Only 47% of 18-29 Yr Olds Knew Answer to D-Day Q - Gallup

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A recent Gallup poll revealed that only 47% of 18-29 year olds knew which country’s army the U.S. and Allied Forces fought against during the D-Day invasion, sparking disbelief and skepticism about the accuracy of such statistics. Participants in the discussion expressed concerns about the general lack of historical knowledge among younger generations, with some suggesting that confusion about D-Day's location indicates a broader issue of information overload rather than a lack of intelligence. The conversation also touched on how educational focus has shifted over time, leading to gaps in knowledge about significant historical events, such as World War II. Some participants noted that many people prioritize practical knowledge over academic history, which contributes to this phenomenon. The discussion further explored the complexities of historical narratives, particularly regarding the contributions of various nations in World War II, and the tendency for individuals to exaggerate their own country's role while minimizing others. Overall, the thread highlighted a growing concern about historical awareness and the implications of educational trends on public knowledge.
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I just can't believe this. A gallop poll says that only 47% of 18-29 year olds knew the answer to this question, "What Country’s Army Did the U.S. and Allied Forces Fight Against During the D-Day Invasion?"

I refuse to believe this could be true, it must be skewed in some way...

http://www.gallup.com/content/default.aspx?ci=11881

its in the middle of the page
 
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If you're surprised now, I would certainly like to see your face when in 30 years teenagers will find it hard to recall who Hitler was and what his actions were.
 
I always find statistics like that hard to believe as well. Also things like people not knowing which years the World Wars started and ended. Sometimes people's grasp on supposedly "common knowledge" is shocking.
 
Well, I'd like to know what most of the incorrect responses were. I would not be surprised if lots of people said "Japan." THat makes is more of a semantic or geographic problem: "Where was D-day, was it Europe or Pacific?"

The follow-up questions shows clearly that it was the same people who didn't know where "D-day" was.

THis poll does not say that people didn't know that we were fighting the Germans in WWII, it's saying that a lot of people are confused about the location of this battle.
 
Whenever these statistics are posted I always wonder how many of those polled answered wrong on purpose.

Njorl
 
jimmy p said:
I always find statistics like that hard to believe as well. Also things like people not knowing which years the World Wars started and ended. Sometimes people's grasp on supposedly "common knowledge" is shocking.


Well, they started different years for us over here you know. Ask the Chinese, and they'll say WWII started in 1931, the Austrians might say 1933, the Czechs 1936, most of Europe 1939, the US 1941.

Njorl
 
1. The US Army did amphibious landings in the Pacific War.
2. The US Army did an amphibious landing at Normandy on D-Day.
3. Therefore, Normandy must be somewhere in the Pacific.
:smile:
 
You'd be surprised at how many idiots there are roaming around this planet.
 
Or roaming around this forum even :wink:
Yeah, I don't think it's such a big deal. Now, if they didn't know how to work a telephone I'd be worried, but apparently they do.
Ever watch Jaywalking on the Tonight Show? You can learn to spot them.
 
  • #10
What I find amazing is how many people don't even know what d-day is.
 
  • #11
DarkAnt said:
I just can't believe this.

I didn't used to believe polls like this; not until I discovered that two very intelligent and informed [but not science types] adults that I know did not know that the moon went around the earth. "I knew it was something like that", she said. :surprise:

I think this has more to do with information overload than it does intelligence or being informed. Considering all that we have to worry about in life, is it any surprise that these more academic issues are lost in the fray? Most "working Joes" that I know only worry about the here and now; and that which directly affects their lives. It is an issue of time and energy.
 
  • #12
Americans are stupid, dog bites man :-p:biggrin:
 
  • #13
jcsd said:
Americans are stupid, dog bites man :-p:biggrin:

Okay maybe that too. :biggrin:

However, as an American, I can promise that if you keep talking like that we're going to nuke ya.

Really though, we are only a reflection of the world community. In part, we are you.
 
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  • #14
Ivan Seeking said:
Okay maybe that too. :biggrin:

However, as an American, I can promise that if you keep talking like that we're going to nuke ya.

Really though, we are only a reflection of the world community. In part, we are you.

There's a lot of rubbish talked about 'the Pilgrim Fathers', etc, but none of it's true. The real story goes a little something like this:

In 1620 King James rounded up the all the village idiots, simpletons and just plain stupid people from the shires and put them on a boat in Southhapmton and told them to sail to the Isle of Wight in order to keep them segergated from there more cerebral countrymen. Of course being stupid they sailed to New England (Duh!), where they founded the USA (it's a fact that's been edited in most 'mainstream' history books that 'S' in USA stands for stupid')

I would tell you the true story of the Declaration of Indenpendance too, but that's best left for another day:biggrin:
 
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  • #15
jcsd said:
Of course being stupid they sailed to New England (Duh!), where they founded the USA (it's a fact that's been edited in most 'mainstream' history books that 'S' in USA stands for stupid')
If it weren't for the USA you'd be posting that in German, don't forget.
 
  • #16
Ivan Seeking said:
I didn't used to believe polls like this; not until I discovered that two very intelligent and informed [but not science types] adults that I know did not know that the moon went around the earth. "I knew it was something like that", she said. :surprise:
How did the subject come up? I'm interested in checking a few people out, but the quetion would have to be phrased so as not to be leading.
I think this has more to do with information overload than it does intelligence or being informed. Considering all that we have to worry about in life, is it any surprise that these more academic issues are lost in the fray?
I think this explains it. A large percentage people don't bother to retain any information unless they are pretty sure it will be of practical use in daily life.
 
  • #17
How did it come up? Hmmm. IIRC, I was trying to share some tasty bit of science trivia or news about space, or NASA, when the lack comprehension became apparent. I remember being pretty confused about what was causing the confusion. It had never occurred to me that anyone would not know this.

I asked my mother about this and she was not surprised. Summing up her thoughts as best as I can, when she grew up subjects like astronomy were only briefly touched upon as opposed to math, literature, Home Ec, auto shop, and other core subjects. She remembers studying the solar system buy only briefly. She was certain that little to no emphasis was put on these subjects. Bluntly: They had very little or no application in “real life”.

Of course this attitude makes me want to scream and run naked through the streets, well, of course most things make me want to do that, but that aside, I guess it is important to remember that those were different times.
 
  • #18
Ah! I think this came up as a function of the question: Why do we always see the same side of the moon? I asked the woman [a husband and wife about my parent's age] if she had ever noticed this. She said yes but then could not understand why this was a mystery. As I tried to explain I realized the problem.
 
  • #19
Kacper said:
What I find amazing is how many people don't even know what d-day is.

Not everyone is interested in learning things. What I find amazing is how many supposedly educated people think D-Day was the largest battle of WWII. Or that D-Day was the crucial battle that led to the downfall of the Nazis. Or that we (Europeans at least) would all be speaking German if D-Day hadn't been successful. Nyet, bratko.
 
  • #20
cragwolf said:
Or that we (Europeans at least) would all be speaking German if D-Day hadn't been successful. Nyet, bratko.
Da,da. Pravda. Ya zabil. Mozhet bouit, po rooski.
 
  • #21
zoobyshoe said:
If it weren't for the USA you'd be posting that in German, don't forget.

Eff off, serious invasion plans of my country had been defeated before the US entered the war.
 
  • #22
Ivan Seeking said:
Ah! I think this came up as a function of the question: Why do we always see the same side of the moon? I asked the woman [a husband and wife about my parent's age] if she had ever noticed this. She said yes but then could not understand why this was a mystery. As I tried to explain I realized the problem.
Yeah. I think I could round up a lot of people my parent's age who wouldn't know that either.

Anyway, that's a good way to broach the subject.
 
  • #23
jcsd said:
Eff off, serious invasion plans of my country had been defeated before the US entered the war.
Course. That must be why Churchill begged, and begged, and begged Roosevelt to send help.
 
  • #24
zoobyshoe said:
Course. That must be why Churchill begged, and begged, and begged Roosevelt to send help.
Oh bollocks, read about the Battle of Britain. The USSR was far more instrumental in the defeat of Nazi Germany and the US would not of even been able to enter the European theatre if Britain had fallen.
 
  • #25
It has been said that the WWII was won with American trucks and Russian Blood.


As far as ignorance goes, I can remember when I thought that the Battle of the Bulge was fought in Africa (you know... that big "bulge" in the coast line of Africa!)

I know better now.
 
  • #26
guys guys, were friends here. zoobyshoe, you can have the western part and jcsd can have the eastern part. You can share berlin, ok?
 
  • #27
DarkAnt said:
guys guys, were friends here. zoobyshoe, you can have the western part and jcsd can have the eastern part. You can share berlin, ok?
Bull****, I want Austria too.
 
  • #28
jcsd said:
Bull****, I want Austria too.
Which is how it all started in the first place. Maybe JCSD is bitter because the Germans lost?
 
  • #29
In 2002, the the National Geographic Society polled Americans aged 18-24, showing them a world map :

30% could not point out the Pacific Ocean

49% could not find New York on the map

70% could not find New Jersey on a US map (more people knew the rough location of the original Survivor Island !)

76% could not find Saudi Arabia

...

P.S : Turing and the gang at Bletchley Park won the War !
 
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  • #30
Integral said:
It has been said that the WWII was won with American trucks and Russian Blood.
Mostly because Germany way overextended itself when it invaded Russia. A blessing in disguise for Germany: if we hadn't been able to defeat them conventionally, Truman would surely have defeated them with the bomb in the end.
 
  • #31
zoobyshoe said:
Which is how it all started in the first place. Maybe JCSD is bitter because the Germans lost?
Actually it was an allusion to the Soviet occupation of Austria.

It suffices to say that some people might find that quite insulting ewhen their reltives suffered at the hands of the Axis powers.

Anyway I probably wouldn't of been born if it hadn't been for the US particpation in the Pacific theatre, but that's no reason to overstate their importantce in the European theatre.
 
  • #32
jcsd said:
It suffices to say that some people might find that quite insulting ewhen their reltives suffered at the hands of the Axis powers.
I had an uncle who landed at Normandy and helped to defeat the axis powers to help end your relatives suffering. I think he'd have found your saying the S in USA stands for "stupid" insulting.
 
  • #33
zoobyshoe said:
I had an uncle who landed at Normandy and helped to defeat the axis powers to help end your relatives suffering. I think he'd have found your saying the S in USA stands for "stupid" insulting.

Your Uncle, very po-faced was he?
 
  • #34
jcsd said:
Your Uncle, very po-faced was he?
Well, I'm not familiar with the term po-faced, but I hope it's not another of your gratuitous insults.
 
  • #35
It means 'too serious', 'humourless'.

Anyway I'm sorry Zoobyshoes, I'm a little drunk and you've just happened to satte one of my lest favoourite misconceptions: that the US somehow saved the UK from Nazi invasion.
 
  • #36
With our current puppet in the White house, I can understand the current sentiments of America as viewed from other lands. But one thing I find ironic is how arrogantly some folks talk about the arrogance of Americans. It just shows how we are quite the same.

Each culture seems to have its own variety of social arrogance. Has anyone tried to stand in line for a Coke machine in Germany? Has anyone been to a restaurant in Scotland? Even in Switzerland, trying to order food in American accented "high" German (not the Swiss dialect) resulted in repeated, quite deliberate presentations of the wrong food and overbilling.

Mind you, at the time it was the Reagan years, and I was not going to the finer establishments. My point is that the US is not the only source of jerks.
 
  • #37
Gokul43201 said:
In 2002, the the National Geographic Society polled Americans aged 18-24, showing them a world map :

30% could not point out the Pacific Ocean

49% could not find New York on the map

70% could not find New Jersey on a US map (more people knew the rough location of the original Survivor Island !)

76% could not find Saudi Arabia

These kinds of statistics are rather sickening aren't they?

What should we expect when the schools are made pseudoparents instead of teaching institutions. As a related thought, I ran into a large group of Boy Scouts at an Air and Space Museum. At one point I was in line and commented to one of the Scoutmasters that I had been a Scout, and I was curious about the current Boy Scout Handbook and what they teach. Obviously frustrated with this notion, he said that a great deal of energy is put into educating the Scouts how to avoid being molested!
 
  • #38
I think a little refresher on WWII might help here. An easy read.

http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/WWII.html
 
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  • #39
Allies. Friends who pulled in the same direction to defeat the Nazis. When you minimise your friend's role in something, or exaggerate your own role in something, tempers are bound to flare. I don't understand the statement "The Soviets won the war" anymore than "We (Americans) saved your asses in WWII". It was a team effort, and every major link in that chain of defence was vital. Stop being a cheerleader for your country.
 
  • #40
zoobyshoe said:
If it weren't for the USA you'd be posting that in German, don't forget.

Two-thirds of Germany's war effort was expended against the Russians. It is far more accurate to say "If not for the Russians, Americans would be posting in German".
 
  • #41
Did the Soviets ever pay back the U.S. on the "Lend/Lease" equipment they were given by the U.S.?
 
  • #42
cragwolf said:
Allies. Friends who pulled in the same direction to defeat the Nazis. When you minimise your friend's role in something, or exaggerate your own role in something, tempers are bound to flare.
Actually, it all started when someone's contribution to the discussion was "Americans are stupid." The person who said that later admitted to being drunk.

Now, a day later, I think who did what in WWII is much less the issue than whether or not people should post while drunk.
 
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  • #43
I think what Mother Russia suffered should be enough to pay back any world debt. Have a nice long read about Stalingrad.
 
  • #44
Adam said:
Two-thirds of Germany's war effort was expended against the Russians. It is far more accurate to say "If not for the Russians, Americans would be posting in German".
I don't think so for the reason I mentioned earlier: if we hadn't been able to defeat the Germans with conventional forces, Truman, I'm sure, would have used the bomb on them.
 
  • #45
Zoobyshoe, clearly I don't believe that James I rounded up all the stupid people and sent them to the US (he actually sent them to Canada), but it doesn't stop post #15 from being just plain ignorant.
 
  • #46
jcsd said:
Zoobyshoe, clearly I don't believe that James I rounded up all the stupid people and sent them to the US (he actually sent them to Canada), but it doesn't stop post #15 from being just plain ignorant.
You are drunk again?
 
  • #47
zoobyshoe said:
You are drunk again?

No I rarely drink, but when England win 6-1 I make an exception.
 
  • #48
Hmm, I guess if you limit your drinking to when England win you are probably on the verge of teetotality...
 
  • #49
jcsd said:
Zoobyshoe, clearly I don't believe that James I rounded up all the stupid people and sent them to the US (he actually sent them to Canada), but it doesn't stop post #15 from being just plain ignorant.
No, it doesn't. The link provided by Evo is informative, and you are correct: given the difficulties an invasion would entail, and unable to cripple the British airforce because of radar, the Germans set their invasion plans aside. So, the specific notion that, if it weren't for us the Germans would have successfully invaded England, is erroneous: Germany got itself balled up invading Russia after the attempt on England.
 
  • #50
Well, I understood that jcsd was just joking. Try it, it's fun :)

I watched the D-Day ceremonies this morning and am very disappointed that people are fighting about who owes who. No man is an island.

Make love- or else...!
Rachel
(that was a joke, BTW)
 

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