I heard this on the radio today about July 4th

Dar al-Dawa · #1 (**permalink**) 07-06-2010, 03:07 PM

A street survey was done asking people what July 4th/ Independence Day was about.

26% said that they didn't know.

20% said we fought to free ourselves form the Germans, Italians, Japanese, etc.

6% said it was the Chinese we fought for Independence.

And then we wonder how people could elect such clowns into congress, senate, and president.

jabbo · #2 (**permalink**) 07-06-2010, 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dar al-Dawa

A street survey was done asking people what July 4th/ Independence Day was about.

26% said that they didn't know.

20% said we fought to free ourselves form the Germans, Italians, Japanese, etc.

6% said it was the Chinese we fought for Independence.

And then we wonder how people could elect such clowns into congress, senate, and president.

A link to the poll. For clarification, the 20% and 6% make up the 26% that got the answer wrong, so 74% got it right - which still may be a bad thing, but the first comment from someone called "grand" on that link should be repeated here:

Quote:

Or it could be that as much as 26% of respondents found the survey question so absurd that they intentionally gave incorrect answers.

Or it could be that 26% of respondents misheard the question or had a technical error.

Or it could be that 26% of respondents have a non-Euro-centric view of history. For instance, how does a Native American interpret the concept of US independence? Their people were hear first, and their lands were taken away from them. They might interpret the question very differently, and may even find the suggestion of US ‘independence’ offensive.

Consider also that many parts of the US were formerly colonies of other nations, in particular, the French and Spanish, and rather than ‘winning their independence’ they were purchased or won in other wars (see for instance: The Louisiana Territory, Texas, Alaska).

Poll results can be misleading.

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