Posted on 04/13/2012 9:56:24 PM PDT by grundle
The social news-sharing site Reddit has a knack for exposing people and situations. The latest topic of discussion to generate controversy is a series of tweets from people who did not know that the sinking of the Titanic was a real historical event.
Apparently, an entire generation of people associate "Titanic" with the Hollywood blockbuster starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Here is the disambiguation for you. The RMS Titanic sank April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg. The tragedy is considered one of the deadliest of peacetime maritime disasters. More than 1,500 people died.
"Titanic" the film was released December 19, 1997, and was an instant success. It became the highest-grossing film of all time for 12 years, until "Avatar" debuted in 2009.
For all the history buffs reading this, the next couple of sentences may be too painful to contemplate. A couple of the tweets from the uninformed read, "Nobody told me titanic was real? How am I just finding this out?" Another tweet read, "Guys, the Titanic was real! #mindblown."
Most people aware of the existence of the RMS Titanic are in disbelief. One such person tweeted, "The ignorance is astounding." Another person said he was "weeping for the future" at finding out that so many young people are unfamiliar with such a well-known fact.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
“It became the highest-grossing film of all time”
Yeah, in funny money. Not in inflation-adjusted gross, or in other words tickets sold. Gone With the Wind will not be beat.
They didn’t know Obama is a Muslim, a Communist and Constitutionally ineligible to be POTUS, either, and THAT was only four years ago, so nothing surprises me at this point/s;)
True story: I'm an amateur astronomer, and years ago I hosted an impromptu star party for the neighbors. Wine was passed around, it was a balmy summer evening, and there was a particularly nice alignment of planets to look at, one after another.
So, we get to Saturn (always a big draw, even if you've seen it a million times, but especially the first time). And a neighbor looks through the scope, looks up at me, and says "are those rings?" When I applied in the affirmative, this forty-something middle manager professional woman said, in amazement, "I always thought that was a marketing thing."
No, she wasn't drunk. And there was no smirks or laughter from the other neighbors, just thoughtfulness and a desire to see for themselves.
I went behind a tree and downed the rest of the wine.
Often chat with school & collage age nieces, nephews, cousins and such. Their total lack of knowledge of history, geography, math and science is appalling.
Their identification with movies, music and video games is frightening.
She was undoubtedly that legendary woman who refused to see “Apollo 13” because she didn’t like sci-fi movies.
A very unphilosophic response. I recall depictions of "saturn" in Felix the Cat and the Golden Book, Color Kittens, as my earliest introduction to this image. In my case, I was seeing that image in a more realistic context, e.g. the Herbert Zim Golden Guide to Astronomy, by the time I was in grade school. But not everybody follows this path, and some may be left with Felix the Cat. I say the philosophic response is, "better late than never."
“The RMS Titanic sank April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg.”
OK, so maybe they weren’t aware of some incidental factors pertaining to the sinking.
But if they watch the news at all, they’re abundantly aware of what’s truly important about this disaster - “It was ____’s fault!” (they can fill in the blank for extra credit and an added dose of positive self-esteem, of course.)
Gawd, how I wish SHE would hit an iceberg and sink...
When I was in college, one of my apartment-mates came into my room with his friend and asked to look at my globe. He was trying to find Greece.
I pointed to Europe, and he still couldn’t find it. He said, “Italy’s the boot, right?” I said “yes” and showed him where Greece was located.
Now this guy graduated with straight A’s in Accounting in the #1 Accounting school in the nation at the time. He received job offers from all of the big 8 Accounting firms after graduation.
He just never bothered to learn any Geography.
Lord help us all we live in a really ignorant world
Lol!
(Such a cruel fate to wish upon a poor, innocent iceberg...)
wise move....
OK, here’s my question for everybody: What’s the sine of forty five degrees? Exactly.
Of course I realize that a small fraction of adults can answer that question off the top of their head, but that just means that very few people know anything about anything, because if you don’t know this, you don’t know nuttin’ about nuttin’
This just shows how the younger generation are not taught.
They don’t know there’s a Constitution and they don’t have a clue about communism. Muslims....maybe.
Scorpio?
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