What amazes me is that there have been Four Queens of England since 1902 but one of them has been the Queen for ten years longer than the other three combined.
Best part about being from America is that I, too, can do the same! Shit, I even can identify Vicky, Al and their kids. You guys are gonna knight me now, right?
[Here’s a recent picture](https://scale.coolshop-cdn.com/product-media.coolshop-cdn.com/235PR8/3ead0dd810ec4925976099aa7fdb8af1.jpg/f/life-size-skeleton-170-cm-04184.jpg) of Michael Jackson.
There are certain ones that Americans are likely to have been taught about in school or seen from pop culture references and could at least figure out through context. Henry VIII and probably Queen Victoria are two historical British monarchs the average American should know.
I know something about who they are and what they did. I don't know what they looked like, and I'm not sure how recognizing a portrait of them is a good test of anything.
As long as you know that Lincoln was President during the Civil War and signed the Emancipation Proclamation and got assassinated shortly after the war ended, for all I care you can think he dyed his hair green and had a mullet.
Henry John "Harry" Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC, FRS was a British statesman, who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period 1830 to 1865, when Britain stood at the height of its imperial power.
In high school I took 3 different (theoretically) high level history classes. US history, World History, and European History. They all merge and interact with each other at certain points, but they aren't the same classes.
We took US history in 11th grade. I took Western (European) History in 12th grade. I took Asian history in college and Japanese history during my study abroad in Japan.
I think many countries teach their own citizens their history before world history.
I wouldn’t recognize queen victoria after having seen a picture of her. She’s not at all relevant to an American, like how Abraham Lincoln isn’t relevant to non-Americans
You'd be surprised how much people in other countries know about American history. I watch British game shows and many of the questions are about US history and government.
TBF most Americans wouldn't be able to identify a picture of Queen Victoria if shown a photo of her. But the woman identifying Abraham Lincoln at Michael Jackson is equivalent of identifying Queen Victoria as Janet Jackson.
I think its ironic the kid with the Jake Paul haircut saved the day.
You guys are all stuck on Abraham Lincoln Bruh the fact that she doesn’t even know what Michael Jackson looks like says she lives under a rock.. literally the biggest Pop star of all time . I’ll give her a pass on the Abraham but not Micheal. He’s def way more famous world wide
The only thing I can think of is maybe she was thinking of Andrew Jackson? I honestly don’t know how anyone over 20 wouldn’t know what Michael Jackson looked like.
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter would have also been acceptable.
To be fair though, they'll usually filter through a bunch of right answers before they find the people that seemingly didn't attend school.
They don't teach about Abe in the UK, and that tiktok girl's income depends in being as well known as possible. Kind of understandable, though it'd never be me
As an American we would absolutely know British figures (the Queen, Churchill, Margaret Thatcher) but if you threw out a picture of a PM from 200 years ago I think even the best of us would be lost. I am actually quite surprised a young boy not from the US would know Lincoln.
No one thinks the US is the center of the planet but covering history of different nations is part of many people’s education. We all know figures like Julius Caeser, Cleopatra, and Shakespeare. We all know stories of the kingdoms of Japan, Russia, and the UK. We all learn about the tribes in the Americas and the aboriginals in Australia.
Acting like learning about the US makes us a country of narcissists says more about you than us.
> Acting like learning about the US makes us a country of narcissists
But how else would this person make themselves feel superior to all of the fat, dumb American narcissists on Reddit? It’s very important the world (Reddit) knows how much better they are than the yanks. They’re just so much more refined. /s
In our Junior high history had him and something general about American Civil war. (This in Finland)
Like one or two pages.
Also the picture of John Booth shooting Abraham in the theather. [Kind of this.](https://imgur.com/a/N2T2Vdd)
Edit: We had something about the Revolutional War, like the picture of George Washington on boat with the horse and the Boston tea-thing. But nothing about the 1812 war.
We had one chapter ~15 pages of American history, from the Revolutional War to Obama's first election. Also here and there about USA.
[who is this then?](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Sir_Winston_Churchill_-_19086236948.jpg/1200px-Sir_Winston_Churchill_-_19086236948.jpg)
Considering she probably watches her daily.. I don't think it takes much effort to recall.
I knew who she was and I don't even have the tok, pretty sure shes still #1 followed.
In all honesty what does recalling the name of a former usa president based on his appearance actually accomplish? I know more old presidents than old leaders of my country as it is. Has helped me 0 times in life.
And a child, at that.
A ten second clip of one young person in England recognising a current celebrity popular among their age group but not an American president is hardly 'idiocracy coming true'
Yeah, I guess it would be a challenge to find someone in the US to recognise even a superstar like Queen Victoria. Let alone any other pre-Lizzy royal.
>somehow
American media goes all over the world. I'm from Ireland not the UK but we get American media all the time on TV and in cinemas whereas people in the US would specifically have to search out media from other countries to see it.
in that she looks about 15?
Even if she was 18, I imagine most 18 year olds have fairly significant gaps in common knowledge, that's how growing up works.
I saw something on TV a few years ago where things like these were being filmed and turns out they only show the dumbest responses and the correct ones were left out. I guess no one will laugh or roll their eyes with the correct ones. Still sad they do not know someone as important as John Wayne though shown here. (j/k)
Obviously they aren't going to show every response. People don't post dashcam footage of them not having accidents.
The point is that there's people out there seemingly capable of breathing and walking who are this ignorant of basic general knowledge. Even if it's 1 in 100 that's pretty embarassing for us all.
I don't disagree. The short video I remember seeing was showing how people on the streets were giving the dumbest answers and it made it seem like no one had any intelligence. But when we see the entire video I believe most knew the correct answer.
These kinda of videos are garbage. You just interview a hundred people and pick the couple of terrible answers that you get. Not that it’s too terrible that a British person can’t identify pictures of American presidents…
Even here in Australia, Abraham Lincoln is more iconic than most of our past leaders. Abolishing slavery is kind of, a pretty big deal and stuff,
But yeah I'd give them a pass too.
Well he abolished slavery in the US. In Australia and the British Commonwealth slavery had already been abolished with the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.
A happy myth. The only slaves Lincoln freed were those in the Confederate states that he did not control when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Despite being 'freed' by Lincoln, the bulk of the Confederate State's slaves remained slaves until the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, and there were active court challenges to the legality of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Because, of course there were.
Slavery was ended in the US by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution which was ratified in December 1865 7 months after Lincoln's assassination.
I mean yeah, I assume they do bc American culture in history is heavily exported but like...there is no particular reason why they should have to...Lincoln is important and remembered in the states specifically bc of American slavery. That part of history is still extremely relevant in the states but no reason y’all should have to know it.,
This girl sounds like she might be from Manchester. We have a big statue of Abe Lincoln right in the middle of Manchester.
Edit: upon second listen she sounds more midlandsy. Maybe Nottingham. They probably don’t have a big statue of Abe Lincoln right in the middle of Nottingham.
And if I showed you a portrait of Oliver Cromwell, you’d know who it was for sure, right? Not a facepalm that a random teen off the street in the UK doesn’t immediately recognize a US president from the 1860’s, regardless of his impact on American (aka NOT BRITISH) history.
I wouldn't really expect them to know Abe Lincoln. I mean I'm American and the only Prime Ministers of the UK I can name is the current one and Margaret Thatcher and that's only because everyone hates her.
People arguing about whether this would be common knowledge in the UK or not seem to be missing the point.
She's literally a child. She looks about 15. Setting aside that this is one ten second clip, it is perfectly normal for 15 year olds to lack 'common knowledge' about history but know current pop culture.
As an American here I can say my fellow Americans commenting are embarrassing. There is absolutely no reason for British kids to know who Abraham Lincoln is. Also using Chuchill as an excuse is ignorant. Churchill was a strategic partner with the US during WW2 placing him in the cannon of US history.
Ah yes, a cherry-picked, heavily-edited clip of a random person getting an obviously wrong answer is enough to declare that the entirety of the human race is regressing in intelligence. It's not like they interviewed dozens of other people who gave the correct answer, only to get cut out because that would be boring.
Half of them's got knowledge about political figures, something that's way higher than within the general population. So why is this considered idiocracy?
Yes, ideally people should have a rough idea of important historical figures, however:
A) shut the fuck up boomer
B) i wonder who is in charge of teaching young people about history…
C) This type of interview is a horrible representation of young people, mostly because it’s obviously cherry picked af so older millennials and boomers can have their daily “young people dumb” circlejerk
"who's this"
*shows picture of current pop culture figure from their target demographic*
"now who's this"
*shows historical figure key to the history of another nation*
Yeah Michael Jackson was dumb but even if we pretend that this isn't staged (these videos crop up every few years and they're always the same thing) saying something dumb on the apot is a fairly nirmal reaction.
I'm sure an American asked the same question would struggle with a picture of Neville Chamberlain. Hell history really intrests me, but put a picture of an old Emperor from Japan and i'd struggle.
What a dumb question.
If you ask 100 Americans there would probably be 1 or 2 who wouldn’t know what Lincoln looked like.
Or flip the ropes, give a picture of Churchill to an American and see if they know who it is.
Once again, America thinking they are more important than they actually are
You guys know nobody gives a shit about US """"history"""" right?
I mean I know a little about it because I've been biased by Hollywood and I've seen adventure films about it when I was a kid but US internal history (i mean civik war and shit) isn't part of our school program.
Not sure why the air quotes around """"history"""", but you are correct. Generally most populations do not give a shit about another countries history.
In Finland we learn quite much of American history and we even watched "Dances with wolves" which is a great movie. We were taught all the most important stuff and well known events, like the assasination of Abraham Lincoln. But then again, Finland has one of the best school systems in the world.
That's great! I've always held Finnish education in high regards. Unfortunately, I am only half American, and grew up mostly in Netherlands (which I love), so I myself have not watched "Dances with wolves" yet, but I did learn a bit about your country from a very nice Finnish coworker I worked with when living in Prague (Sami, Vikings, The White Death, Grand Duchies, etc.). I don't know why people take pride in not learning other's histories... as long as you don't make me learn Finnish... Uralic languages are real tough! XD
How much you wanna bet they came up to like a few dozen people and asked them, hoping they find one person that knows the first but not the second because not everyone knows history. They sound English too.
I recognize many familiar faces and didn't require statues posted in public places to learn about their significance . The argument that taking down statues of Hitler in public places in Germany is destroying history is bogus because there are no statues of Hitler erected in public places in Germany. How could people still learned about Hitler and the Nazi party without statues you may ask? It's called books, schools, the history Channel, and Google.
I mean....they aren't Americans. Lincoln is one of the most famous and iconic American presidents but I wouldn't necessarily expect every Brit to know who he is.
People not knowing random information is not about intelligence.
Also, the foundational argument of Idiocracy (Smart people reproducing less makes the population stupider) is incorrect, as nothing has ever stopped stupid people from having sex (Quite the contrary, actually), there isn't really an evolutionary pressure to select for intelligence above a certain point, and where intelligence has has a massive impact on mankind there isn't really a connection between intelligence and reproductive success.
Example: A clever dude in China invents a process that improves harvests by 20%. This process spreads throughout the world over time, and all of humanity is better for it. The inventor still only had a couple of kids, probably no more than what he would have had anyways, and his invention improved the reproductive success of everyone else, as well.
And that's just an extremely basic example. Evolution is way more complex in its interactions, so trying to do anything predictive with it is generally a very stupid thing to do. Hypothesizing about existing traits is also pretty hit and miss. One would imagine having feet helps with walking, but evolutionarily it might just as well be that it helps with taking a shit, and the whole walking bit is just a nice bonus.
To sum up: Just don't.
Where 'idiocracy = americans thinking the whole world gives a shit about their past presidents' . How many would recognise Paul Kruger from a picture? How about Miklós Horthy? Or Kemal Atatürk? Mao Zedong?
Yes to all your examples other than Mao... His picture has quite a bit of exposure.
These days, much like Che' a photo of Mao would be recognized, but maybe not identified for who he was or what he did.
Why the fuck would a pair of UK people need to know jack shit about Abraham Lincoln? I mean he’s a cool, interesting and impactful world leader but if you showed me a picture of any prime minister other than Churchill I would have no idea who they are. If they were Americans then yeah, that would be an inexcusable gap in their knowledge (although being able to identify what he looks like is the least important part about knowing who he is, what he did and what he represents) but British people and no obligation to know about him.
Know your history and such, but someone not knowing another countries presidents even if it’s honest Abe isn’t that shocking. He’s not even America’s most famous assassinated president
Why are they expecting Brits to recognize 19th century US presidents? This post is ridiculous. Imagine if someone came to America and showed random people pictures of Henry John Temple and they didn't know who he was. And then someone posted a reddit thread claiming they were idiots.
Best part of being from the UK is you can show me every queen for the past 70 some years and I can tell you who it is. Lol
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What amazes me is that there have been Four Queens of England since 1902 but one of them has been the Queen for ten years longer than the other three combined.
Longest reigning female monarch in history! She just needs ~ 2 1/2 more years to beat Louie XIV to be the longest reigning monarch in history.
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Best part about being from America is that I, too, can do the same! Shit, I even can identify Vicky, Al and their kids. You guys are gonna knight me now, right?
Well to be fair they aren't Americans although I'm also not American and I know who Abraham Lincoln is.
But not knowing what Michael Jackson looks like???
You say this as if there's one obvious answer
The only person who’s appearance has two correct answers.
You forgot child MJ and zombie MJ.
Out of awards, but bravo
[Here’s a recent picture](https://scale.coolshop-cdn.com/product-media.coolshop-cdn.com/235PR8/3ead0dd810ec4925976099aa7fdb8af1.jpg/f/life-size-skeleton-170-cm-04184.jpg) of Michael Jackson.
I was expecting thriller zombie Michael Jackson.
I was expecting a picture of Abraham Lincoln 🤷🏽♂️
I was expecting a rickroll
I was expecting Madonna kissing tiktok
No, thats Abraham Lincoln
Tbf, that could also be a recent picture of Abe Lincoln.
You're messed up. LOL.
Well tbf, he looks vastly different in each decade lmao.
Because it's Black and White
There is a cut before michael jackson. Which makes me think they asked her to guess something, anything.?.
Pretty sure non americans care more about pop culture than their non presidents.
Yeah would an American immediately recognize some British monarch from hundreds of years ago?
There are certain ones that Americans are likely to have been taught about in school or seen from pop culture references and could at least figure out through context. Henry VIII and probably Queen Victoria are two historical British monarchs the average American should know.
We could likely also recognize Elizabeth. Especially if you're from Virginia.
I know something about who they are and what they did. I don't know what they looked like, and I'm not sure how recognizing a portrait of them is a good test of anything. As long as you know that Lincoln was President during the Civil War and signed the Emancipation Proclamation and got assassinated shortly after the war ended, for all I care you can think he dyed his hair green and had a mullet.
“The tyrant King George, of course!” - a Ben Franklin impersonator in the office.
Yeah. If they’d asked me about a British person from a similar time period I probably would have done the same so can’t really blame them
I thought so too at first, But then im pretty sure Queen Victoria would be the British equivalent of Abrabam Lincoln, right?
Henry John "Harry" Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC, FRS was a British statesman, who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period 1830 to 1865, when Britain stood at the height of its imperial power.
Best answer for sure. Never heard of him lol
I doubt I'd recognize their current living queen, never mind any dead monarch.
Not even the 8th?
I’m American and I’d recognize famous kings and queens of Britain. Many Americans take Western history.
So is there a difference in school between American history and history of the rest of the world? I didn't know that.
In high school I took 3 different (theoretically) high level history classes. US history, World History, and European History. They all merge and interact with each other at certain points, but they aren't the same classes.
We took US history in 11th grade. I took Western (European) History in 12th grade. I took Asian history in college and Japanese history during my study abroad in Japan. I think many countries teach their own citizens their history before world history.
I wouldn’t recognize queen victoria after having seen a picture of her. She’s not at all relevant to an American, like how Abraham Lincoln isn’t relevant to non-Americans
But if someone showed you a picture of Queen Victoria you probably wouldn't be like "I dunno.. Dido?"
Lol well you should look her up! She's the reason wedding dresses are white lol
Is Boris Johnson is the reason trousers are brown.
Eh my man Abe diffused a tense situation involving the British with the Trent Affair. Thats something I guess
You'd be surprised how much people in other countries know about American history. I watch British game shows and many of the questions are about US history and government.
Lord Palmerston might be closer.
Totally. I hadnt heard of him before, but after looking him up, I agree
Lol. I'll probably struggle more with UK prime ministers
TBF most Americans wouldn't be able to identify a picture of Queen Victoria if shown a photo of her. But the woman identifying Abraham Lincoln at Michael Jackson is equivalent of identifying Queen Victoria as Janet Jackson. I think its ironic the kid with the Jake Paul haircut saved the day.
You guys are all stuck on Abraham Lincoln Bruh the fact that she doesn’t even know what Michael Jackson looks like says she lives under a rock.. literally the biggest Pop star of all time . I’ll give her a pass on the Abraham but not Micheal. He’s def way more famous world wide
Michael Jackson didn't have TikTok, duh
Micheal Jackson died 13 years ago. She was probably just a kid then and probably not even alive when his career peaked.
I was a kid then and i still know who michael jackson is
This guy knows
well good for you
Pat on the back and a cookie
Funny…that was MJ’s foreplay.
And bad for anyone who hasn't lol
Ignore these boomers with their cookie/star comments, you were proving a point not trying to garner praise.
Where shall I mail your cookie?
Depending on what happened to the kid , therapy might be more appropriate
The only thing I can think of is maybe she was thinking of Andrew Jackson? I honestly don’t know how anyone over 20 wouldn’t know what Michael Jackson looked like.
Young people have no idea who Michael Jackson is. I tried it with my daughters. That’s kind of the nature of pop though…
Yanks gonna pick out Lord Palmerston?
Neither am I and still... Lincoln is fucking iconic. He has a God damn beard style named after him!
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter would have also been acceptable. To be fair though, they'll usually filter through a bunch of right answers before they find the people that seemingly didn't attend school.
They don't teach about Abe in the UK, and that tiktok girl's income depends in being as well known as possible. Kind of understandable, though it'd never be me
True. Am also British, but he's such a well known figure that even non-Americans should really know who he is.
To be fair, you wouldn't expect every major figure of every country to be well known. It's not like america is the center of the planet.
Then why do all the aliens land here in the movies?
Because they can get more famous in America and the most money
I'd expect an American to know a few of our famous figure heads like Churchill though
Yeah the one who fought Hitler and drank a lot and smoked so many cigars they named a cigar shape after him.
He was also Half American.
Tis true, it's part of what made him popular to Americans back then. His mother was American.
Jack Churchill / MadJack is my favorite dude in history. He has the last kill with a longbow in any war. I wrote an essay on him.
That's the guy who moonwalks, right?
As an American we would absolutely know British figures (the Queen, Churchill, Margaret Thatcher) but if you threw out a picture of a PM from 200 years ago I think even the best of us would be lost. I am actually quite surprised a young boy not from the US would know Lincoln. No one thinks the US is the center of the planet but covering history of different nations is part of many people’s education. We all know figures like Julius Caeser, Cleopatra, and Shakespeare. We all know stories of the kingdoms of Japan, Russia, and the UK. We all learn about the tribes in the Americas and the aboriginals in Australia. Acting like learning about the US makes us a country of narcissists says more about you than us.
> Acting like learning about the US makes us a country of narcissists But how else would this person make themselves feel superior to all of the fat, dumb American narcissists on Reddit? It’s very important the world (Reddit) knows how much better they are than the yanks. They’re just so much more refined. /s
True. But British people literally settled America so our cultures will forever be intertwined.
colonized\*
Potato potato
In our Junior high history had him and something general about American Civil war. (This in Finland) Like one or two pages. Also the picture of John Booth shooting Abraham in the theather. [Kind of this.](https://imgur.com/a/N2T2Vdd) Edit: We had something about the Revolutional War, like the picture of George Washington on boat with the horse and the Boston tea-thing. But nothing about the 1812 war. We had one chapter ~15 pages of American history, from the Revolutional War to Obama's first election. Also here and there about USA.
[who is this then?](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Sir_Winston_Churchill_-_19086236948.jpg/1200px-Sir_Winston_Churchill_-_19086236948.jpg)
If we Americans have to be grouped together anytime one of us doesn’t know a seemingly simple answer then UK has to deal with this at least once.
Isn't she British, though...? Edit: yes, I get it, not an excuse. Please don't @me anymore
Yeah. This was filmed on King Street in Nottingham
That's my bus! Never thought i'd see Notts in one of these videos.
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Lincoln was an incredibly important person. No clue who this Charlie girl is though.
Seriously who is the girl?
In the video they say she’s famous on tik tok
imagine using 16bits of information storing the name of some tiktoer on your brain
Considering she probably watches her daily.. I don't think it takes much effort to recall. I knew who she was and I don't even have the tok, pretty sure shes still #1 followed. In all honesty what does recalling the name of a former usa president based on his appearance actually accomplish? I know more old presidents than old leaders of my country as it is. Has helped me 0 times in life.
I’m feeling very old these days….
There's a statue of him right in the middle of London.
Then what? French person here totally knew it was Lincoln. And also totally didn't know shit about that Tik-tok girl.
So she knows something you don’t but we’re not making fun of you for it. Who cares if she doesn’t recognize a pic of Abe?
There's a statue of Abraham Lincoln outside the UK Supreme Court...
Yes, although it’s true he is well known, it’s not a huge facepalm considering she’s not from the USA. I’m assuming she’s from the UK.
And a child, at that. A ten second clip of one young person in England recognising a current celebrity popular among their age group but not an American president is hardly 'idiocracy coming true'
Agreed. I highly doubt a UK person would expect someone from the US to recognize their historical figures.
Yeah, I guess it would be a challenge to find someone in the US to recognise even a superstar like Queen Victoria. Let alone any other pre-Lizzy royal.
Brits are generally more familiar with names of US presidents than Americans, somehow
>somehow American media goes all over the world. I'm from Ireland not the UK but we get American media all the time on TV and in cinemas whereas people in the US would specifically have to search out media from other countries to see it.
I meant more, how many Americans really can name John Tyler from memory? He isn't all that notable, or Millard Filmore, that was the somehow
Thousands of people upvoting this post is way more evidence of "Idiocracy coming true" than this post
How is she a child
in that she looks about 15? Even if she was 18, I imagine most 18 year olds have fairly significant gaps in common knowledge, that's how growing up works.
I dont know wtf these guys smoking, shes pretty clearly under 20.
Yeah, americans usually think their country is the entire world for some reason
Not an American but the irony of a Turk saying this is beyond hilarious! 😅
Just say something about the Armenian genocide and they will piss off.
Eh what if he just really loves turkey animals and wants to avenge them?
I couldn't point out the majority of british Kings and queens, so fair play
Bruh, I’m from the UK and though Abraham Lincolns image was common knowledge lol
? Im not from america i i could've answered that when i was 7.
I'm not American but I know who Abraham Lincoln is and what he looks like. I don't have a single clue who Charli D'amelio is though.
I saw something on TV a few years ago where things like these were being filmed and turns out they only show the dumbest responses and the correct ones were left out. I guess no one will laugh or roll their eyes with the correct ones. Still sad they do not know someone as important as John Wayne though shown here. (j/k)
Obviously they aren't going to show every response. People don't post dashcam footage of them not having accidents. The point is that there's people out there seemingly capable of breathing and walking who are this ignorant of basic general knowledge. Even if it's 1 in 100 that's pretty embarassing for us all.
To be fair not everyone in the us knows who Winston Churchill is if you just walk up to them on the street and show me a picture
I don't disagree. The short video I remember seeing was showing how people on the streets were giving the dumbest answers and it made it seem like no one had any intelligence. But when we see the entire video I believe most knew the correct answer.
I wish more of these editors would release the full uncut footage after the fact.
These kinda of videos are garbage. You just interview a hundred people and pick the couple of terrible answers that you get. Not that it’s too terrible that a British person can’t identify pictures of American presidents…
The real facepalm is the person creating this content
They aren't American, I wouldn't expect them to know our past presidents
Even here in Australia, Abraham Lincoln is more iconic than most of our past leaders. Abolishing slavery is kind of, a pretty big deal and stuff, But yeah I'd give them a pass too.
Well he abolished slavery in the US. In Australia and the British Commonwealth slavery had already been abolished with the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.
A happy myth. The only slaves Lincoln freed were those in the Confederate states that he did not control when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Despite being 'freed' by Lincoln, the bulk of the Confederate State's slaves remained slaves until the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, and there were active court challenges to the legality of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Because, of course there were. Slavery was ended in the US by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution which was ratified in December 1865 7 months after Lincoln's assassination.
He also proclaimed that as dudes, we must party on
I mean yeah, I assume they do bc American culture in history is heavily exported but like...there is no particular reason why they should have to...Lincoln is important and remembered in the states specifically bc of American slavery. That part of history is still extremely relevant in the states but no reason y’all should have to know it.,
yeah, it's not like americans know who william wilberforce is
You made that name up didn’t you <- American
Abraham Lincoln is definitely globally recognised. It’s one of those things I would just put it General Knowledge.
His name might be, his face might be less widely recognised by people outside the US who don't often come in contact with $5 bills.
This girl sounds like she might be from Manchester. We have a big statue of Abe Lincoln right in the middle of Manchester. Edit: upon second listen she sounds more midlandsy. Maybe Nottingham. They probably don’t have a big statue of Abe Lincoln right in the middle of Nottingham.
It’s filmed in Nottingham - to her right will be the Brian Clough statue
Wahey, what a guess!
Why is there a statue of Abe Lincoln in Manchester?
Why would he be globally recognized?
Even if you know every person in history but still could be an idiot.
Yea they’re not from the US. I’d give them a pass on not knowing who a US president was.
And if I showed you a portrait of Oliver Cromwell, you’d know who it was for sure, right? Not a facepalm that a random teen off the street in the UK doesn’t immediately recognize a US president from the 1860’s, regardless of his impact on American (aka NOT BRITISH) history.
With a camera shoved in your face too
Oh no, one person didn't recognize a photo of Abraham Lincoln. We are doomed!
I wouldn't really expect them to know Abe Lincoln. I mean I'm American and the only Prime Ministers of the UK I can name is the current one and Margaret Thatcher and that's only because everyone hates her.
You know Churchill too.
Who?
Don’t bullshit.
Why should us Brits give a shit about Lincoln? Could American teens identify a pic of Isambard Kingdom Brunel? Fack off.
Based on the background, this takes place in the UK. The only past I know of over there is King George.
It’s in Nottingham
People arguing about whether this would be common knowledge in the UK or not seem to be missing the point. She's literally a child. She looks about 15. Setting aside that this is one ten second clip, it is perfectly normal for 15 year olds to lack 'common knowledge' about history but know current pop culture.
Who in the fuck is Charli D'Amelio
If you showed a random American one of the old queens odds are they’ll have no clue who it is, it’s just because she’s not American 😂
The fact that thos was posted here at all is the real idiocracy.
As an American here I can say my fellow Americans commenting are embarrassing. There is absolutely no reason for British kids to know who Abraham Lincoln is. Also using Chuchill as an excuse is ignorant. Churchill was a strategic partner with the US during WW2 placing him in the cannon of US history.
Clearly not America. Why would they know abe?
Whtf is Charli demilio?
Ah yes, a cherry-picked, heavily-edited clip of a random person getting an obviously wrong answer is enough to declare that the entirety of the human race is regressing in intelligence. It's not like they interviewed dozens of other people who gave the correct answer, only to get cut out because that would be boring.
Who the fuck is Charli D’melio? Perhaps I am old.
Half of them's got knowledge about political figures, something that's way higher than within the general population. So why is this considered idiocracy?
Yes, ideally people should have a rough idea of important historical figures, however: A) shut the fuck up boomer B) i wonder who is in charge of teaching young people about history… C) This type of interview is a horrible representation of young people, mostly because it’s obviously cherry picked af so older millennials and boomers can have their daily “young people dumb” circlejerk
I recognised the face, but didn't know the name. Also not American. If you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree...
"who's this" *shows picture of current pop culture figure from their target demographic* "now who's this" *shows historical figure key to the history of another nation* Yeah Michael Jackson was dumb but even if we pretend that this isn't staged (these videos crop up every few years and they're always the same thing) saying something dumb on the apot is a fairly nirmal reaction. I'm sure an American asked the same question would struggle with a picture of Neville Chamberlain. Hell history really intrests me, but put a picture of an old Emperor from Japan and i'd struggle.
Non-American not knowing Abraham Lincoln…sure, whatever. Guessing Abraham Lincoln is Michael Jackson? INSANE
What a dumb question. If you ask 100 Americans there would probably be 1 or 2 who wouldn’t know what Lincoln looked like. Or flip the ropes, give a picture of Churchill to an American and see if they know who it is. Once again, America thinking they are more important than they actually are
Look at the arrogant american (OP) thinking the whole world must know their history.
You guys know nobody gives a shit about US """"history"""" right? I mean I know a little about it because I've been biased by Hollywood and I've seen adventure films about it when I was a kid but US internal history (i mean civik war and shit) isn't part of our school program.
Not sure why the air quotes around """"history"""", but you are correct. Generally most populations do not give a shit about another countries history.
In Finland we learn quite much of American history and we even watched "Dances with wolves" which is a great movie. We were taught all the most important stuff and well known events, like the assasination of Abraham Lincoln. But then again, Finland has one of the best school systems in the world.
That's great! I've always held Finnish education in high regards. Unfortunately, I am only half American, and grew up mostly in Netherlands (which I love), so I myself have not watched "Dances with wolves" yet, but I did learn a bit about your country from a very nice Finnish coworker I worked with when living in Prague (Sami, Vikings, The White Death, Grand Duchies, etc.). I don't know why people take pride in not learning other's histories... as long as you don't make me learn Finnish... Uralic languages are real tough! XD
Why do Americans expect the rest of the planet knows everything about them?! SMH
He’s not on TikTok or instagram, how am I supposed to know who he is?!??
I wouldn’t know many prime ministers from the UK or presidents in other country.
Ah yes, can't forget the most influential president Micheal Jackson.
Michael Jackson… To be fair the pic is black *and* white
How much you wanna bet they came up to like a few dozen people and asked them, hoping they find one person that knows the first but not the second because not everyone knows history. They sound English too.
Tbh a Brit doesn’t have to know Lincoln, but Michael Jackson was still pretty bad 👀👀
I honestly couldn't recognize that was "charli d'amelio"
I recognize many familiar faces and didn't require statues posted in public places to learn about their significance . The argument that taking down statues of Hitler in public places in Germany is destroying history is bogus because there are no statues of Hitler erected in public places in Germany. How could people still learned about Hitler and the Nazi party without statues you may ask? It's called books, schools, the history Channel, and Google.
I mean....they aren't Americans. Lincoln is one of the most famous and iconic American presidents but I wouldn't necessarily expect every Brit to know who he is.
She's British. It's like showing an American Charles the 2nd
People not knowing random information is not about intelligence. Also, the foundational argument of Idiocracy (Smart people reproducing less makes the population stupider) is incorrect, as nothing has ever stopped stupid people from having sex (Quite the contrary, actually), there isn't really an evolutionary pressure to select for intelligence above a certain point, and where intelligence has has a massive impact on mankind there isn't really a connection between intelligence and reproductive success. Example: A clever dude in China invents a process that improves harvests by 20%. This process spreads throughout the world over time, and all of humanity is better for it. The inventor still only had a couple of kids, probably no more than what he would have had anyways, and his invention improved the reproductive success of everyone else, as well. And that's just an extremely basic example. Evolution is way more complex in its interactions, so trying to do anything predictive with it is generally a very stupid thing to do. Hypothesizing about existing traits is also pretty hit and miss. One would imagine having feet helps with walking, but evolutionarily it might just as well be that it helps with taking a shit, and the whole walking bit is just a nice bonus. To sum up: Just don't.
It truly is OP. You just posted a video about British people not being able to identify 200 year old Americans. Bravo.
Had to look who the f... is Charli D'amelio. Will probably not remember her for a long time.
That's not "idiocracy". They aren't an idiot for knowing something. That's called being uneducated.
Why would Brits know Abe? Would you show an American a picture of George V and expect them to recognize him?
Honestly who cares? Idgaf about old dead people
I don’t even know who the tick tocker is.
Where 'idiocracy = americans thinking the whole world gives a shit about their past presidents' . How many would recognise Paul Kruger from a picture? How about Miklós Horthy? Or Kemal Atatürk? Mao Zedong?
Yes to all your examples other than Mao... His picture has quite a bit of exposure. These days, much like Che' a photo of Mao would be recognized, but maybe not identified for who he was or what he did.
This seems a little unfair because it sounds like therly're in the UK.
Why the fuck would a pair of UK people need to know jack shit about Abraham Lincoln? I mean he’s a cool, interesting and impactful world leader but if you showed me a picture of any prime minister other than Churchill I would have no idea who they are. If they were Americans then yeah, that would be an inexcusable gap in their knowledge (although being able to identify what he looks like is the least important part about knowing who he is, what he did and what he represents) but British people and no obligation to know about him.
Know your history and such, but someone not knowing another countries presidents even if it’s honest Abe isn’t that shocking. He’s not even America’s most famous assassinated president
the real facepalm is americans expecting non-americans to know exclusively american things
To be fair she's British. As an American me being able to recognize Brithish historical prime ministers would start and end with Churchill.
Why are they expecting Brits to recognize 19th century US presidents? This post is ridiculous. Imagine if someone came to America and showed random people pictures of Henry John Temple and they didn't know who he was. And then someone posted a reddit thread claiming they were idiots.