Wednesday, July 05, 2006

ignorance is bliss

http://pewresearch.org/obdeck/?ObDeckID=32

In a 2002 Pew Global Attitudes Project survey, 60% of Americans agreed with the statement: "Our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others."
This placed Americans in the bottom third of the 43 national publics
surveyed, far behind counties such as Indonesia (90% completely or mostly agreed with the statement), South Korea (90%), Egypt (88%), Mexico (86%), India (85%), Mali (80%), Uzbekistan (77%), Bolivia (77%), Tanzania (77%), and Bulgaria (74%).
Among the publics of Western Europe, on the other hand, there was even less inclination to assert cultural superiority than in the United States. Just 55% of Italians agreed with the statement; as did just 40% of Germans; just 37% of the British; and just 33% of the French, the smallest percentage among any of the 43 nations surveyed. (So much for the arrogant French!)


It is easily observable that the people who are most sure that they know everything about everything are the most ignorant. The more I know, the more I know I don't know. I would say that these poll results tend to show the same holds true for attitudes about the superiority of one's culture.

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