Thursday, May 24, 2007

American Idol [un-Spoiler]

For those of you living in a cave and reading my blog for current event info, that girl won American Idol. Yeah…

What really inspired me to write today, however, was the old time reality show Jeopardy. I generally hold this show’s contestants in high regard, but tonight I was shamed by their ignorance in one particular category—Africa. Three pillars of American awareness came up completely empty when asked to name the official language of Ghana, to locate Sudan on a map, to name any of the countries that border Ghana, and to locate the Gulf of Guinea (the only African gulf). The media incessantly asks how we continue to allow genocide and famine to continue in Africa, but it doesn’t seem as surprising when you realize that even the most learned Americans are still oblivious to the entire continent. How many courses did you take in college that focused on Western Europe? How many focused on Sub-Saharan Africa?

4 comments:

The Yellow Dart said...

Wait. What was your major?

I'm glad you're back. I could use some of your attitude. I'll call you tomorrow.

blythe said...

i took two that focused on sub sahara africa. what was the question again?

nita said...

so, i'm guessing you saw that spicoli won twice last week ...

Flop said...

Ooh, three out of four. I guessed French for Ghana.