Not sure if only taking into account the % of voters that precisely mapped where Iran is located is enough, as it would put someone that selected Egypt and South America in the same group (wrongly identified the location).
I would prefer an 'average distance from the border' analysis, in which we would be able to compare which group is clearly unaware of Iran's location (selecting Europe or even North America, for example) and which group at least has a basic idea of the location (Middle East).
"Men were about twice as likely as women to be able to identify Iran on both maps"
Wow, that's unexpected. Is there some credible source on why this is the case? Also curious if this is generally true...would you get the same result if they were asked to identify Belgium on a map?
Scientific studies suggest men generally have a better sense of direction than women, and use that sense of direction more effectively. Kind of makes you wonder where the "fails to ask for directions" trope comes from! :)
https://blog.education.nationalgeographic.org/2015/12/10/do-...
I'd guess the trope comes from a combination of men traditionally doing more of the driving and having a stronger desire to figure out problems on their own.
I wouldn't be surprised if there are a number of confounding factors that skew male, such TV shows/movies/video games marketed to men that feature Iran and/or the region.
I have been surprised to discover how many people know very little about geography but even more surprised to learn what a high proportion of people who do know geography know it mostly from military history, which is a stereotypically masculine interest.
I've gotten to observe some tutoring recently and it gives me a different perspective on this than the typical "Oh look how stupid people are" reaction than probably got this post flagged.
Some people, when faced with a problem they can't answer, respond with a glib answer, or a panicked one. I propose that when you ask someone where Iran is and they don't know, they click on Northern Africa not because they think it's in Africa but because as soon as they give any answer they can be done. "Fuck it, I'm choosing North Africa."
It's like that kid who answers '5' when the teacher asks what 2x4 is. How the fuck could five be the answer? It's not even an even number! Are you stupid? No. You've given up, and you think guessing will get you out of this experience. Many of the teachers I knew would double down in this situation. Yes, you should not condition the child to get out of things by doing them badly, but now they're the focus of everyone's attention which is also detrimental to the process.
I would like it if education focused on making people more resilient and empowered to figure out what they don't know instead of trying to get out of the uncomfortable situation. If people can learn on their own you don't have to min-max education to help the most people with a single process (leaving both the gifted and the slow kids in the dust in the process).
I've said before that I think physical education should focus on how to do physical things without hurting yourself (ex: how to fall properly).
Now I'd also like it if academic education focused not on how to cram things into people's heads faster but how to keep from getting frustrated or panicked when facing adversity in learning.
Clearly. So many also pointing right in the middle of the US, Brazil and Australia.
I’m not sure if the poll was portrayed to be serious.
Also, as someone who was in the US for quite some time, I found that (very much contrary to national stereotypes), Americans were quite knowledgeable about geography and global current affairs. This was evident from the multicultural societies where people knew about their friends, social meetups talking about a lot of different subjects across the world, etc. I refuse to believe that most people are bad at pointing out roughly where different countries are, unless they are countries which genuinely aren’t very well known.
Yeah. They probably paid for completion of the poll, and completing the poll required some selection of a location, so a ton of people did exactly that without even reading what the question was.
If they used the same map as in the article (edit: rather, the first regional map, not the world map), that actually doesn't surprise me. It took me a good 10-20 seconds to figure out what part of the world and scale the first picture was at, because I had land and water inverted in my head.
Why would anyone use blue for land instead of water?
Is it not interesting because of the lack of novelty, or not interesting because you think it's acceptable to want to kill someone but not to actually know much about them?
I don't think being able to accurately tell where Iran is is a requirement for wanting to kill someone from there, no. Knowing approximately where it is is useful, but what does it really matter if you confuse it with the next country over?
No, because Missouri is not a country. I'm always puzzled by this attitude that individual US states should have the same hierarchy in knowledge of the world as actual countries.
Not really, Iran is a little bit less than ten times the size of Missouri and is a regional military power, as well as controls globally relevant petroleum interests.
Christ. I'm from the U.S. and I can pick Iran on a map without thinking. If you asked me to pick Missouri and Missisippi on a map ... I'd probably get it but I'd sweat a little bit until I heard I was right.
Missisippi is a bit further south but it's not Louisiana.
Missouri is a bit further north but it's not Kansas.
There are a lot of comments here relating this to the escalation in tensions in the region - making very strong arguments for and against the idea that because 77% of the US could not place Iran on the map it is ridiculous that they should consider going to war.
Let me clear this up: it is ridiculous regardless of this statistic. Sure it might be a little embarrassing for Americans that there are so many people fired up to declare war on a country they know precious little about, but war with Iran would still be terribly wrong even if they could pinpoint Iran on the map and draw a little dot exactly where Tehran is.
And for those suggesting that this exercise is like asking Iranians to pick out Wyoming or Missouri on a map ... I really don't think you want to open that can of worms.
Also, they don't go into what they mean by "unlabeled" in either the current methodology or their previously linked North Korea methodology either for how the people selected where Iran was. With the datapoints on the map, I'm wondering if they even had country borders; otherwise I'd think a heatmap of the selected countries would be a better telling of the data.
In general, their visual representations of what was produced was, in short, hot freaking garbage. Which may mean that the data is; and kinda throws the entire survey into question.
Maybe unpopular opinion: Most people don’t have any reason to look at maps beyond local area and it doesn’t automatically mean they’re stupid.
Middle east is not a continent and if you look at a global map without country lines then you might not notice it in relation to any point of reference, and as such have trouble locating it.
Knowing where a place is on map is not necessary to participate in democracy. Most people vote instinctively and just have a mental map that there’s a potential external threat and how should we respond to this threat. It’s about liberty vs. safety. Maps offer no help in this whatsoever.
Readit News
I would prefer an 'average distance from the border' analysis, in which we would be able to compare which group is clearly unaware of Iran's location (selecting Europe or even North America, for example) and which group at least has a basic idea of the location (Middle East).
Wow, that's unexpected. Is there some credible source on why this is the case? Also curious if this is generally true...would you get the same result if they were asked to identify Belgium on a map?
He introduced me to his neighbor, who asked where I was from. Norway I replied. "Oh, hmm, we haven't bombed Norway yet... where is it?"
After a moment he added that he was only half joking, as a reference to the geography lessons he had received at school and the news coverage.
1. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/3176/3176-h/3176-h.htm
2. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/05/19/geography/
Some people, when faced with a problem they can't answer, respond with a glib answer, or a panicked one. I propose that when you ask someone where Iran is and they don't know, they click on Northern Africa not because they think it's in Africa but because as soon as they give any answer they can be done. "Fuck it, I'm choosing North Africa."
It's like that kid who answers '5' when the teacher asks what 2x4 is. How the fuck could five be the answer? It's not even an even number! Are you stupid? No. You've given up, and you think guessing will get you out of this experience. Many of the teachers I knew would double down in this situation. Yes, you should not condition the child to get out of things by doing them badly, but now they're the focus of everyone's attention which is also detrimental to the process.
I would like it if education focused on making people more resilient and empowered to figure out what they don't know instead of trying to get out of the uncomfortable situation. If people can learn on their own you don't have to min-max education to help the most people with a single process (leaving both the gifted and the slow kids in the dust in the process).
I've said before that I think physical education should focus on how to do physical things without hurting yourself (ex: how to fall properly).
Now I'd also like it if academic education focused not on how to cram things into people's heads faster but how to keep from getting frustrated or panicked when facing adversity in learning.
I’m not sure if the poll was portrayed to be serious.
Also, as someone who was in the US for quite some time, I found that (very much contrary to national stereotypes), Americans were quite knowledgeable about geography and global current affairs. This was evident from the multicultural societies where people knew about their friends, social meetups talking about a lot of different subjects across the world, etc. I refuse to believe that most people are bad at pointing out roughly where different countries are, unless they are countries which genuinely aren’t very well known.
Why would anyone use blue for land instead of water?
Missisippi is a bit further south but it's not Louisiana.
Missouri is a bit further north but it's not Kansas.
Missouri...to tell you the truth I don't even know what is interesting about it (I'm sure it has a lot of interesting things going on though).
It's more akin to asking Iranians, can you point out Ukraine?
Let me clear this up: it is ridiculous regardless of this statistic. Sure it might be a little embarrassing for Americans that there are so many people fired up to declare war on a country they know precious little about, but war with Iran would still be terribly wrong even if they could pinpoint Iran on the map and draw a little dot exactly where Tehran is.
And for those suggesting that this exercise is like asking Iranians to pick out Wyoming or Missouri on a map ... I really don't think you want to open that can of worms.
Their 38%s don't line up; like at all.
Also, they don't go into what they mean by "unlabeled" in either the current methodology or their previously linked North Korea methodology either for how the people selected where Iran was. With the datapoints on the map, I'm wondering if they even had country borders; otherwise I'd think a heatmap of the selected countries would be a better telling of the data.
In general, their visual representations of what was produced was, in short, hot freaking garbage. Which may mean that the data is; and kinda throws the entire survey into question.
Middle east is not a continent and if you look at a global map without country lines then you might not notice it in relation to any point of reference, and as such have trouble locating it.
Knowing where a place is on map is not necessary to participate in democracy. Most people vote instinctively and just have a mental map that there’s a potential external threat and how should we respond to this threat. It’s about liberty vs. safety. Maps offer no help in this whatsoever.