I've just been accused of being "Un-American" . . .

[ET Awful]

Because I knew there was an illiteracy problem in America.

On another forum I post on frequently, someone from Norway made a post in which he mentioned "illiterate Americans." I ignored his post until another person (one who constantly posts conspiracy theories that even I consider too far out to be taken seriously) said "there's no such thing as an illiterate American." So, I pointed him to various sources showing that as many as 40-50% of Americans are close to if not below the mark of being "functionally illiterate."

This guy attacks me and calls me un-american and a fascist nazi because I knew there was an illiteracy problem in America.

Sheeesh, I've heard some idiotic accusations before, but this really takes the cake :).

BTW, if you guys and gals ever wanna get in on some more argumentative posts, come on over to fearbush.com, we have a few resident conservatives that do a great job of proving our opinions of them right :). Oh, and for the thread I'm talking about . . . http://www.fearbush.com/forums/index.php?s=37f387a2436fea05ac447365090e556f&act=ST&f=1&t=2423&st=75&#entry24144

Yes, the thread gets greatly off topic, but the parts I'm talking about are at the end (pages 5 and 6 of the thread I believe).

LOL . . . I've never been accused of being a nazi because I had information about illiteracy before . . . this is a new one :).

edited for spelling error

[Bozola]

1. Got it bookmarked.

See ya there.

Wow, 39 posts, but yet a donor. Sweet!

[ET Awful]

5. Yup . .. I'm a donor

I really needed that search function :).

That, and it was for a good cause (during the drive last week).

[alphafemale]

2. LOL!

Nice to see he's not going to "stariotype" anybody.

[prolesunited]

7. Isn't it amusing

how their awful spelling always gives them away?

[DuctapeFatwa]

3. Maybe he is sensitive because his parents weren't married

;)

[ET Awful]

4. LOL

Yeah, but they still don't allow first cousins to marry in his state :)

[salmonhorse]

6. Methodology ~

http://www.urban.org/Content/Research/NewFederalism/NSAF/Overview/NSAFOverview.htm

There is a great deal of research being compiled that will support the notion that Americans are indeed an assembly of functional illiterate', that our "union" is far less than "more perfect", and that we are no where near as civil or democratic as we present ourselves to the rest of the world preferring ignorance, in fact, to intellectual curiousity; but as to whether you'd be un-American for recognizing that or any combination of these prospect? No. In fact the Nixon-Bush-Cheney Admin relies rather heavily on functional illiterate' for their voting & support base. Assuming of course that the Nixon-Bush-Cheney Admin is the bench-mark for what an American actually is ~

:shrug:

[BiggJawn]

8. Badge of Honour! Good on ya!

When a "Moran" calls you "un-Amurrikan", that's a compliment. It means you made their brain hurt, and perhaps chipped away at their "Gawd Bless Murka" boilerplate a little...
:7

[ET Awful]

10. The problem with this guy . . .

Is that he's SO left-wing, he's gone full-circle and come back around to the right, the dufus circumnavigated the political sphere :)

[DemBones DemBones]

9. Obviously you don't understand that all our children are

above average in this fine country, ergo illiteracy cannot exist here.

[ScreamingMeemie]

17. and don't forget the women are strong and the men are good lookin'

;-)

[WoodrowFan]

11. ewwwww

Now I remember why I like the DU staying "left only." I saw this lovely sentence by someone named 'goose'(discussing Alabama's 10 commandments rock).

"I'd soon rather be queer than see this country turn into an atheist hellhole.


yuck

[ET Awful]

12. Goose is an odd one . . .

He has spent hours justifying the massacre of native americans, defending the nuking of Japan and basically saying that massacring large numbers of people is fine, as long as those people aren't jewish.

I've tried to point out to him that killing large numbers of any kind of people is a pretty bad idea, but he doesn't seem to get it :).

The forum itself can be quite interesting though. There's a few posters from other countries (France, Norway, the UK or Scottland) that make it very interesting because you get some real outside perspective.

There's only 3 or 4 real conservative types that post (Smokey, Westie, Goose and Grimey, who is more of a me too type poster with no new ideas just a "good post" when one of the others says something). They are easily handled because they spend most of their time frothing at the mouth or making non-sequiter points and roll eyes smilies :)

All in all, not a bad forum.

[WoodrowFan]

14. attacking a people

I noticed saint777 kept insisting that you were "attacking the american people" by discussing illiteracy. Is a Doctor attacking a patient when he tells them they are overweight and need to exercise? sheesh.


I did think the board had too many "f*** yous" in the posts for my taste.... I get made enough here with that being added!! LOL

[ET Awful]

15. It does get rather aggressive over there. . .

I come here for information, and there when I really feel like letting the fur fly :).

We aren't as restrained over there, but there is a great deal of good information to be had there.

There is some underlying hostility in that board (and I've been guilty of some myself).

I like both boards, this one has a lot more posters, and a lot more information that shows up here first. That one has the foreign people contributing, and a couple of resident freeper types that keep the conversation pretty lively :).

[ComerPerro]

13. That is pretty messed up

Some people are sick.
You are a Nazi because you know there is a literacy issue that needs to be addressed?

[Ohio Dem]

16. Yep. This is common.

When you point out a problem with this country in an effort to make it better, many on the right will call you unpatriotic.

Al Franken makes a point in his book that I really like. Conservatives love their country like a 4-year-old loves her mommy. Mommy is perfect and can do nothing wrong. Liberals love their country like an adult loves another adult. They know that the other adult isn't perfect because nobody is. So they work to try to help the other person improve.

We want to fix what's wrong with America because we're all grown up. Conservatives want to pretend that nothing this country does is ever wrong. They act like 4-year-olds.

Al Franken is right.

[bloom]

19. yeah - it probably also makes it easier for them to justify

their belief that we do not need any social programs (that their taxes would help fund).

[arcane1]

18. in this current climate, facts are considered treason

the truth hurts, and it's tough-love time for the USA

[radwriter0555]

20. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! Welcome to the Club of Unamerican Dissidents!

It's a FINE club to belong to, because, after all, we're the ones who use our brains, instead of buying into and re-spewing the lies and bullshit of the AM tawk radio fanatics.

Welcome, welcome!

[Robin Hood]

21. THis explains Bush's right wing base.

"Around 40 percent or higher of the adult population of the US is functionally illiterate. Around 20% or slightly higher is nearly totally illiterate."

[MODemocrat]

22. I believe he just proved the point you were making

Many people, if ignorant on any subject, instead of admitting it, or just asking about it, they start the name-calling. He may not be illiterate, but sure is mis-informed.

[dolo amber]

23. Good grief

I got to about the 6th post and had to stop reading. (Mostly because that's when my eyes started bleeding from the ghastly spelling and grammar.) Are those people for real?! Because you mention that a large part of the adult American population is functionally illiterate you're *attacking the American people*? I too have worked with adult literacy programs here in E. KY. It is HEARTBREAKING to see a 65 year old man trying to read a second-grade book because he "didn't want to be embarrased in front of his grandchildren". God, I am just SO SICK of this mentality!! It seriously makes me question if maybe they're aren't two completely different types of human beings. I do not see how some people can be so reactionary, blind, and ignorant and belong to the same species as people who truly care about their fellow man. I am wording this terribly, but I'm so annoyed, sad, and frustrated today (especially after this and the OH food-line stories) I can't even think straight. :(

[ET Awful]

24. The really sad thing . . .

Is that this twit isn't even right-wing. He's just . . well . . DUMB.

Look elsewhere on those forums for his ranting about the Illuminati and Skull & Bones :). . . I mean . . . geeeesh, this guy makes those freaks I knew in Sedona seem rational :)

[MadHound]

25. Anti-intellectualism is rampant in this country

And has been for a long, long while. It is something that has been drilled into our heads since birth. From the picked upon "brains" in school, to the eighth grade reading level that newspapers and magazines are published at, virtually everything in this country is geared towards the non-intellectual. What was part of the reason Adli Stevenson lost to Ike? Because he was "an egghead". What was one of the most popular critisms of Gore? That he was too intellectual. And on and on.

I think there has been a deliberate dumbing down in America over the past fifty to sixty years. My mom, who was born in the early thirties, was learning algerbra in the fifth and sixth grade, and learning college level calculas in the ninth. And she was not an exception, she was the rule. I've collected some old mags during my life. Unlike most magazines today, reading those old ones is an intellectual challenge. Newspapers were the same way. Even people who didn't attend high school were functionally literate. My grandfather completed just the eighth grade, yet was able to read some pretty heavy books, and did complex algerbra and calc problems in the course of his career(major construction projects).

I think part of the reason for this is that kids didn't have the luxury of a long adolescence. Most kids were expected to start making their own way in the world at the age of sixteen. At the very least most kids helped their parents out in their job or around the house. They also married younger and had children of their own at a younger age. Thus knowledge was forced into their head at a fast pace and high density.

In this modern day kids have a prolonged adolescence, sometimes extending into their mid twenties. The knowledge that they are given is given at a slower rate, is much fluffier in content, and is predicated upon where that child has been slotted. If the child has been slotted in the lower tiers, well you can forget Melville, Plato and differential equations. Yet even the child who has been slotted higher doesn't get a well rounded education. They all recieve an education that is geared towards making them good workers(and consumers) with little emphasis on making them good citizens and well rounded individuals. Whereas generations gone by had graduates who could be bankers and still work on their car, or plumbers who read Plato, now we are stuck with bankers who not only can't work on their car, but their reading list goes no higher than the latest Clancy novel. Their mechanic rarely reads more than is required, so he fills his free time with Fox and other such tripe TV.

However keeping the populace dumbed down does benefit the powers that be(at least in the short term). Non-thinking people will criticize them less, buy their BS excuses more, and be a much more docile group to herd.

So teach your children what the schools won't. Things like critical thinking, media manipulation, how to be a good and well informed citizen. Our country's future depends on it. I've got a couple of neighbor kids whose education I'm supplementing and I recommend that to anyone. The joys of watching a child's face when he finally "gets it" is priceless.