How Stupid Kids May Get Barack Obama Elected President: Why They Should Be Seen But Not Allowed To Vote!

Posted on April 8, 2008
Filed Under Journalism, News, Politics, commentary |

Would you want a college student who didn’t know what country Kabul is in to help elect the leader of the free world?

Would you want a college student who thinks Roe v. Wade is about slavery to help elected the President of the United States?

Would you want a college student who doesn’t know that India and Japan are democracies and China and Cuba are not, to help put someone in the Oval Office for the next four and maybe even eight years?

Well, that may be exactly what is happening as the inmates appear to have taken over the asylum.

The New York Times reporting that more and more adults, who should know better, are caving to their children ,who are all but forcing their parents to cast a vote for Barack Obama.

“Their children made them do it,” is how the Times puts it.

Obama’s young, student supporters are ,according to the paper, sending their parents “the latest Obama YouTube videos, blog exhortations and ‘Tell Your Mama/Vote for Obama!’ bumper stickers.”

So, isn’t it great that students are politically engaged?

Sure…so long as they know something about the world in which they live. But, there is plenty of evidence that they do not.

The examples I cite at the top of this post come via an article written by Ted Gup ,who is a professor of journalism at Case Western Reserve University. He is describing students –college students–probably even Obama students–in his classes and just how ignorant they are of current events.  Gup’s experience is similar to what other professors have found in schools all across America. Indeed, I found similar examples in classes I taught at the USC School of Journalism, which is supposed to be one of the finest such schools in the nation!

Can they really be THAT ignorant?   YES THEY CAN BE

Gup tells how he asked his class of freshmen and sophomores how many had heard of the word “rendition?”—this after years of that word being used in newspapers and on television newscasts referring to the U.S. policy of shipping suspected terrorists off to other nations where they can be tortured to gain information.

No one in the class knew. And, when he told them, Gup says they were outraged this had been going on and wondered how this could have happened in America.

Gup’s answer was easy: He told his students to look around the room at one another and then he told them, they were “seated next to the answer.”

Gup says about one half of his class of 16 could not name a country bordering Israel, even though Middle Eastern politics and geography play such a crucial role in global events, especially the so-called war on terrorism.

Worse still, some of his students actually thought the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima ——-in 1975!!!!!!!  Wow!

A current affairs test?

Clearly schools, even so-called good ones such as USC, are failing their students. Parents are failing their children. The children are failing themselves.

So, what to do?

The idea of giving someone a test in order to vote seems almost un-American. But, maybe exceptions need to be made.  Just as drivers under 21 have certain restrictions placed on them in different states, maybe students need to be able to at least get 50 percent of the questions correct on a current affairs test in order to be allowed to vote?

Obviously, this wouldn’t really work and would raise issues such as..what about stupid adults? Should they have to pass a test,too?  Well, come to think of it……..

The answers are far too complex to explore in a simple blog posting, but it is important for older Americans to understand that listening to their children’s advice on whom to vote for may be one of the dumbest things they could ever do.

Obama has captured the imagination of the young; perhaps it is because they lack imagination?

The important thing for parents to remember is this—they actual DO know more than their kids…a lot more!  They should be helping their children decide the best person to be elected President and not the other way around.

Comments

10 Responses to “How Stupid Kids May Get Barack Obama Elected President: Why They Should Be Seen But Not Allowed To Vote!”

  1. Long Tall Texan on April 8th, 2008 3:56 pm

    These kids are a lot smarter than you think!

  2. Nancy on April 8th, 2008 4:19 pm

    charles, while i have a somewhat different take in that i think our job is to educate college kids rather than block them from voting, i do agree that this is a dangerous phenomenon to keep an eye on. after all, it was the same demographic group–galvanized youth entranced by masterful propaganda–who also propelled hitler’s rise…

  3. Tracy on April 12th, 2008 4:42 am

    If such a test were administered it would backfire on the countless ignorant older folks who have no idea about what is going on in other countries as evidenced by the fact that they keep falling for the lies that Bush spews daily.

  4. Natalie on April 13th, 2008 12:05 pm

    Nancy, are you seriously comparing Obama to HITLER? That is the most ludicrous thing I’ve ever heard. And Tracy, I agree– administer that test to EVERYONE and let’s see how well all demographics do. I think many young voters, myself included, are so disgusted by the current state of affairs that we are desperate for a change… and Obama does a fantastic job of carrying that message. Political experience doesn’t seem to have gotten Bush very far in his decision making ability.

  5. Anonymous on April 13th, 2008 2:04 pm

    While many young people are extremely ignorant, so are most adults past college-age. Ignorance is widespread across age groups, political leanings, and candidacy supporters.

  6. Jeff on April 14th, 2008 8:29 am

    Natalie and tracy are idiots. You guys talk as if you could run the copuntry better. Everyone always says yeah hes an idiot but what would you have done?? You talk as if bringing down a dictator and saving lives of many middle easterns in the future is a bad thing. Everyone voted for the war then people turned into judas and claimed they had been against it the whole time

  7. Natalie on April 16th, 2008 8:13 am

    Jeff, name calling? How typically Republican of you. Grow up.

  8. anthony on April 23rd, 2008 3:59 pm

    I agree with this article 100% College kids are dumb as nails and they’re all voting for one of two marxists!

  9. Brandon on May 3rd, 2008 10:46 am

    And you know everything?

    Some college kids may be dumb but some adults are just as dumb. We live in a democracy, quit complaining the your generation has given up on voting and the younger generation has taken great interest in our government and who represents us.

    If it were my choice, you wouldn’t be allowed to vote if you were over 50. This nation is built on the backs of the young workers, not old.

  10. Lucas on June 3rd, 2008 1:21 pm

    Wait a second… the right wing has long been supported by the NRA who believes that Al Qaeda is going to invade our shores in boats. These are the people that are more likely to atribute “christianity is the cruelest system ever to be imposed on man” to Stalin than to Thomas Jefferson.

    If you want to have a current events test, by all means, let’s do it. But I guarantee that the vast majority of college-educated people will be voting for democrats.

    So please, put in this test. I’m begging you. And watch Obama’s support jump to 80%.

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