Dear Friends: "Let's get things back into perspective!"
1. The United States of America has 5% of the world's population, but 25% of the people in jail!
2. Asia produces more great TV shows than America does!
3. Despite being (bar none) the most religious nation in the developed world, Americans know stunningly little about religion. We're talking C+ on their own religions, and F on others' religions. That's according to a Pew Research Center survey back in 2010.
4. Stunning numbers of Americans are unaware that "socialism" isn't just another word for "Stalinism." They're pretty much clueless about how most of the rest of the developed world lives, and therefore fail to learn from patently obvious examples right on their doorstep.
5. Divorce rates were at their lowest in the 1950s because of the confluence of many factors, but were actually quite high in the 1920s.
6. About 60% of young Americans do not know where Iraq is.
7. Americans sort of live under the impression that corruption is in places like Chicago, New York and New Orleans. Chances are, you’re living in a town or city whose elected officials would make your skin crawl if you paid attention.
8. The Civil War was fought over the right to have and extend slavery. It was not fought over “states’ rights”, or some other nonsense. Jefferson Davis himself declared that the South was seceding over slavery. The Confederate flag was never the official emblem of the South. It was the battle flag, nothing more.
9. Peeing on a jellyfish sting is not an effective treatment.Neither is peeing on a cut!
10. US foreign aid accounts for less than 1% of the budget. Cutting foreign aid does little to help taxpayers, and just contributes to instability in the countries receiving the aid.
11. From 2009 to 2014, more Mexican immigrants left the US than came there. So, why do they need a wall?
12. Obamacare is the Affordable Care Act. Several rigorous surveys have been done, which show that Americans as a whole are opposed to Obamacare because of propaganda by the Republicans. But when these same people are asked that question when the proper name of the law is used, surveys show that they overwhelmingly support it.
13. In the 1950s America had a 90% tax rate for the highest income level. Remember, this was during the time of greatest prosperity and standard of living!
14. We could cut the military budget by 200 billion dollars and still be spending more than the next three largest armies put together. We could send every student to two year college, take in and pay for 10 million refugees (assuming they never leave welfare), AND give every American a 2% income tax break for that 200 billion.
(National Science Foundation; Note, most of these are also the people who are heavy duty into religion and voted for Trump!)
16. Almost half of the U.S. population doesn't believe in evolution!
17. South Korea, in spite of the "North Korean menace" to the north, is actually a much safer place to live than the USA. You do not have nutcases standing up in crowded theaters brandishing semi-automatic assault weapons and shooting anything that moves.
18. Speaking of the military, it IS far reaching. There are more than 700 US military bases throughout the world. The average American forgets that there are more US military bases than there are US embassies.
19. Iran is a Persian, Farsi speaking nation. They are not Arabs, they never were, and they never will be.
20. "Packing heat," as is commonly said, will not protect you, or make your life safer. Statistically speaking, having a firearm in the house means that it will most likely be used in a domestic squabble, rather than in defense against an intruder. Remember the story about Marvin Gaye? Well, he was shot by his father, for whom he had bought a pistol as a Christmas present, a pistol for his father to use to "protect himself."
1. The United States of America has 5% of the world's population, but 25% of the people in jail!
2. Asia produces more great TV shows than America does!
3. Despite being (bar none) the most religious nation in the developed world, Americans know stunningly little about religion. We're talking C+ on their own religions, and F on others' religions. That's according to a Pew Research Center survey back in 2010.
4. Stunning numbers of Americans are unaware that "socialism" isn't just another word for "Stalinism." They're pretty much clueless about how most of the rest of the developed world lives, and therefore fail to learn from patently obvious examples right on their doorstep.
5. Divorce rates were at their lowest in the 1950s because of the confluence of many factors, but were actually quite high in the 1920s.
6. About 60% of young Americans do not know where Iraq is.
7. Americans sort of live under the impression that corruption is in places like Chicago, New York and New Orleans. Chances are, you’re living in a town or city whose elected officials would make your skin crawl if you paid attention.
8. The Civil War was fought over the right to have and extend slavery. It was not fought over “states’ rights”, or some other nonsense. Jefferson Davis himself declared that the South was seceding over slavery. The Confederate flag was never the official emblem of the South. It was the battle flag, nothing more.
9. Peeing on a jellyfish sting is not an effective treatment.Neither is peeing on a cut!
10. US foreign aid accounts for less than 1% of the budget. Cutting foreign aid does little to help taxpayers, and just contributes to instability in the countries receiving the aid.
11. From 2009 to 2014, more Mexican immigrants left the US than came there. So, why do they need a wall?
12. Obamacare is the Affordable Care Act. Several rigorous surveys have been done, which show that Americans as a whole are opposed to Obamacare because of propaganda by the Republicans. But when these same people are asked that question when the proper name of the law is used, surveys show that they overwhelmingly support it.
13. In the 1950s America had a 90% tax rate for the highest income level. Remember, this was during the time of greatest prosperity and standard of living!
14. We could cut the military budget by 200 billion dollars and still be spending more than the next three largest armies put together. We could send every student to two year college, take in and pay for 10 million refugees (assuming they never leave welfare), AND give every American a 2% income tax break for that 200 billion.
- It costs less money to take in every single refugee from the Middle East and pay for them constantly on welfare than if they all joined ISIS.
- It costs 1,000% more to send someone to jail than to put them on welfare.
- Bernie Sanders is not a communist. He wants free education and healthcare, something that basically all of Europe has. He’s as much a communist as Canada is.
- China’s going to be the next superpower. I’m sorry America, but our Golden Age is ending.
- 40 years ago it was a federal crime to have gay sex.
- Half of America didn’t join the other political party just to piss you off, they had their own reasons for why they think their party is the best.
(National Science Foundation; Note, most of these are also the people who are heavy duty into religion and voted for Trump!)
16. Almost half of the U.S. population doesn't believe in evolution!
17. South Korea, in spite of the "North Korean menace" to the north, is actually a much safer place to live than the USA. You do not have nutcases standing up in crowded theaters brandishing semi-automatic assault weapons and shooting anything that moves.
18. Speaking of the military, it IS far reaching. There are more than 700 US military bases throughout the world. The average American forgets that there are more US military bases than there are US embassies.
19. Iran is a Persian, Farsi speaking nation. They are not Arabs, they never were, and they never will be.
20. "Packing heat," as is commonly said, will not protect you, or make your life safer. Statistically speaking, having a firearm in the house means that it will most likely be used in a domestic squabble, rather than in defense against an intruder. Remember the story about Marvin Gaye? Well, he was shot by his father, for whom he had bought a pistol as a Christmas present, a pistol for his father to use to "protect himself."
21. AND FINALLY: 20% of Americans are not functionally literate, and I'm even more horrified to learn that 7% of the illiterate people are *college graduates* ← how did they do *that*?
I find that a disturbingly large number of people, and it has far-ranging effects. NONE of those people can look stuff up to see if it is true, they cannot read safety directions on their home appliances, or maintenance for their cars, warnings on products, or the labels on their prescription drugs - they are going to incur all sorts of injuries, illnesses and expenses because they don’t know, and can’t easily find out, many simple facts about the world they must live in…
WORSE they are doomed to believe things because they saw them on TV.
Without access to other sources of information, this large proportion of people will have a view of the world comprised only of the sorts of things that normally appear on TV!
Conspiracy theories and alarmist, exaggerated, attention grabbing fluff - and these people vote, contribute to campaigns, and raise children - despite being unable to read the package directions on how the world operates and what it is made of!
Sadly, the best predictor of who will end up in a prison is illiteracy.
Without illiteracy, people would be able to decide for themselves whether climate change was happening, or find out how closely related the races are, what concentration of wealth means to them, or income disparity. They would be in a better position to make wise personal and societal choices.
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