WOW - Miss South Carolina

[Mike Felder]

The "3D Map of Cairo" from Raiders of the Lost Ark had me laughing really hard at work today (even though it's Tanis and not Cairo in the movie).

 

I sent in the Nike map of "The United Countries of Baseball," we'll see if it makes it on.

[jaybird2001wi]

About

MapsforUs.org is the online home, where people can donate maps to the citizens of the United States.

 

From South Africa to Iraq, the world is alarmed at the recent polls that show a fifth of Americans can't locate the US on a world map. We personally believe that it a crisis of epic proportions that US Americans are unable to do so, because some people out their in our nation don't have maps.

 

And we believe that our education, like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere…like. Such as. And we believe you should donate maps to this cause.

[Thurston Fluff]

That made me very sad. My goddaughter is blond, cute, 16 and about as bright. I love her to death but all I saw when I wathced that was my niece. Thank God they are both good looking enough to get by on looks alone.

[ccbrew]

Just in case you thought her performance was due to stage-fright, mishearing the question, or anything other than being an airhead..

 

http://jezebel.com/gossip/the-american-titocracy/miss-teen-south-carolina-to-facebook-frenemies-victory-is-myn-295141.php

[TooLiveBrew]

holy crap. Too bad there isn't a "Delusional, Scared, Self-Esteem Impaired, One-Dimensional Losers" facebook group. Maybe she can start it! Seriously, do not miss this link. Ugh. "I was nervous!" Yes, which somehow managed to make you even more of a moron. Embarassment to our country is right.

[mothershipconnection]

UGG! IT'S "YOU'RE"

[HebrewHammer]

Wow, that link is rancid. This girl is really, really dumb. She misspelled so many words just terribly. Really, she spelled "Mine", "Myn"? Seriously? Or should I say, "serisously"? She never used question marks when forming a question. Just a terribly written piece of garbage.

 

I have news, she didn't "meltdown" on TV. She's a twit.

 

And if Arizona State University really gave her a full "schlorship"....I've lost a lot of respect for that school.

[bball123h2]

A "schlorship" is like a scholarship, except that the money is provided by the parents, not the university. Between this and Borat, I am really glad I decided against the University of South Carolina scholarship I was offered many moons ago. Such as. Therefore. The Iraq. Maps.

[HebrewHammer]

She apparently got a "redo" on the Today Show where she was asked the same question. She still talked about maps. About how her and her friends know how to read maps and that we need to teach more geography to kids so they know how to read maps.

 

Does it really have so much to do with maps? Why is she so obsessed with maps? Maps this,, maps that!!

[jaybird2001wi]

Here is how I would have answered the question:

 

"The state of American education today is lagging due to budget cuts in curriculums across the country. In my experience, the reason why 1/5th of Americans can't locate the U.S. on the map is because the students did not seem to pay attention in social studies courses in elementary school. The key for Americans to become more adept at their surroundings is people need to start learning at a younger age and the education system of America needs to continue to uphold or reiterate these early teachings throughout middle and high school. Because the standard or norm is that kids tend to forget what they have learned in prior years of schooling. So it needs to be taught at a more intense pace."

[COOOOP]

That was completely sad. It was like, such as, a malfunctioning automaton that started spewing gibberish. For our children.

[mothershipconnection]

Here is how I would have answered the question:

 

I would have simply questioned the validity of the data and turned the question on the questioner. That simply can't be a representative sample those data came from. Of course, after watching this girl and her "full schlorship", maybe it really is true.

[jlau20]

The question still irks me a bit too...maybe they polled five pre-K students and one of them didn't know, hence it became a stat to be used on national television.

[TooLiveBrew]

that's technically all they would have needed to do, which is sad & pathetic. And why I wouldn't doubt that it happened in the least. Or that they just flat-out made up the stat. For the children. And the Asian countries.

 

I'd honestly love to type to her wall, "You are unintelligible." Just to watch her leap right on that sword, making fun of me for not knowing how to spell "unintelligent" and being a hypocrite. It's obvious that she's smart and the only explanation for people pointing out what a stupid, vapid, brainless bimbo she is are just jealous. Right. And such.

[HebrewHammer]

Honestly, the question is probably true. I seriously wouldn't doubt if 20% of people couldn't locate a single country on a map. It's sad but we are a country that doesn't believe much in virtue. We value money and celebrities. The virtue of knowledge and thought isn't something a lot of people care about it seems.

 

BTW, she's not going to Arizona, she's going to Appalachian State University. That's the apparent ASU she referenced.

[patrickgpe]

i know those who are scared to speak in public should not enter beauty pageants, and it was funny the first couple times but it is getting old. I do not like to speak in public, so i know how tough it can be for me to do so. She has just messed up to a much larger audience me giving a training session at work or a presentation in school. Plus it was a dumb question and she had no time to prepare. Also AC Slater giving his thing on how you have to think on your feet in front of millions of people didn't help.

[lukevan]

Honestly, the question is probably true. I seriously wouldn't doubt if 20% of people couldn't locate a single country on a map. It's sad but we are a country that doesn't believe much in virtue. We value money and celebrities. The virtue of knowledge and thought isn't something a lot of people care about it seems.

 

BTW, she's not going to Arizona, she's going to Appalachian State University. That's the apparent ASU she referenced.

 

Yeah, I would've pointed out the decrease of emphasis in public schools on geography and the increase of emphasis on economics/business as a reason. Geography isn't one of those "tangible" subjects that are going to lead to a career unless you plan on doing something that specifically deals with international travel or affairs. Thus, in America, it is de-emphasized.

 

Either that or I'd have tried to use "such as" as a verb.

[mothershipconnection]

I seriously wouldn't doubt if 20% of people couldn't locate a single country on a map.

 

But America? Most of us have an education and those who don't have a favorite T-Shirt with a big flag on it that has an outline of America exploding out of a screeching eagle's mouth. Or they've been to a few Toby Keith shows.

[Brian the Automator]

Most of us have an education and those who don't have a favorite T-Shirt with a big flag on it that has an outline of America exploding out of a screeching eagle's mouth.

So, I'm probably going to have to throw out my non-political-conversation spiel here...

 

[BrewCrewForever]

That was brutal. She made no sense whatsoever. And she was trying to sound intelligent but it just wasn't working.

[HebrewHammer]

I seriously wouldn't doubt if 20% of people couldn't locate a single country on a map.

 

But America? Most of us have an education and those who don't have a favorite T-Shirt with a big flag on it that has an outline of America exploding out of a screeching eagle's mouth.

That's probably the problem. It has an outline of the political boundaries of the country, from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. When given a map of the world with no political borders, people are probably looking for the shape of the USA somewhere and not for North America.

It sounds insane but I'd imagine it's not too far off. I would imagine given a set of continents that 20% of Americans (and probably of the world, if not more) couldn't point out North America, thus making it impossible to locate the USA. I'd imagine more American's could point out the USA if it was a silhouette defined by its political boundaries.

 

[brewcrew00]

I seriously wouldn't doubt if 20% of people couldn't locate a single country on a map.

 

But America? Most of us have an education and those who don't have a favorite T-Shirt with a big flag on it that has an outline of America exploding out of a screeching eagle's mouth. Or they've been to a few Toby Keith shows.

Sorry not everyone was raised with the same opportunities as you. Make sure your pedestal doesn't get too high. http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/mad.gif

 

[jaybird2001wi]

When I was in geography class in middle school, one of our oral assignments was to find countries on a world map. Our teacher would pick a student's name out of a hat and a country out of a hat and we had to physically walk up to the front of the class to locate the country. If we got it right, we got 10 bonus points for the class and if we got it wrong, we were docked 5 points from our final grade.

[Katuluu]

I would imagine given a set of continents that 20% of Americans (and probably of the world, if not more) couldn't point out North America, thus making it impossible to locate the USA.

 

But who cares if infants, toddlers, and people with Alzheimer's can find any America? Or did you mean 20% of a pre-determined set of Americans, not a representative one? I mean, let's be honest, "20%" is an absurdly ambiguous stat that's being tossed around rather freely as fact.

 

About the only thing you can determine based off of that question and her response is that she isn't a statistics major. The rest of it screams bias.

[HebrewHammer]

I would imagine given a set of continents that 20% of Americans (and probably of the world, if not more) couldn't point out North America, thus making it impossible to locate the USA.

 

But who cares if infants, toddlers, and people with Alzheimer's can find any America? Or did you mean 20% of a pre-determined set of Americans, not a representative one? I mean, let's be honest, "20%" is an absurdly ambiguous stat that's being tossed around rather freely as fact.

 

About the only thing you can determine based off of that question and her response is that she isn't a statistics major. The rest of it screams bias.

 

Fair enough. I'm assuming that the 20% of people would be from a set of mentally competent and capable people who *should* know this.

 

But then that's probably a naive assumption as the study was likely conducted by or for a group that has a certain agenda. Or it's garbage shock statistics, which once again are usually agenda biased and junk.

 

But her answer is what it is. She needs to reply in that context as if my above assumptions were true and that the question was true in terms of facts and genuine in terms of the set of people polled would reasonably be expected to know such an answer. That's the context of the show. Your approach is certainly more scientifically valid but would likely be unacceptable in her situation.....but then why would it? It's certainly the smarter approach...