More evidence of the average American brain trust...

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The new show "TMZ" did a "Jaywalking"-style segment where they interviewed passersby with one question about 9/11 ("What year did the September 11 attacks happen in?") and several questions about celebrities, such as naming Angelina Jolie's children, who Britney Spears' ex-husband is, and so forth. All of the people could answer all the celebrity questions perfectly, but none of them could name the year the 9/11 attacks happened. One woman about 25 years old answered, "The tourist attacks were, um... in Iraq?"

[Maestro]

1. Unbelievable!

I couldn't even attempt to tell you anything about Angelina Jolie or her kids. I only know B Spears' husband by K-Fed. I couldn't tell you his real name and well to all the others that couldn't answer the question it is time to rethink priorities.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. I can, (Thanks Keith)

Kevin Federline

But then again Keith's coverage is a mockery of these people and how they become so ahem... central to life in the US

[BlooInBloo]

2. The fact that people are surprised over and over and over and over again by...

... Americans' stupidity is what permits that stupidity to persist.

[PDJane]

3. Sigh..........

I don't watch the tube, which is my excuse. I've got no interest in jolie's children, britney spears, etc., and would have to do some work to find those things out. (I don't have the energy to commit things I have no interest in to memory.)

However, I remember 2001 09 11 very well; my son was supposed to be in the towers, but was here because of a power down over the weekend. I found out about it when our server at a favourite restaurant (I was with a friend, having breakfast) came to our table, white as a sheet, and told us about it. I then spent the next five hours trying to get any information at all. When I finally tried the office here, they informed me of his whereabouts, and he called me back. He'd been calming the relatives of his team!! I also remember that a friend contacted me to tell me his son had died in the Pentagon; that actually turned out to be wrong. His son was on a hospital ship in the harbour, dealing with triage...he was alive, and since he was working, figured that everyone else knew he was alive too.

How the hell do you forget a date like that? You must really have a steady diet of corporate media for that.........

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5. Wow, what a story.

I only know one person who was near it - my friend Josephine Leung who is the U.S. sales rep for Beihai General Fireworks Factory in China. She worked in a building right across the street from the WTC and she had bought a cup of coffee in one of the twin towers about 10 minutes before the first plane hit. Her building was evacuated and she walked a couple of miles uptown to the Bank of China building before she could finally make some phone calls. My permanent memory of that day is my Mom waking me up at about 7:30 a.m. here in California to tell me that planes were crashing into the buildings in New York. I didn't believe her at first. I couldn't comprehend it until I actually saw it on the TV. I don't see how anyone could forget that day, unless they were too young to realize it was happening. I was 3 years old when JFK was assassinated, and I have no direct memories of that event.

[PDJane]

12. I was 13 when Kennedy was assassinated

And remember that quite well, too. I also remember my mother looking at me and asking, "I wonder who was behind that?"

(I come by the cynicism honestly, you see.)

[junkiebrewster]

4. oh please...

Yeah, television shows never pick, choose and edit for comedic effect. :eyes:

[Trillo]

6. I guess it means Hollywood could teach,

while the news media gets ignored.

[emilyg]

7. sad.

[seriousstan]

8. I am sure they only showed the "entertaining" responses.

[MazeRat7]

9. I'll bet if more maps were available they would be in a better position to answer...

Oh wait.. that was a different incarnation of "our brain trust"... never mind.

MZr7

edit: Link to the reference for anyone thinking WTF is he talking about.... http://youtube.com/watch?v=WALIARHHLII

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. Remember they CHOOOSE what interviews to air

Most of these interviews are not run LIVE

Hell, Leno admited some years back that he chose the idiots who couldn't answer the questions over folks who were informed

That is not to say that this is not shocking, but then again those so called artists are the bread and butter of TMZ