadcast maps of surrounding countries on the news for 6 months straight and then we get it. And then we forget after awhile, most still can't find germany on a map or France.

when i worked in DC, i couldn't believe some of the discussions.

the number of people surprised i could speak english (belt up, rob). one woman actually said she was amazed because my english was better than hers. a lot better, i pointed out.

i had guys in the law firm telling me that they loved our lions and tigers, others thought we were austria, almost all were stunned to find us the size of the mainland of the states. et al.

in the banking dept of 30 lawyers, only one other knew where jersey was. (not new jersey, the island). one thought it a small island off hawaii. and these were, otherwise, some of the sharpest, most intelligent people i have ever met.

one dentist i lived with mentioned one night that wwii didn't start till dec 1941 (and wwi was only a short time because it didn't count till the americans arrived). he was also stunned that we were in wwii.

i told that to a lawyer in the firm next morning and she was also surprised - i said i can't believe people didn't know that whereas i would not have been so surprised if americans were not aware we were in vietnam. really, she said, australia was in the vietnam war? what side were you on?

true story!

[SethG]

Yep, very true. But then again we work a whole lot harder in the US and we tend to give a helping hand a lot quicker and we always back up a friend in a fight.

[Wiley]

Ken, most Americans don't even have a clue about the geography inside our country, much less outside. Ignorance is an important part of popular culture.

However, we have an ass-load of people in this country, and I assure you that at least number-wise, if sadly not percentage-wise, there are a lot of people who are not so ignorant. My kids fared very well in a recent school geography bee.

What side was Australia on, anyway?

[Ken Gargett]

Yep, very true. But then again we work a whole lot harder in the US and we tend to give a helping hand a lot quicker and we always back up a friend in a fight.

i honestly have no idea whether this is meant sarcastically or not???

[El Presidente]

Then again Ken, head to any shopping centre in Australia and interview passing shoppers as to Geography, History, Politics.

It has been done many times before and the results are little different. If I recall correctly from the last "survey" majority of Aussie passers by in a shopping centre could not pinpoint on an Australian map where Canbera was located. It is only our capital. Given that, I suspect "Jersey" would be a stretch.

[terrantheman]

"If I were president, I would help all nations, except Australia. It's a bloody disgrace."

—Chad Timsing, age 9, Los Angeles

lmao that was pretty funny shrink

[Ken Gargett]

Then again Ken, head to any shopping centre in Australia and interview passing shoppers as to Geography, History, Politics.

It has been done many times before and the results are little different. If I recall correctly from the last "survey" majority of Aussie passers by in a shopping centre could not pinpoint on an Australian map where Canbera was located. It is only our capital. Given that, I suspect "Jersey" would be a stretch.

i completely agree with that. idiots abound everywhere (though often it is hardly their fault if not taught anything) and we have more than our fair share. the difference i found was that a great many extremely intelligent and highly educated people in DC had no idea. the bunch of lawyers mentioned was an international banking group in a major american firm (and probably the best lawyers i have encountered anywhere in the world - anyone who thinks that all american lawyers are ambulance chasers has no idea - without doubt, this firm had a higher standard of ethics, morale, quality of legal work and so on, than any other i have encountered and i have worked in some fairly major firms, here, there and in the UK) and almost to a man, they had no idea where many of the countries with which they were dealing were located. that, i found curious.