I don't think the article says much of anything at all.
Dan Send a noteboard - 07/05/2011 03:28:35 AM
All it says is that teenagers make up two-thirds of the people who entered the "who is Osama Bin Laden" search. It doesn't say anything about the actual number of informed vs. uninformed teenagers. It's just stating that out of everyone asking that question, it was mostly teenagers. It makes sense that out of all the people asking that question, teenagers would be the ones to be asking it the most, since they were quite young when 9-11 happened. Not to mention that the question itself is ambiguous. My guess is that most of them new the name and had a general idea, but wanted more information. As far as the tweets go, I'm betting much of them were just deadpan jokes.
I know I've been bemoaning ignorance of history, especially recent history, a lot lately, but how can you NOT know who Osama bin Laden was? It hasn't even been a decade since the World Trade Center was destroyed (I'll wait for those up late on a school night to google that... good, now where were we?) We're not talking about some yak hunter in the middle of Tibet somewhere (actually, they probably all know who he was). We're talking about people who are clearly well connected to the rest of the world, especially including the internet, if they made "Who is Osama bin Laden?" the fifth most popular Yahoo search on Sunday. They have access to knowledge, just not the KNOWLEDGE. Among those 13-17 (or 4-8 when the WTC went down), people asking who he was outnumbered those asking how he died two to one. I promise you that when the Ayatollah Khomeini died I didn't have to ask anyone who he was, notwithstanding the fact I was only 14. Geez, people... I dunno... if there's actually a demographic where more people know who Justin Bieber is than know who bin Laden was maybe the West HAS gotten too decadent....
OK, Once and for All, WTF Is WRONG with Kids Today?
04/05/2011 01:28:52 AM
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I guess I have a pretty bright Child. and a good school district.
04/05/2011 04:28:24 AM
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You really have to wonder if our culture is decadent? *NM*
04/05/2011 06:24:25 AM
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Not at all, but it does make me wonder if we're TOO decadent.
06/05/2011 01:38:42 AM
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I agree. *NM*
09/05/2011 10:36:40 PM
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Hope for the best and plan for the worst, I suppose, but that's what unnerved me here.
10/05/2011 03:14:24 AM
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How is it the kids' fault that they are not taught (to care) about recent history? *NM*
04/05/2011 06:54:16 AM
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I just asked my son, and he said he was a boss of a criminal organisation who was responsible for
04/05/2011 06:56:18 AM
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Yes and no, but I'd think an international network trying to kill you would motivate self education.
06/05/2011 01:57:06 AM
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Good teachers don't allow overeager students to monopolize the classroom.
06/05/2011 02:52:27 AM
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We covered the material.
06/05/2011 02:57:52 AM
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If they don't know about the terrorist organisation to begin with, why would they self educate?
13/05/2011 08:06:07 AM
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If completely ignorant of terrorism itself, they wouldn't, but if not I'd expect they'd get informed
14/05/2011 03:01:37 AM
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What?!? There are terrorists roaming the US, killing kids in their beds?!?
14/05/2011 07:45:27 AM
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They're certainly trying.
14/05/2011 10:43:48 AM
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Oklahoma city bombing was by American citizens, completely unrelated to Al Qaeda...
15/05/2011 08:02:11 AM
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They were both terrorist attacks.
15/05/2011 02:53:51 PM
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Obesity is a much bigger killer than terrorists
15/05/2011 04:01:51 PM
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Sure, but obesity covers a lot of ground.
15/05/2011 04:19:51 PM
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Obesity is a new problem
15/05/2011 06:09:33 PM
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I gave you my explanation, but can reiterate it.
15/05/2011 08:00:03 PM
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For god's sake... I didn't attribute all of obesity to sugar addiction.
15/05/2011 08:10:44 PM
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No, you blamed advertising and bad schools, too.
15/05/2011 08:20:32 PM
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That's because you are incredibly annoying and I am wondering if you will ever not reply
15/05/2011 08:26:12 PM
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An odd reason to stereotype the third most populous nation on Earth.
15/05/2011 08:52:57 PM
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only about a third of the home schooled kids are home schooled for religious reasons
16/05/2011 09:35:36 PM
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how many times have i told you "it's the internet, it's not real life"?? *NM*
04/05/2011 07:43:01 AM
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I met a lady who didn't know who Justin Bieber was. I told her I was very impressed
04/05/2011 06:49:49 PM
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You should be?
06/05/2011 02:09:47 AM
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He may have been dreaming about killing them but he was actually doing anything *NM*
06/05/2011 03:09:49 AM
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The short answer is "yes".
06/05/2011 03:19:31 AM
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you would of have had to know who he is to know he was doing that though *NM*
08/05/2011 06:16:39 PM
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Yes, and the fact he WAS doing that is why I expected nearly everyone to know who he was.
08/05/2011 07:12:41 PM
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I am not saying they shouldn't know who he is just that is isn't that shocking that some don't
09/05/2011 02:35:02 PM
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I get that, it's the size of the "some" that kinda floors me.
09/05/2011 05:02:46 PM
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Rumsfeld was a bit of a tool but he was right about a lot of stuff
09/05/2011 05:05:56 PM
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I did think he took heat unfairly for that comment; he's an interesting figure.
09/05/2011 05:59:58 PM
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see that is why political comedy isn't really comedy
10/05/2011 02:15:48 PM
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He was a college offensive lineman.
12/05/2011 01:47:52 AM
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It was the media tqaking offense not just internet nutjobs
13/05/2011 04:16:34 AM
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You're "the media" now?
13/05/2011 10:27:42 PM
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you live in a fantasy world *NM*
16/05/2011 02:27:20 PM
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Not a rebuttal.
16/05/2011 09:10:33 PM
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I am trying to be more concise and that summed it up *NM*
16/05/2011 09:26:32 PM
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Concise is nice, but that response was solely about me rather than my arguments.
18/05/2011 11:30:38 PM
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No it was about your reply I am just to lazy to break it down
19/05/2011 12:54:38 AM
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13-17 year olds.
05/05/2011 01:51:27 AM
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Call me crazy, but I tend to notice people who want to kill me when they've shown the ability.
06/05/2011 02:53:26 AM
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Re: Call me crazy, but I tend to notice people who want to kill me when they've shown the ability.
06/05/2011 09:21:10 PM
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As I asked below, did you click the link?
06/05/2011 11:35:45 PM
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Re: As I asked below, did you click the link?
09/05/2011 05:37:29 AM
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And yet you found a way; full marks for effort.
09/05/2011 07:50:32 AM
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Re: And yet you found a way; full marks for effort.
11/05/2011 02:52:45 PM
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Well, based on the consensus, I can't really argue with that first line.
11/05/2011 11:33:53 PM
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well then, let us who've somewhat recently been educated as to internet searches assure you...
11/05/2011 11:41:54 PM
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Educated about how to conduct them, or how they ARE conducted?
12/05/2011 01:13:25 AM
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Re: Educated about how to conduct them, or how they ARE conducted?
12/05/2011 04:50:23 AM
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So we're back to criticizing claims of superiority I've never made?
14/05/2011 07:06:10 AM
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Thanks for the mis-analogizing.
10/05/2011 06:26:40 AM
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Not a mis-analogy, but perhaps ambiguous.
10/05/2011 07:02:31 AM
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What are you doing to earn a living now? *NM*
05/05/2011 03:04:28 AM
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Jeg øver norsk, men ikke mer nå.
06/05/2011 02:54:44 AM
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Debt collection is kind
06/05/2011 07:16:53 AM
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Just don't repeatedly say you're seriously buying tickets to come kill them.
06/05/2011 11:40:51 PM
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Theres a reason you're banned from skype chat. Dont be a cunt
07/05/2011 02:22:30 AM
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You threadjacked me to take a potshot, so I don't want to hear it.
07/05/2011 03:57:47 AM
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it must be a very good reason if they haven't banned you as well
09/05/2011 05:09:07 PM
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Joel decided it would be fun to blackmail us with filing a false poilce report. *NM*
10/05/2011 12:07:46 AM
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I sent Skype the log; they said to contact the police.
10/05/2011 03:54:51 AM
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Re: I sent Skype the log; they said to contact the police.
15/05/2011 11:55:23 AM
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I think most of the relevant details have been covered here.
15/05/2011 04:06:09 PM
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Now I am certainly not going into skype chat.
17/05/2011 10:36:04 AM
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Can't say I blame you, but that's always a possibility online.
17/05/2011 05:07:23 PM
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Re: Can't say I blame you, but that's always a possibility online.
19/05/2011 12:59:14 AM
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For people who categorically objected to all bans of any kind ya'll embraced them very abruptly.
19/05/2011 01:50:26 AM
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You failed to respond to the main thrust of my argument, but, whatevs.
19/05/2011 03:01:07 AM
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I did, but will try again; then I'm done with this subject and rebutting Adams false accusations.
19/05/2011 03:51:24 AM
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I joked to Roh "If I kill him will you be my alibi... Great, I'm pricing tickets on travelocity now!
17/05/2011 12:02:28 AM
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It is nice to see even without chat the chat drama still seems to bleed into the main pages *NM*
10/05/2011 02:17:11 PM
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And that is your analysis? Really. Kids sure are dumb to ask questions and do research.
06/05/2011 10:15:41 PM
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No, but any kid whose research beings by finding out who he even WAS is dumb, period.
06/05/2011 11:31:08 PM
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Any kid whos research doesnt start by finding out who he was must have been born with the knowledge.
06/05/2011 11:39:56 PM
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Finding out, yes; finding out by actively searching, no.
06/05/2011 11:42:34 PM
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Any rational person wouldn't do a yahoo search. Other than that, the questions you posed are
15/05/2011 11:28:02 AM
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So their search engine makes them dumb, but their questions are OK.
15/05/2011 02:57:27 PM
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By gods, you are hopeless to talk to. *NM*
15/05/2011 03:56:27 PM
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I repeat, one of us certainly is.
15/05/2011 04:20:07 PM
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If you learned people are sometimes flippant
15/05/2011 06:13:52 PM
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I'm sometimes flippant, too, but have always been adherent of Poes Law.
15/05/2011 08:11:04 PM
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So quipping that rational people wouldn´t use a certain search engine is really about terrorism?!?
15/05/2011 08:14:59 PM
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I don't think the article says much of anything at all.
07/05/2011 03:28:35 AM
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Maybe; I don't always appreciate deadpan jokes online....
07/05/2011 03:43:51 AM
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I think the linguistic conventions governing search engines and typical conversation differ is all.
07/05/2011 04:00:38 AM
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Hopefully that's all it is.
07/05/2011 04:17:21 AM
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actually, search engines are getting better towards "questions" now
11/05/2011 11:06:42 PM
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I think you're reading too much into this
10/05/2011 12:58:20 AM
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Possibly; I really hope so.
10/05/2011 04:01:50 AM
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Re: Possibly; I really hope so.
10/05/2011 05:18:43 AM
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Again, fair enough.
12/05/2011 01:52:07 AM
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Re: I'm more disgusted by this thread than by its original topic of conversation. *NM*
15/05/2011 09:41:43 PM
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