There May Be A Connection

Last week a friend sent me one of Jay Leno's classic Jaywalking pieces. It was the "Best of" that he did the first time he ended his run at the Tonight Show. It was the typical one, scary, that people don't know who the first US president was, etc. You walk away shaking your head, wondering how people could be so uninformed. What has happened to our American self-awareness? What is being taught in schools? (More on that one another time.)

During the discussion I remained polite. I didn't say what I was thinking. While this kind of thing may easily become a funny bit for Jay Leno, there is a deeper and much darker side of the misunderstanding and lack of knowledge.

According to a new poll this past week...

• 57 percent of Republicans, and 32 percent of Americans overall, believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim.
• 45 percent of Republicans, and 25 percent in the overall survey, agree with Birthers that Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president."
• 38 percent of Republicans, and 20 percent of Americans overall, agree that Obama is "doing many things Hitler did."
• 24 percent of Republicans, and 14 percent overall, agree that Obama "may be the antiChrist."

--Seattle PI Blog

THIS is why I am scared by what I see in Leno's Jaywalking bits. A lack of understanding of even basic facts is missing. Catchphrases (things Hitler did) and scare tactics (Anti-Christ) never advance any hopeful discussions. The less we know, the more lack of facts we show of our own history, the easier these new scary misconceptions will catch on.

And be sure that no one ever gets confused by the facts.