A poll conducted by AOL and Mark Burnett Productions ahead of its online reality show “Gold Rush” finds that more people know Homer from the Simpsons than Homer’s work on “The Odyssey” or “The Iliad.”
The national poll conducted by AOL and Burnett found that Americans are more familiar with the Seven Dwarfs, The Three Stooges, Harry Potter, Homer Simpson and Superman than the news of the day, world leaders or classic literature. Yes, even now, Europeans are lifting their pinkies in disdain in our general direction.
Some 77 percent of Americans polled knew at least two of the dwarfs from the classic story, “Snow White.” Only 24 percent could name two out of the nine sitting Supreme Court justices, and most people recalled Clarence Thomas, followed by Antonin Scalia.
As far as Homers go, 60 percent knew Bart Simpson’s dad while only 21 percent knew either of (the Greek) Homer’s works. Humorously enough, 73 percent could name three of the Three Stooges (can you name them all?) yet only 42 percent could identify the three branches of government.
So are we dumb? Not according to one person cited in reference to the survey:
“These results are not about how ‘dumb’ Americans are, but about how much more effectively popular culture information is communicated and retained by citizens than many of the messages that come from government, educational institutions and the media. There are important lessons to be learned here,” said Professor Robert Thompson.
Professor Thompson is founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture and Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and served as a consultant to the producers on the poll.
So rejoice and enjoy the next episode of “American Idol.” You aren’t dumb, you’re just retaining pop culture more effectively. Take that, Europe!
—
Tag:
Add to 
Bookmark Murdok: 
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
