Who Won The Civil War? Tough Question
The old joke used to be: Who is buried in Grant's tomb?
Now it's not so funny anymore.
Recently PoliTech, a group of politically engaged students on the campus of Texas Tech University, posted a video titled "Politically Challenged — Texas Tech Edition" in which they quiz contemporary students about history and politics.
On-screen reporter Courtney Plunk tosses the simplest of questions at random passersby "to see just how much our fellow students know about their country."
Question: Who won the Civil War? Answers: "The South?" and "The Confederates?"
Question: Who is our vice president? Answers: "I have no idea" and "Is that a trick question?"
Question: Who did we gain our independence from? Answer: "I couldn't tell you."
To be fair, the questions come out of the blue in the middle of what appears to be a warm, gorgeous day.
Civic Cluelessness
The truism that we Americans don't know our history has been plumbed time and time again. Civic cluelessness is certainly not confined to college campuses.
In 1998, the Los Angeles Times reported, Maritz AmeriPoll asked 1,000 or so randomly chosen Americans five questions about American history. Some 38 percent of respondents did not know that our national anthem is "The Star-Spangled Banner." And 40 percent could not name 1776 as the year the Declaration of Independence was signed.
In 2009, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute popped a tougher civics quiz. More than 2,500 folks took the 33-question test. Results showed that only half of adults in the country can name all three branches of government — executive, legislative and judicial.
PoliTech's questions are much simpler. And, as evidenced by the group's Facebook page, some collegians were not thrilled about being portrayed as politically and historically unaware.
"Y'all single-handedly made Texas Tech the biggest joke in the country," one person posted. "Your video does not represent the talent or intelligence that is on the Tech campus. You owe your school an apology."
Writing on the campus news site, columnist Kyle Jacobson observed: "PoliTech was not out to embarrass people or tarnish the reputation of our university. It did a mighty fine job of pointing out something that should be addressed seriously rather than treated as taboo — our generation is politically clueless and places an emphasis on frivolous awareness at the expense of useful awareness."
Not Ready For Pop Quiz
We asked Courtney — a Texas Tech sophomore journalism major from Rowlett, Texas — how she felt about the reporting assignment.
Overall, she says, the experience "has been very positive. Our main goal was to raise awareness that the media plays a huge part of what college students put in the forefront of their minds. From what we have been hearing, we accomplished that!"
The video, Courtney says, "gets students asking questions and realizing they don't put political matters in the front of their everyday thoughts."
Texas Tech senior Raul Cevallos, a management informations systems major from Flower Mound, Texas, is the president of PoliTech. "At first," Raul says, "some students felt that the video was a criticism of Texas Tech and its academics. They were angry because they believed this video was a deliberate attempt to insult the university."
Eventually, he says, people began seeing the video from another angle. "We are confident that these students could answer these questions correctly if they were on a written exam," Raul says. "But this video shows that political matters are not on students' priority lists. There will always be those who feel offended when a group exposes a certain problem within society, but we stand behind our video 100 percent and will continue to work on projects that will bring politics to the forefront of young people's minds."
Answer Sheet
The answers to PoliTech's questions, by the way, are: 1) the North, 2) Joe Biden and 3) Great Britain.
As for who is buried in Grant's tomb, the answer depends on which tomb you are asking about. The most famous one in American history is the country's largest mausoleum in New York, which, according to the National Park Service, is "the final resting place of President Ulysses Simpson Grant and his wife, Julia. It testifies to a people's gratitude for the man who ended the bloodiest conflict in American history as Commanding General of the Union Army and then, as President of the United States, strove to heal a nation after a civil war and make rights for all citizens a reality."
In case somebody asks.
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The Protojournalist: An experimental storytelling project for the LURVers — Listeners, Users, Readers, Viewers — of NPR. @NPRtpj
LISTEN NOW! » What links all of the scandals in Washington together?
In season two, For The Record investigated the changing role of media in keeping the nation’s politicians honest. As newsroom budgets shrink and other supposedly impartial journalists are willing to overlook scandals involving partisan allies, groups like Judicial Watch have stepped in. They’ve investigated scandals from Benghazi to the IRS targeting, and have now uncovered evidence of a new scandal that reaches all the way to the White House.
Connecting The Dots | Mass Media's Influence
Only in a #policestate would police shoot at people at a protest against police shooting people. #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/CtonQRUpZu
— Brandon W. Prather (@BrandonWPrather) August 14, 2014
Only in a #policestate would police shoot at people at a protest against police shooting people. #Ferguson pic.twitter.com/CtonQRUpZu
— Brandon W. Prather (@BrandonWPrather) August 14, 2014
Ted Nugent Writes an Epic Letter to Obama on Immigration [READ]
Modern pop culture seems to be thoroughly saturated in liberal thought, with little in the way of common sense being practiced in Hollywood or on concert stages across the country.
This is especially true when it comes to the border crisis, which is seeing record numbers of illegals, many carrying diseases or being members of gangs and cartels, making their way into the nation.
President Obama, the man responsible for this mess of epic proportions, is of course doing nothing to secure the border and deport these individuals, instead expecting communities in border states, and now across the country to shoulder the burden of paying for the processing and housing of these illegals.
The whole situation at the border has millions of Americans from coast to coast angry and fed up, which has led to massive protests against the government’s current “plan” to dump these immigrants in towns all across the nation.
One of those angry Americans happens to be Ted Nugent. The famous “Motor City Mad Man” took to Facebook, crafting a letter to the president and Congress on the issue of illegal immigration that is sure to become legendary as it makes its way around the Internet. Here are a few excerpts from the letter, which can be read in its entirety on Nugent’s official Facebook page.
Boom. Nugent hit a grand slam here, exposing just how ridiculous it is to provide all of these benefits for individuals who enter the country illegally, most with no plan nor desire to make an actual contribution to society.
Years ago, immigrants came to America for an opportunity to build a new life for themselves and their families through hard work, innovation, and quality products and services. In short, they provided value and benefit to others. They didn’t expect a free ride or a handout.
This is what is missing from these illegals who cross the border today, putting heavy economic strain on the country with no thought of contributing to America. If they had this desire, they’d come through legal channels.
Nugent is right, this is ridiculous to provide so many benefits for illegals. It’s no wonder so many are flooding across the border. This situation needs to be dealt with promptly, using temporary National Guard troops, a fence, and lots of deportation.
Please share this article if you agree with Ted Nugent’s letter exposing the ridiculousness of how the government handles illegal immigration.
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