This is a non-story.

A third of Republicans want to bomb a city which reasonably sounds like it could be in either Syria or Iraq which, given the current climate and the nature of the question, probably has something to do with Islamic terrorism.

Colour them jingoistic.

Quote from: Metty Christmas on December 22, 2015, 06:26:58 PM

This is a non-story.

This is the American voter base - 30% of the GOP (Perhaps more, if you take in the "I don't know" crowd") and 20% of Democrats saying they'd support bombing a city they know nothing about, except for that it sounds vaguely Middle Eastern.

It's understandable in the face that you don't live here - but it's quite terrifying that people are this dumb and are voting for their next President in eleven months.

People do a mental process call inference.

If somebody came up and asked me "Should be bomb Abdullahbuttfuckmiddleeasternnameistan" I'd probably ask a follow up. But my first thought would be "That's gotta have something to do with ISIS". It's just pollsters looking for a nice headline.

Lmao, Meta, don't try to sweep this under the rug. The fact that people support bombing an entire city without knowing a THING about the city is sickening. Extensive research needs to be done before any act of violence is supported, let alone something as brutal as this.

Uh, duh.

So tell me, when was the last time the U.S. had a referendum on whether or not to bomb a fucking city? Republicans generally support bombing IS, and you're asking Republicans about a Middle Eastern sounding city; it's a safe bet, were it a serious question, that it has something to do with IS.

The fact that only 30pc of Republicans said we should bomb it is the surprising thing here.

Quote from: SecondClass on December 22, 2015, 06:38:37 PM

Lmao, Meta, don't try to sweep this under the rug. The fact that people support bombing an entire city without knowing a THING about the city is sickening. Extensive research needs to be done before any act of violence is supported, let alone something as brutal as this.

Uh, duh.

So tell me, when was the last time the U.S. had a referendum on whether or not to bomb a fucking city?

"This is how it is, so that means it's how it should be."

It doesn't matter that the state of the US is shitty, the results of this poll are still disgusting.

Like somebody else all ready said.

*ahem*

Fuck those carpet riding sons a bitches!

Quote from: Metty Christmas on December 22, 2015, 06:45:53 PM

Quote from: SecondClass on December 22, 2015, 06:42:35 PM

the results of this poll are still disgusting.

It's all well and good to sit atop your horse, but funnily enough most people care about stopping the people pushing faggots from building tops. The fact that 30pc of Republicans were too uncultured to realise that it is a fake city, and incorrectly inferred that it probably has something to do with militants, does not even approach a big deal.

It's literally whining about people wanting to bomb IS, and some tricky little pollsters catching out a significant minority of that population with a ridiculously dishonest question.

lol I can't believe you're defending this degree of racism

"It sounds Muslim, so I'm going to support carpet bombing it without any research or knowledge at all."

If that logic is sound to you, then there's nothing much else I can say. ISIS is a threat, but not nearly at the level everyone is freaking out about, and not enough of one to justify poll results like these. It's just pure fear mongering that's causing people to get so worked up about ISIS in the first place.

First of all, you can't be racist towards Muslims.

Second of all, I'm not defending their responses. Like I said to Icy, the general trend of responses to that poll (Arabs in NJ cheering, etc.) is concerning. I'm saying how the responses to that specific question are not unreasonable in context, and that the question itself is poor as a proxy for the quality of the US voter base.

Expecting voters to be up-to-date on every Syrian and Iraqi city IS are in is utterly ludicrous, and it's incredibly disingenuous to suggest that it is some great failing of the American psyche when a large minority of both Republicans and Democrats answer in a way which belies their expected ignorance.

I'm not saying their responses were correct, I'm saying they were utterly uninteresting.

First of all, you definitely can. If you see a dark-skinned, Arabic man with a turban on in an airport and you get scared, that's racism. You're judging someone based on their race.

Great, now all Muslims are Arabs and all Arabs are Muslim. It's either a case of racism against Arabs or prejudice towards Muslims, not racism towards Muslims.

Muslims are not a fucking race.

Secondly, there's a huge difference in staying up to date on every Middle Eastern issue and having the forethought to research things before supporting mass murder.

And the result is utterly uninteresting because it's totally unreasonable to expect people to do that for the sake of an innocuous poll. How many of these Republicans do you think went around after this question promulgating the bombing of Agrabah? Tea Partiers and Trumpites are not agitating for this.

You know what is disgusting? Taking Donald Trump's word that Arabs cheered for the WTC's destruction despite no reason to think they did besides what can only be considered being either seriously misguided or seriously bigoted. These are people who are getting their information from a fascist blindly and--in much help to your case--are more numerous than those who would bomb a fictional city.

I can assure you that they're largely one and the same.

I'm sure they are, but it's irrelevant to my point about the quality of the question. You seem confused: I don't disagree with you about the state of voters. I disagree with you about the utility of the question mentioned in the headline of the linked article, and in the title of the OP. That's literally it.

Quote from: Metty Christmas on December 22, 2015, 07:15:16 PM

Quote from: SecondClass on December 22, 2015, 07:13:05 PM

I can assure you that they're largely one and the same.

I'm sure they are, but it's irrelevant to my point about the quality of the question. You seem confused: I don't disagree with you about the state of voters. I disagree with you about the utility of the question mentioned in the headline of the linked article, and in the title of the OP. That's literally it.

I just don't like the fact that people are this cavalier about bombing cities, IS or not.

Fair enough, but do you honestly think it's a realistic expectation for them not to be? To many people, and not without justification, IS is an existential threat not just a physical one.

Quote from: SecondClass on December 22, 2015, 06:42:35 PM

It doesn't matter that the state of the US is shitty, the results of this poll are still disgusting.

You know on this note, I hear all the older generation saying "America will be better again. Our best days our yet to come." Even my parents believe that.

I honestly doubt it. Powers rise and fall, and it's no different with the US. Our economy, schools, infrastructure, debt, and government are so out of whack that I don't see us coming back on the top stage. And given the rise of other countries being strong once more and one dominant force not really being a thing anymore, yeah.

I think anyone who thinks we'll be as top dog/great as we used to be where the middle class is super strong again and we're number 1 in schools, is down right delusional.

Call me a pessimist

I would agree with you there. Any country that has people this dumb isn't going to last long. The masses are literally completely unaware that the government is owned by corporations, adds fluoride to tap water, fearmongers constantly, and profits from treating diseases, not curing them. Tack onto that the heinous shit that people know about, but just don't care, and there's no intellectual drive to push the country forward. People, but Americans in general, are just so shortsighted.