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The entirety of democracy in the United States is based upon a principle that has become increasingly flawed: the concept of “the wisdom of the masses.” According to Cornell University psychologist David Dunning, Americans are so ignorant that they are not even aware of their own ignorance, and are also unable to determine the ignorance of elected officials. If we do not address this problem soon, the ignorance of our countrymen will become our greatest threat to national security.
Within the first five minutes of watching any news program, it is almost guaranteed that you will be presented with a public opinion poll. These polls are a historical staple of election seasons, and they operate on a basic premise introduced by the famous pollster George Gallup. He proved that if done correctly, a small sample size of people could predict the leanings of an entire population.
There are roughly 314 million people living in the United States. According to sample size calculators easily found online, you can determine the opinion of the United States population with 95% confidence and a 5% margin of error by polling just 385 people. This statistical phenomenon is remarkable, yet it becomes frightening when you begin to research some of the other popular opinions of Americans.
In a recent survey of 1,000 Americans conducted by Newsweek magazine, 33% of respondents did not know when the Declaration of Independence was adopted, and only 27% knew that the Cold War was about Communism. According to a 2006 Zogby poll, only 2 out of 5 Americans can name the three branches of our government. A National Geographic poll showed that 6 out of 10 people surveyed could not find Iraq on a map. Speaking of the Middle East, according to research scientists Michael Delli Carpini and Scott Keeter, only 49% of Americans can name the only country to ever actually use a nuclear weapon in a war. Yup, that was us.
Let us focus on something a little less intense. American Idol is consistently one of the most popular shows on television, and continues to get amazing viewer participation through its voting system. Most Americans are not music industry specialists, and could not be expected to know how to determine which contestant would become a best selling artist on their own. Yet through the power of numbers, we should be able to get it right, right?
The contestant with the highest sales on their debut album was Carrie Underwood, who sold over 7.4 million copies. America voted for her to win American Idol in its 4th season, but that’s where America’s good sense ended. The next two highest sales belong to Chris Daughtry who finished 4th in season 5 (4.8 million), and Clay Aiken, the runner-up from season 2 (2.8 million). Or consider Jennifer Hudson, who came in 7th place in season 3. All she did was win an Oscar for her performance in Dreamgirls and sold nearly 1 million copies of her first album.
These results prove one of two possibilities. Either millions of Americans can be wrong from the outset, voting for the contestant that is not the most likely to succeed, or that once the contestant they selected has won, they no longer support them as much as another contestant. What does this say about our commitment to elected officials? What does this say about our ability to choose a President?
This may seem to be a fatalistic outlook on my fellow countrymen, but the growth of ignorance is becoming more and more important with each successive year. Americans are laughably ignorant of the world outside of our own personal bubbles, and eventually that lack of knowledge will lead to our downfall.
Fortunately, there is still time to reverse the trend. Rick Shenkman, a historian at George Mason University, has the opinion that just because Americans are ignorant does not mean that we are dumb. He has proposed an easy fix that would require all college freshmen to take classes involving a weekly current events quiz. For those that are not in college it will be more difficult, but if those that are informed make an effort to reach out to those that are not, perhaps we can begin to stem the tide of ignorance.
We are all in this country together, and the more we do to increase the awareness in our immediate circles, the better off life will be for everyone.
you forgot to mention how the establishment liberal media, and the democratic party as a whole, has taken it upon themselves to distract and misinform the public whenever possible
and maybe if we did current events quizzes in middle school, like one teacher i had did, we wouldn’t have to do it in college