Right Wing Nation

Chanman relates an interesting story from his class, surprising them that he knows when a series of thug rappers died. I’m afraid he’s out of my league. I’m profoundly uninterested in pop culture. I saw a commercial some weeks back that Rihanna was going to be on some awards show (Grammy?) and said, “Who?” I had never heard of Rihanna. About a week later, there were all of these stories all over the net about some boyfriend beating her, whoever she is. I have no clue why she is famous or what she does. I just couldn’t care less. I’m also just a bit disturbed by people over the age of thirty who are obsessed with pop culture (Althouse comes to mind), but I try not to think about it.

I often have much the same experience when I see a trailer on TV (or in the theater) for an upcoming movie, touting yet one more androgynous, tranny-wannabe actor I’ve never heard of. “Oh, he’s a big star, he was in Baby-Faced Enviro-Wackjob Tranny-Wannabes Do Dallas.” Uh, okay.

However, Chanman’s story does remind me of an incident that occurred last year or the year before. I posted the stats for the percentage of CCW holders from each state. A commenter had gone to the linked site with the data, and seen that it was one of those maps, and you had to click on the state (no state names, just a map) to get the number, and asked me where I had compiled the information, since I had listed it by state name.

Back when I was in school, we learned the states way back in elementary school. I don’t need the state names. I know the states when I look at the map. We learned the state capitals, too.

This is apparently not the case now. On TV the other day, there was some show where they put a map of the US on the ground and asked people to identify states. When asked to find Ohio, one guy pointed out New Mexico. There’s that 21st-Century Education!

Sad. Very, very sad. Not quite as sad, however, as how unhip knowing the states makes me.

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