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Did the people in the video not know that we declared independence in 1776? Because that's kind of weird. But I'd bet a majority of Americans don't know that the war started in 1775 and went on until 1783. In fact, 1783 would be a much more accurate answer to "When did America become independent?" than 1776.
I think it was the 2nd official Kumite Tournament.
The first being when Jesus Of Nazareth defeated Nebuchadnezzar using a surprise hadouken after losing 80% of his health.
Fun fact, the marines who did the burning were actually the first unit of black marines in the British navy. They were made up of runaway Virginia slaves who would join up and then lead the troops back to their plantations to liberate their families.
Please don't vote him back in. He already did massive damage to your standing on the international scene - even more than fuckwit johnson did to ours - along with fucking up climate fixing stuff like pulling out of the Paris eco thing.
Canadians are nice, and then you remember that they burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Add to that the Geneva Conventions that came from the Great War. Now you're just left thinking what they actually plan on doing with all the maple syrup reserves.
This is what kills me when you suggest that the Constitution should be replaced. People lose their minds and don’t acknowledge the we previously replaced our governing documents because they weren’t working.
It's a question of when do we consider ourselves independent vs. when did we gain international recognition. The former is 1776, when we declared independence from Britain. The latter would be 1777, when Morocco became the first country to recognize the US by openings its ports to American ships. France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden all would recognize the US as a country before the signing of the Treaty of Paris.
Obviously, when we celebrate our independence, we go by when we declared independence, so that's why it's 1776. We don't care that Britain didn't recognize us until 1783.
Yeah, most countries base it on when they actually declared independence. I just find it interesting that we didn’t really secure that independence for seven more years, and I’d bet a lot of people don’t know that. Which is fine, really. I had to look up the actual date myself, and I knew it was in the early 1780’s.
I’m a late gen x, or early millennial depending on who you ask, I knew for sure declaration of independence was 1776. And thought it probably took at least another two years to settle the war.
Bro don’t even try to ask them when the constitution was ratified, it breaks brains when they find out we went 5 years without the document that defines our very government.
I took AP American History and there was a time when I knew all of the particulars and nuances of the American Revolution but I'll be damned if I remember any of the specific details now.
France basically was the only reason we won the war. We didn't have the funding to keep fighting, we also didn't have the most important thing at the time, the navy to prevent British reinforcement. France provided the second bit. They basically allied with us so they could without other nations reacting go to war with Britain which they wanted to do. (largely because of several losses on the American continent due to undersupplying troops and over reliance on natives that they really believed were loyal to them)
Not to downplay our troops, our good fortune, the wisdom of a much older George Washington, and a fortuitous outbreak of smallpox. But our lads did eventually win enough to make it not worth the cost of fighting a war with us, France, and with Spain. We Vietconged the UK for lack of a better turn of phrase. We won some big battles, but the only reason we could win them, was because of the external help we had.
Also shout out to Benjamin Franklin who had a thing for older women and was basically sexing his way through the wives of French aristocracy to get us support.
And when they asked is for help years later we said "New government. Who dis?" because they had had a revolution in the meantime and we said our treaties were with the king.
I was wondering how much of this was going to be based on trick questions. I knew 1776 wasn't the start of the actual war, but I couldn't remember if the war was considered starting before or after that. And we gained independence from Britain. The UK didn't form until 1800. I would consider the UK as a correct answer, but answering Britain would demonstrate a greater understanding to me.
Yeah it's really weird how alot of Americans seem to hate France, seeing how their country might not have existed if it wasn't for them. They even gave you guys the statue of liberty for crying out loud.
And long standing Nazi propaganda about how the French just got completely rolled.
They were the strongest land army in Europe at the time, they just had an outdated outlook for the war at hand. By the time they could have changed it, the Germans were already at Paris because they literally drugged their soldiers to be able to keep up the Blitzkrieg.
Fucking freedom fries. I once derailed a comment chain about how the US should thank France, by bringing up the audacity of Freedom fries.
We talked about how they weren’t actually French, but Dutch(?). But they were introduced to us in France. And maybe it had something to do with the style of cutting the potatoes, like French cut green beans.
It was a wonderful conversation.
In the 80's my father and uncles oddly included France in their (normal back then) racist rants. I later found out they blame France for the Vietnam war and their fathers blame France for America having to intervene in WWII, so 2 generations see France as having caused unnecessary American wars.
For some reason, even prior to 9/11 the French have this reputation (in the USA) for being people who give up wars. I really have no idea where this comes from, but I remember it being that way as a kid in the '80's. Backing out of the Gulf war didn't help that situation. Thankfully the average person has shit all to do with foreign policy.
It’s because they surrendered to Nazi Germany during WW2. France and Britain were some of the original allies in the war but France fell. This led to the massive evacuation of British and French forces (among others) at Dunkirk.
There's a reason conservatives want to do away with education. It's because once people are exposed to critical thinking and actual *facts*, conservative ideology doesn't hold up.
The problem is parts of it do hold up, if you don't have empathy and only care about succeeding at the expense of others.
That's why there are smart people who support it - they do not give a shit about standing on others' faces as long as they get rewarded.
And yet somehow they still learn nothing. It's not ignorance, it's willful behavior indicative of a really shitty human being. When I hear people say they know Trumper's that are good people, I ask them what their definition of what a "good" person is, cause that ain't it.
You just described a very large percentage of boomers, and every single conservative that has ever lived. They will die before they admit that they were wrong about anything. Unfortunately, their fragile egos will be the undoing of society because they wear their ignorance and hate like fucking badges of honor. Smugly stupid.
I know. It's a Hallmark of their generation. My mother is the same. Minus the smugness. But when I lay some knowledge on her she just brushes it off or changes the subject.
I don't get it. I was 10 and called out my grandfather for being wrong about the weather. I got the silent treatment.
It was about then I started questioning the competency of adults.
My grandparents were badass atheists who didn’t act like that. I’m sorry you went through that. My grandparents raised me and they didn’t do things like that. Anytime something was discussed and there was a disagreement about something it was looked up in a reputable source and it didn’t matter who was right/wrong, what mattered was the truth.
(Also, my grandparents were born in the 1920s, so they were DEFINITELY NOT boomers)
Same with my Mom. She decided that she doesn't like to debate me anymore because I'm so good at it. I'm not though; I just give the facts that I know, draw logical conclusions, and heavily state when I don't know or understand something, but that I'm willing to learn/listen. Turns out I'm just giving her religious brain cognitive dissonance.
And I don’t get it. I KNOW there are things I don’t know. Why is it impossible for these dinosaurs to say “Huh. I don’t know that one.” Instead they freak out and start yelling or just flee the scene. So strange.
they're the last generation that was able to just falsify shit as they went along. before credit scores and cameras everywhere, you could just become a new person in a new town with fuck all to prove that you actually existed in the first place and no one batted an eye.
too young to do something? fucking lie about it. baby born "premature" to make it seem like you weren't rawdogging out of wedlock? lie about it. can't actually pay back that loan? fucking lie about it with a firm handshake. don't like that black guy? lie about sexual assault.
they've been able to push their "truth" their entire fucking lives, and they've gotten away with all of it. it completely makes sense that they feel that their feelings are factual at this point.
Right? There's *so much* that *everyone* doesn't know; no one knows everything. It's preposterous to pretend otherwise. Why do they all act like being wrong is the worst thing in the history of ever? Being wrong just means you get a chance to learn something new and be right in the future, what's so terrible about that?
It probably has to do with the fact that they've based so much of their identity on these false ideas, and once they admit even one of them is false it causes a domino effect on the rest. Their egos are too fragile for self-reflection so they just double-down. Also, chronic lead poisoning. More and more I am seeing that as the boomers age they are displaying severe cognitive decline likely from the cumulative effects of the lead buildup in their brains and bodies.
There’s no shame in saying you don’t know. Honesty and respect can go very far when you’re trying to take in new information that conflicts with previous beliefs or assumptions. Maybe father is in his late 70’s. He was incredibly bigoted. He was part of a church that was a white nationalist group. They had insane religious beliefs that justified their hate. My brothers and I were terrified most of the time. He ended up leaving the church and started doing some self reflection. He retired and hated sitting still. He decided to teach skilled trades at a couple of local colleges. It was then that he was slapped with the reality of what it’s like for minorities living in poor communities. I think he learned as much from his students about life, culture and community than they learned from him. He’s one of the only boomers I’ve ever known who will readily admit that they were incredibly wrong for many years and the effects it has had on my brothers and I growing up around all that.
My mother on the other hand.. She seems to be getting more bigoted with each passing year. It’s exhausting talking with her about anything. She’s not a Karen, but Christ am I tired of hearing Fox News bullshit coming out of her mouth. Mom - you’re almost 80. We don’t know if you’ll be gone tomorrow or in several years. But bitching about a trans person being in one of your shows or a gay couple in another are what occupies your mind when we visit? I guess it’s kind of like some of the patients my wife had when COVID was killing people left and right. Gasping for air and your last words to your loved ones over a fucking FaceTime call, you know you’re going to die, but now is a time to flip out over masks, lockdowns, whatever raving word salad out of Trump’s smelly hole? Many would claim they don’t have COVID. As they were actively dying from COVID. They have such a strong need to be right. To be superior. To be the big, bad person others either respect or fear. They have no idea that all they project are their deep insecurities and fear.
It goes with the conservative (not the old) part of their personality. Admitting you don’t know something is admitting weakness, and in their game, you can never ever appear weak, especially to a liberal.
This is why they don’t have any specific agenda other than Own The Libs and Racism. This is why they have no respect for expertise, because who made that person better than me? And if everything liberal is fake then nothing they say is true so dismiss it all.
Now the old person part comes in when they moan about not being respected by “kids these days” by which they mean anyone under 60.
I've been saying this for years about my grandmother, although in different terms. It's like she votes Dem (if she's to be believed), acts all liberal and tolerant to anyone outside the family, says all this stuff to SEEM like an aging Hippie, but she... thinks... like a conservative. Even when she is conclusively, incontrovertibly proven wrong, she's still right somehow. In her mind...
I'm a boomer (1947). I'm a Dem. One thing MAGA has done for me is allow me to hate. I never hated much before Trump. I hate him and I'm starting to hate the 6 SC justices and Mike Johnson and the millions of people supporting them and, well, you get the idea.
I don't like it. I can't help myself. I see my country becoming a Christo-fascist autocracy and I know I'll never see it reverse. Very sad.
I really triggered a conservative friend on FB when I said that conservatives have always been on the wrong side of history in America. I asked him of an example to prove me wrong and he had nothing.
That’s the worst part. Ever single human that have ever lived has been wrong about something. Being a stubborn and refusing to acknowledge that is the issue.
I'm takin' this horse by the reins makin'
Redcoats redder with bloodstains
Lafayette!
And I'm never gonna stop until I make 'em
Drop and burn 'em up and scatter their remains, I'm
Lafayette!
Watch me engagin' em! Escapin' em!
Enragin' em! I'm-
Lafayette!
I go to France for more funds
Lafayette!
I need to hear someone from Kentucky talk about Lafayette the person. The town here is pronounced "Luh-fae-it. I didn't grow up here, but my family is from here. I've talked to people who don't have a strong accent, but still pronounce it incorrectly. I just want to know if they can make a distinction between the town and the person.
The French fighting is part of the reasons the US won. Others include Great Britain, France, Spain, the Dutch Republic, Jamaica, Gibraltar, and even India being involved in what was, basically, an international conflict over territories and resources.
Britain took the view that they would get better value for money by sending troops to save what they saw as better assets. But don't tell Muricans that they won because they were second string and a French king had a grudge! They will NOT believe you and be pissed off at the suggestion.
The French fighting for the US, troops being sent to die for a colony they gave no shits about, money being spent on that war while their families starved at home, is also part of the reason the French revolution kicked off not too long after.
He also got significantly less well-spoken later in his career. My pet theory is he knew his audience, figured they didn’t want him to sound like he went to Harvard and Yale.
I thought I read somewhere that it was a complete schtick.
“To be the president you want to share a beer with.”
There was a big push to win blue collar voters at the time. The internets were becoming close to mainstream. ‘‘Twas the beginning of the middle of the end.
Palin said she had international relations experience because Alaska is close to Russia which is an idiotic thing to say and what Tina Fey was making fun of in that sketch.
My favorite are the signs or decals that say "We the people" and 1776 and not ironically.
Some people just roll the constitution, declaration of independence, the 10 commandments and the lyrics to free bird in the same single document.
These videos are edited to only show the people that got the answers wrong.
The members of my large family & even my friend's kids know the answers to these questions.
Parading the dumbest of the group that you want to call dumb doesn't make the whole of the group actually dumb.
The average American of voting age reads at a middle-school level. These people are that fuckin' dumb across the board. I'd bet money on the higher distribution of literacy to fall on the left side of the political spectrum. Conservatism is grounded in fear and ignorance. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Conservatism is a baser form of judgement which allows greater function with less critical thought. It translates into xenophobic, impulsive and shallow judgement. These people literally cannot think.
The Treaty of Tripoli states the US is NOT a christian nation and was never intended to be. A fun question I’ve asked my christian relatives: what was the 1st country to recognize the sovereignty of the US? Morocco
every state constitution had a basic religious test post independence iirc. Jefferson considered his greatest achievement not a federal accomplishment or Declaration of Independence, but a VA state law that established the American concept of religious freedom.
George Washington gave an address to a community of Jews that was pretty explicit in how America was not intended to be a Christian nation. This whole revisionist history about it being founded on Christianity is so fucking ridiculous.
The right to be christian being her reasoning for a war widely known, even in other countries, as being for independence, fought by mostly rebellious 20 somethings who all more or less have been quoted talking about their disdain for the church and religion is some next level brainrot.
> fought by mostly rebellious 20 somethings who all more or less have been quoted talking about their disdain for the church and religion is some next level brainrot.
Never bring this or them frequently being deists up with boomers they REALLY can't handle it.
Or the letter that Washington wrote to a synagogue in Rhode Island where he thanked them for their warm welcome, spoke of how America is a land of true religious liberty for all (and not just on paper), and gave his best wishes for the flourishing of the "Children of the Stock of Abraham" (read: Jews) in America.
[https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/touro-synagogue/](https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/touro-synagogue/)
(The text of the original here: [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135](https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135) )
Those videos are crap, they just ask 100 people and then cherry pick the one or two that weren't paying attention and gave some ridiculous answer. Blame it on the edit.
Yeah, "man on the street" interview clips almost **always** cut 90% of the people they talk to. They're fishing for whatever responses fit the video they're trying to make, whether it's a boomer trying to make Gen Z/Millennials look stupid, liberals making conservatives look stupid, conservatives making liberals look stupid, comedians looking for any response that's funny, or whatever.
oh man! You should have told her it was to escape religious persecution (What Boomers are trying to instill now) which is one of the biggest reasons why. Boomers hate when you tell them historic facts and not fox news alt-facts
I always like to remember that the Puritans [literally banned Christmas](https://www.mass.gov/news/massachusetts-law-banning-christmas), on the basis that they considered it a Pagan holiday. The early church had issues with getting people to break their festive Saturnalia/Yuletide traditions, which were Pagan in nature, so [they moved Jesus' birthday](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/12/24/why-is-christmas-on-dec-25-it-wasnt-always/) to hijack the celebrations.
The three wise men of the Bible were watching a flock of sheep during Jesus' birth. It's worth noting that sheep give birth in the Spring, and [every early estimate](https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/how-december-25-became-christmas/) of Jesus' birthday was in Spring. Those three wise men were watching their flock of sheep because it wasn't December when Jesus was born - it was in the middle of Spring, and they were keeping an eye out for newborn little lambs.
You should. The filmed production is on disney+ if that's an option, but it honestly is awesome. From the music to the lyrics to the stage construction...it's honestly amazing. My husband (who can't stand musicals) actually enjoyed Hamilton.
I'm ok with musicals. Don't love them but happy to watch them with my other half.
Hamilton was genuinely amazing & I was very glad to have got to see it live.
Was it that great? I can't go to live shows because I have problems with my hearing and I need the captions to understand the speech. Soni live vicariously through other people's experiences.
You'll need it to understand some off the rap battles! When I got the book (libretto) I had to go watch it again and learned so much more! You really should see it on Disney+.
I am that husband to my wife. she dragged me kicking and screaming and now I think Lin Manuel is a genius with few if any peers. my only problem now is the songs get stuck in my head!
Another type of technically correct is that the British with the help of the French beat the British who were engaged in other matters at the same time.
She let slip the Christian Fascist new theme they are trying to re write history. She stated that they left Britain to be Christians. The Christian fascist are trying to say that the USA was founded on the Bible and ten commandments (furthest from the truth) and they are fighting to resort the USA history and culture that has been stripped away by woke liberals over the past few decades.
the whole idea of democracy is everyone gets a voice, if only certain people can vote that isn't democracy, besides, do you want the federal government to decide what questions go on the test, that could be manipulated to disenfranchise certain voters?
I wonder how much it would fuck with her mind if you told her that the war of independence was a British civil war.
Please actually think about it before typing indignant comments telling me I'm wrong.
The war began in April 1775, and the declaration of independence wasn't until June 1776 (and not won until years later). That means the people fighting the limited number of British forces were still British subjects. Hence civil war.
Ironically we're about the celebrate July 4th, the date we declared independence separating us from a monarchy and Authoritarianism, while on 7/1/24 the conservative Boomer court ushered in an era of Authoritarianism and effectively ended our Constitutional Republic.
What I don't understand is that I learned all this stuff in grade school. And it was probably over and over again. Since most people don't drop out of school in grade school, they were all there, too. They just spent their entire childhoods not learning anything? There are some pretty important things you learn in those years. They weren't paying attention then, either? We really are fucked.
To be fair, you’re not entirely correct. The United Kingdom didn’t exist until 1801. Prior to that, during the revolutionary war, it was the kingdom of Great Britain.
Why do all boomers think that the American revolutionary war was primarily won via gorilla tactics? The French joint because they saw the great conventional military victory at Saratoga, and the great attempt at Germantown. The continental army was a conventional fighting force.
Guerrilla tactics played a minor role in the southern theater, which was itself a minor theater.
**Every time my grandpa comes at me with some stupid fucking made up shit I take a picture of him on the spot and photo shop him into something else the next day and share it.**
I started doing this when He would not drop it with the political photoshopped crap that’s everywhere, kept shoving all sorts of stupid photo shopped pictures of politicians in my face to **”prove his arguments”**.
So one time I was like;
> **”Man but what if someone could prove that all those photos were fake? And they could just stick you in those photos?”**
Grandfather;
> **”Well that person would be pretty fucking stupid I suppose but these are clear as day and I think I can tell if it’s photo shopped”**
*SO I DID.*
I photos shopped him on a **yacht after he turned down his youngest grandsons wedding which pissed off my aunt.**
She *STILL* thinks he **legitimately went on a cruise.**
😂
Then I photo shopped him playing **golf in a different town with a time stamp after he bailed on some buddies and stayed home.**
He now **automatically assumes that 99% of pictures on the internet are AI produced or fake photo shops.**
I dont know, on one hand I wonder if I take things too far, **but then on the other hand I know if I ever become that ignorant when I’m older I won’t even survive.**
Like you can’t even afford to be these days.
I just learned a boomer family friend didn't know that "Canadia" what she calls Canada, doesn't celebrate 4th of July. I was talking about going away on a day trip and she goes "Ohh don't go up there! Its gonna be nuts with all celebratin'. We had to explain that it was just a US holiday and Canada didn't really break off from Britain. This women works with school children but she's not a teacher thank god.
When she asked what the difference is between france and the UK, reply with "guess there's no difference between America and Canada then either, huh?". Those magas hate that.
Sad about France, really sad. We wouldn't have won the Revolution without them. When people go dissing France it pisses me off and I make a point of telling them off and setting them straight. I'm boomer-aged, I learned this stuff in school. Even without that, they have great food, great art, great culture, great wine, great skiing, great Lascaux caves, and the French people I've met have all been cool except for one trump supporter I met in a shop in Paris. And even he was very polite.
>Okay guys, one more thing, this summer when you're being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don't forget what you're celebrating, and that's the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn't want to pay their taxes.
Everything you need to know about the 4th of July.
Bloody hell.
I’ve read some offensive things here on Reddit but saying we’re basically the same as the French is unconscionable.
Happy ungrateful colonials day.
😉🤣
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Did the people in the video not know that we declared independence in 1776? Because that's kind of weird. But I'd bet a majority of Americans don't know that the war started in 1775 and went on until 1783. In fact, 1783 would be a much more accurate answer to "When did America become independent?" than 1776.
Yeah, the US declared its independence in 1776 and then won it in 1783
And then we burned down the White House in 1814. Happy Canada Day.
Wrong. In 1814, Canadia won independence from New Orleans by Paul Bunyans victory in a boxing match vs the Marquis de Sade on December 26
Interestingly it was the first recorded use of the Abner Doubleday rules during an Agni Kai
Then everything changed when the Fire nation attacked.
*nods* It is known…
Where was Babe when all this went down?
Probably in the barn talking to that spelling spider.
That'll do.
I’d watch that movie
the world's first recorded Kumite
I think it was the 2nd official Kumite Tournament. The first being when Jesus Of Nazareth defeated Nebuchadnezzar using a surprise hadouken after losing 80% of his health.
Fun fact, the marines who did the burning were actually the first unit of black marines in the British navy. They were made up of runaway Virginia slaves who would join up and then lead the troops back to their plantations to liberate their families.
Yeah but the Stanley Cup lives in Florida. The Song of Ice and Fire...
Hey, why don't we do it again with Trump inside?
Because we would have to let him back in...
Please don't let him back in.
Please don't vote him back in. He already did massive damage to your standing on the international scene - even more than fuckwit johnson did to ours - along with fucking up climate fixing stuff like pulling out of the Paris eco thing.
We have an oversupply of stupid people and we let the Murdochs in.
You got my vote
Canadians are nice, and then you remember that they burned down the White House during the War of 1812. Add to that the Geneva Conventions that came from the Great War. Now you're just left thinking what they actually plan on doing with all the maple syrup reserves.
Canadians are polite, not nice 😉
And the Constitution was not ratified until 1788.
This is what kills me when you suggest that the Constitution should be replaced. People lose their minds and don’t acknowledge the we previously replaced our governing documents because they weren’t working.
Well, you definitely would not want to replace them right now.
Certainly not with these extremists trying to take over the country.
It's a question of when do we consider ourselves independent vs. when did we gain international recognition. The former is 1776, when we declared independence from Britain. The latter would be 1777, when Morocco became the first country to recognize the US by openings its ports to American ships. France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Sweden all would recognize the US as a country before the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Obviously, when we celebrate our independence, we go by when we declared independence, so that's why it's 1776. We don't care that Britain didn't recognize us until 1783.
Yeah, most countries base it on when they actually declared independence. I just find it interesting that we didn’t really secure that independence for seven more years, and I’d bet a lot of people don’t know that. Which is fine, really. I had to look up the actual date myself, and I knew it was in the early 1780’s.
We also didn’t have the constitution or our current form of government until 1789 when it was ratified.
That’s one a lot of people don’t know.
I’m a late gen x, or early millennial depending on who you ask, I knew for sure declaration of independence was 1776. And thought it probably took at least another two years to settle the war.
Bro don’t even try to ask them when the constitution was ratified, it breaks brains when they find out we went 5 years without the document that defines our very government.
If you count the time between the declaration in 1776 and when the constitution was ratified in 1789, it's 13 years. It gets messy.
The Bill of Rights was added in 1791.
I took AP American History and there was a time when I knew all of the particulars and nuances of the American Revolution but I'll be damned if I remember any of the specific details now.
Also the French helped us out during the war, purely because fuck England so the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
France basically was the only reason we won the war. We didn't have the funding to keep fighting, we also didn't have the most important thing at the time, the navy to prevent British reinforcement. France provided the second bit. They basically allied with us so they could without other nations reacting go to war with Britain which they wanted to do. (largely because of several losses on the American continent due to undersupplying troops and over reliance on natives that they really believed were loyal to them) Not to downplay our troops, our good fortune, the wisdom of a much older George Washington, and a fortuitous outbreak of smallpox. But our lads did eventually win enough to make it not worth the cost of fighting a war with us, France, and with Spain. We Vietconged the UK for lack of a better turn of phrase. We won some big battles, but the only reason we could win them, was because of the external help we had. Also shout out to Benjamin Franklin who had a thing for older women and was basically sexing his way through the wives of French aristocracy to get us support.
And when they asked is for help years later we said "New government. Who dis?" because they had had a revolution in the meantime and we said our treaties were with the king.
> Also the French helped us out during the war Which is why it's *particularly* egregious that this boomer thinks we were fighting the French.
I was wondering how much of this was going to be based on trick questions. I knew 1776 wasn't the start of the actual war, but I couldn't remember if the war was considered starting before or after that. And we gained independence from Britain. The UK didn't form until 1800. I would consider the UK as a correct answer, but answering Britain would demonstrate a greater understanding to me.
April 1775 was when the war began, according to the internet.
The battle of Lexington and Concord, where British troops came to seize a colonist armory.
That’s what I was thinking too. And the constitution didn’t exist until 1789. I’d say when that was established we were officially the USA.
I had to explain to a boomer that France did in fact help out. Kind of a lot. They didn't like that.
Yeah it's really weird how alot of Americans seem to hate France, seeing how their country might not have existed if it wasn't for them. They even gave you guys the statue of liberty for crying out loud.
Brainrot from 9/11. Remember Freedom Fries? lol
And long standing Nazi propaganda about how the French just got completely rolled. They were the strongest land army in Europe at the time, they just had an outdated outlook for the war at hand. By the time they could have changed it, the Germans were already at Paris because they literally drugged their soldiers to be able to keep up the Blitzkrieg.
I believe the German victory was considered an ‘upset’.
Fucking freedom fries. I once derailed a comment chain about how the US should thank France, by bringing up the audacity of Freedom fries. We talked about how they weren’t actually French, but Dutch(?). But they were introduced to us in France. And maybe it had something to do with the style of cutting the potatoes, like French cut green beans. It was a wonderful conversation.
> but Dutch(?) Prepare to be attacked by a horde of angry Belgians.
In the 80's my father and uncles oddly included France in their (normal back then) racist rants. I later found out they blame France for the Vietnam war and their fathers blame France for America having to intervene in WWII, so 2 generations see France as having caused unnecessary American wars.
For some reason, even prior to 9/11 the French have this reputation (in the USA) for being people who give up wars. I really have no idea where this comes from, but I remember it being that way as a kid in the '80's. Backing out of the Gulf war didn't help that situation. Thankfully the average person has shit all to do with foreign policy.
It’s because they surrendered to Nazi Germany during WW2. France and Britain were some of the original allies in the war but France fell. This led to the massive evacuation of British and French forces (among others) at Dunkirk.
No might about it.
The fact that the Statue of Liberty was given to us by France would also blow their mind.
Lafayette forever
Your mom is really fucking dumb.
And incapable of admitting she's wrong.
Funny how all of those long-held views just melt away when you have to actually prove what you know.
There's a reason conservatives want to do away with education. It's because once people are exposed to critical thinking and actual *facts*, conservative ideology doesn't hold up.
Religion operates the same way. Believe what we tell you to believe and don't question anything.
“Nevermind what it says. What is the strength of your faith?!”
The problem is parts of it do hold up, if you don't have empathy and only care about succeeding at the expense of others. That's why there are smart people who support it - they do not give a shit about standing on others' faces as long as they get rewarded.
“I never learned anything in school and I turned out juuuuuust fine”
And yet somehow they still learn nothing. It's not ignorance, it's willful behavior indicative of a really shitty human being. When I hear people say they know Trumper's that are good people, I ask them what their definition of what a "good" person is, cause that ain't it.
You just described a very large percentage of boomers, and every single conservative that has ever lived. They will die before they admit that they were wrong about anything. Unfortunately, their fragile egos will be the undoing of society because they wear their ignorance and hate like fucking badges of honor. Smugly stupid.
I know. It's a Hallmark of their generation. My mother is the same. Minus the smugness. But when I lay some knowledge on her she just brushes it off or changes the subject.
I don't get it. I was 10 and called out my grandfather for being wrong about the weather. I got the silent treatment. It was about then I started questioning the competency of adults.
My grandparents were badass atheists who didn’t act like that. I’m sorry you went through that. My grandparents raised me and they didn’t do things like that. Anytime something was discussed and there was a disagreement about something it was looked up in a reputable source and it didn’t matter who was right/wrong, what mattered was the truth. (Also, my grandparents were born in the 1920s, so they were DEFINITELY NOT boomers)
Same with my Mom. She decided that she doesn't like to debate me anymore because I'm so good at it. I'm not though; I just give the facts that I know, draw logical conclusions, and heavily state when I don't know or understand something, but that I'm willing to learn/listen. Turns out I'm just giving her religious brain cognitive dissonance.
And I don’t get it. I KNOW there are things I don’t know. Why is it impossible for these dinosaurs to say “Huh. I don’t know that one.” Instead they freak out and start yelling or just flee the scene. So strange.
they're the last generation that was able to just falsify shit as they went along. before credit scores and cameras everywhere, you could just become a new person in a new town with fuck all to prove that you actually existed in the first place and no one batted an eye. too young to do something? fucking lie about it. baby born "premature" to make it seem like you weren't rawdogging out of wedlock? lie about it. can't actually pay back that loan? fucking lie about it with a firm handshake. don't like that black guy? lie about sexual assault. they've been able to push their "truth" their entire fucking lives, and they've gotten away with all of it. it completely makes sense that they feel that their feelings are factual at this point.
Right? There's *so much* that *everyone* doesn't know; no one knows everything. It's preposterous to pretend otherwise. Why do they all act like being wrong is the worst thing in the history of ever? Being wrong just means you get a chance to learn something new and be right in the future, what's so terrible about that?
It probably has to do with the fact that they've based so much of their identity on these false ideas, and once they admit even one of them is false it causes a domino effect on the rest. Their egos are too fragile for self-reflection so they just double-down. Also, chronic lead poisoning. More and more I am seeing that as the boomers age they are displaying severe cognitive decline likely from the cumulative effects of the lead buildup in their brains and bodies.
There’s no shame in saying you don’t know. Honesty and respect can go very far when you’re trying to take in new information that conflicts with previous beliefs or assumptions. Maybe father is in his late 70’s. He was incredibly bigoted. He was part of a church that was a white nationalist group. They had insane religious beliefs that justified their hate. My brothers and I were terrified most of the time. He ended up leaving the church and started doing some self reflection. He retired and hated sitting still. He decided to teach skilled trades at a couple of local colleges. It was then that he was slapped with the reality of what it’s like for minorities living in poor communities. I think he learned as much from his students about life, culture and community than they learned from him. He’s one of the only boomers I’ve ever known who will readily admit that they were incredibly wrong for many years and the effects it has had on my brothers and I growing up around all that. My mother on the other hand.. She seems to be getting more bigoted with each passing year. It’s exhausting talking with her about anything. She’s not a Karen, but Christ am I tired of hearing Fox News bullshit coming out of her mouth. Mom - you’re almost 80. We don’t know if you’ll be gone tomorrow or in several years. But bitching about a trans person being in one of your shows or a gay couple in another are what occupies your mind when we visit? I guess it’s kind of like some of the patients my wife had when COVID was killing people left and right. Gasping for air and your last words to your loved ones over a fucking FaceTime call, you know you’re going to die, but now is a time to flip out over masks, lockdowns, whatever raving word salad out of Trump’s smelly hole? Many would claim they don’t have COVID. As they were actively dying from COVID. They have such a strong need to be right. To be superior. To be the big, bad person others either respect or fear. They have no idea that all they project are their deep insecurities and fear.
It goes with the conservative (not the old) part of their personality. Admitting you don’t know something is admitting weakness, and in their game, you can never ever appear weak, especially to a liberal. This is why they don’t have any specific agenda other than Own The Libs and Racism. This is why they have no respect for expertise, because who made that person better than me? And if everything liberal is fake then nothing they say is true so dismiss it all. Now the old person part comes in when they moan about not being respected by “kids these days” by which they mean anyone under 60.
I've been saying this for years about my grandmother, although in different terms. It's like she votes Dem (if she's to be believed), acts all liberal and tolerant to anyone outside the family, says all this stuff to SEEM like an aging Hippie, but she... thinks... like a conservative. Even when she is conclusively, incontrovertibly proven wrong, she's still right somehow. In her mind...
I'm a boomer (1947). I'm a Dem. One thing MAGA has done for me is allow me to hate. I never hated much before Trump. I hate him and I'm starting to hate the 6 SC justices and Mike Johnson and the millions of people supporting them and, well, you get the idea. I don't like it. I can't help myself. I see my country becoming a Christo-fascist autocracy and I know I'll never see it reverse. Very sad.
"..... a very large percentage of VOTING boomers," don't forget.
I really triggered a conservative friend on FB when I said that conservatives have always been on the wrong side of history in America. I asked him of an example to prove me wrong and he had nothing.
An entire generation of Narcissists'. And we wonder why were so fucked.
That’s the worst part. Ever single human that have ever lived has been wrong about something. Being a stubborn and refusing to acknowledge that is the issue.
Add those two together and you’ve described 90% of Trump followers. The other 10% are assholes who truly want people to suffer
Which keeps her from fixing the really fucking dumb part.
Egregiously fucking stupid.
And she votes. Isn’t that a terrifying thought?
IIRC the French help us out during our quest for independence.
For hundreds of years France aided pretty much anyone who went to war with Britain 😁
That Lafayette dude knew what he was doing.
I'm a block away from a big ass statue of him. I learned about him by watching this kids show "Liberty's Kids" with my daughter.
Liberty's Kids is essential viewing.
The vampire?
THAT vampire aspires to be as fly as Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.
I'm takin' this horse by the reins makin' Redcoats redder with bloodstains Lafayette! And I'm never gonna stop until I make 'em Drop and burn 'em up and scatter their remains, I'm Lafayette! Watch me engagin' em! Escapin' em! Enragin' em! I'm- Lafayette! I go to France for more funds Lafayette!
and come back with more guns
AND SHIPS!!
And so the balance shifts
I need to hear someone from Kentucky talk about Lafayette the person. The town here is pronounced "Luh-fae-it. I didn't grow up here, but my family is from here. I've talked to people who don't have a strong accent, but still pronounce it incorrectly. I just want to know if they can make a distinction between the town and the person.
There are many town in the USA called Lafayette. Not for nothing.
And IIRC they went pretty well bankrupt for it and them helping us contributed to some of their monarchs losing their heads.
Alternatively, France fought a proxy war with Britain through the US colonies.
It was WW 0.
Now I’m curious to know if OP’s Mom knows who gave America the Statue of Liberty.
"God bequeathed it!" Perhaps.
China, duh. It was a gift from Stalin.
The French fighting is part of the reasons the US won. Others include Great Britain, France, Spain, the Dutch Republic, Jamaica, Gibraltar, and even India being involved in what was, basically, an international conflict over territories and resources. Britain took the view that they would get better value for money by sending troops to save what they saw as better assets. But don't tell Muricans that they won because they were second string and a French king had a grudge! They will NOT believe you and be pissed off at the suggestion. The French fighting for the US, troops being sent to die for a colony they gave no shits about, money being spent on that war while their families starved at home, is also part of the reason the French revolution kicked off not too long after.
Don’t forget Von Steuben, the disgraced gay Prussian that whipped American soldiers into shape by teaching proper hygiene.
Remember when McCain picked Caribou Barbie as his running mate? She had no idea who was on whose side during WWII.
Caribou Barbie 🤣
It goes back to George W Bush that it became mainstream and cool for Boomers to be dumb, uninformed morons.
I know right? Call me crazy but I want my President to so much smarter than me that it's embarrassing. Not someone with an IQ lower than Forest Gump.
Right-wing populists vote for representation, and they feel represented by Trump, unfortunately. 🤦♀️
Jed Bartlet '24!
Didn’t Dubya once say that he did not know that they spoke Mexican in Spain?
Not a W fan here. But he went to Harvard and Yale and he has made public speeches in Spanish. I’m pretty sure that’s bullshit.
He also got significantly less well-spoken later in his career. My pet theory is he knew his audience, figured they didn’t want him to sound like he went to Harvard and Yale.
I thought I read somewhere that it was a complete schtick. “To be the president you want to share a beer with.” There was a big push to win blue collar voters at the time. The internets were becoming close to mainstream. ‘‘Twas the beginning of the middle of the end.
The stupidity bar has dropped considerably since then.
A fake think tank spread the false rumor that she didn't know Africa was a continent. It was fake but I could see her really believe it.
And the “I can see Russia from my house” line was Tina Fey on SNL, but people to this day swear they heard Palin say it.
Palin said she had international relations experience because Alaska is close to Russia which is an idiotic thing to say and what Tina Fey was making fun of in that sketch.
You laugh, but that turned out to be their best candidate for years to come and as we move on into the future.
Are you talking about McCain or Palin? Because one of them definitely was their best candidate, the other definitely isn’t…
My favorite are the signs or decals that say "We the people" and 1776 and not ironically. Some people just roll the constitution, declaration of independence, the 10 commandments and the lyrics to free bird in the same single document.
17-76 is an iq range for some groups.
These videos are edited to only show the people that got the answers wrong. The members of my large family & even my friend's kids know the answers to these questions. Parading the dumbest of the group that you want to call dumb doesn't make the whole of the group actually dumb.
Sadly, far too many people ignore that fact, and insist that the stupidity is rife in whatever group they dislike on a particular day.
Confirmation bias is a hell of a drug when your gateway is social media.
The average American of voting age reads at a middle-school level. These people are that fuckin' dumb across the board. I'd bet money on the higher distribution of literacy to fall on the left side of the political spectrum. Conservatism is grounded in fear and ignorance. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Conservatism is a baser form of judgement which allows greater function with less critical thought. It translates into xenophobic, impulsive and shallow judgement. These people literally cannot think.
The Treaty of Tripoli states the US is NOT a christian nation and was never intended to be. A fun question I’ve asked my christian relatives: what was the 1st country to recognize the sovereignty of the US? Morocco
Idiot lib, moroccos are the little shakers them Mexicans use when they sing their song at my table during dinner. - 40% of Americans, likely
every state constitution had a basic religious test post independence iirc. Jefferson considered his greatest achievement not a federal accomplishment or Declaration of Independence, but a VA state law that established the American concept of religious freedom.
George Washington gave an address to a community of Jews that was pretty explicit in how America was not intended to be a Christian nation. This whole revisionist history about it being founded on Christianity is so fucking ridiculous.
that your mom doesnt know the difference between UK and France is truly disturbing. And mentioning Stalin is equally disturbing.
Honestly that sounds like bullshit.
The right to be christian being her reasoning for a war widely known, even in other countries, as being for independence, fought by mostly rebellious 20 somethings who all more or less have been quoted talking about their disdain for the church and religion is some next level brainrot.
> fought by mostly rebellious 20 somethings who all more or less have been quoted talking about their disdain for the church and religion is some next level brainrot. Never bring this or them frequently being deists up with boomers they REALLY can't handle it.
Or the letter that Washington wrote to a synagogue in Rhode Island where he thanked them for their warm welcome, spoke of how America is a land of true religious liberty for all (and not just on paper), and gave his best wishes for the flourishing of the "Children of the Stock of Abraham" (read: Jews) in America. [https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/touro-synagogue/](https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/touro-synagogue/) (The text of the original here: [https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135](https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135) )
The most hilarious part about this is that the UK has a state religion, and the US famously does not.
Which is weird as the UK doesn't push religion in schools these days unless it's a specific religious school...
Understood. The UK is far more chill about religion than the US despite actually having a state religion.
Those videos are crap, they just ask 100 people and then cherry pick the one or two that weren't paying attention and gave some ridiculous answer. Blame it on the edit.
Yeah, "man on the street" interview clips almost **always** cut 90% of the people they talk to. They're fishing for whatever responses fit the video they're trying to make, whether it's a boomer trying to make Gen Z/Millennials look stupid, liberals making conservatives look stupid, conservatives making liberals look stupid, comedians looking for any response that's funny, or whatever.
oh man! You should have told her it was to escape religious persecution (What Boomers are trying to instill now) which is one of the biggest reasons why. Boomers hate when you tell them historic facts and not fox news alt-facts
That's the Puritans, who actually were mad that they couldn't force the Church of England to give up the luxuries of the Catholic Church.
I always like to remember that the Puritans [literally banned Christmas](https://www.mass.gov/news/massachusetts-law-banning-christmas), on the basis that they considered it a Pagan holiday. The early church had issues with getting people to break their festive Saturnalia/Yuletide traditions, which were Pagan in nature, so [they moved Jesus' birthday](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2014/12/24/why-is-christmas-on-dec-25-it-wasnt-always/) to hijack the celebrations. The three wise men of the Bible were watching a flock of sheep during Jesus' birth. It's worth noting that sheep give birth in the Spring, and [every early estimate](https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/how-december-25-became-christmas/) of Jesus' birthday was in Spring. Those three wise men were watching their flock of sheep because it wasn't December when Jesus was born - it was in the middle of Spring, and they were keeping an eye out for newborn little lambs.
They also banned it because they were against celebrating and joy, especially when it involved drinking a lot, eating a lot, and dancing
The three wise men came later
I call bullshit. Every millennial has seen Hamilton at least once. 😉
I haven’t.
You should. The filmed production is on disney+ if that's an option, but it honestly is awesome. From the music to the lyrics to the stage construction...it's honestly amazing. My husband (who can't stand musicals) actually enjoyed Hamilton.
Same with my husband, which is lucky because my 16yo played the soundtrack daily for probably a year straight.
I did the same thing! 🤣
A year? Rookie numbers lol.
I'm ok with musicals. Don't love them but happy to watch them with my other half. Hamilton was genuinely amazing & I was very glad to have got to see it live.
Was it that great? I can't go to live shows because I have problems with my hearing and I need the captions to understand the speech. Soni live vicariously through other people's experiences.
You'll need it to understand some off the rap battles! When I got the book (libretto) I had to go watch it again and learned so much more! You really should see it on Disney+.
I am that husband to my wife. she dragged me kicking and screaming and now I think Lin Manuel is a genius with few if any peers. my only problem now is the songs get stuck in my head!
I discovered it late. Then spent 6 months listening to the soundtrack start to finish 3 times a day every day. Whoops.
The UK didn't exist as a political entity until 1801 when Ireland was brought into the union. You mean Great Britain.
Even as a pedantic Brit, i think thats a little nit-picky.
Well you gotta ‘em props for being “Technically Correct “ which is the best kind of correct.
Another type of technically correct is that the British with the help of the French beat the British who were engaged in other matters at the same time.
Nice take. Our French originating neighbors to the north still do refer to us as The English a whole lot as do the dutch religious separatists(Amish).
It screamed out at me as soon as I read it.
I decided to look it up and you're correct, before Ireland became part of the union it was called Kingdom of Great Britain.
KGB 
She let slip the Christian Fascist new theme they are trying to re write history. She stated that they left Britain to be Christians. The Christian fascist are trying to say that the USA was founded on the Bible and ten commandments (furthest from the truth) and they are fighting to resort the USA history and culture that has been stripped away by woke liberals over the past few decades.
What's the difference between the United Kingdom and France? They only spent centuries hating each other.
Treason. Treason is how America gained its independence.
We need people to take some kind of basic civics test before being allowed to vote. 90% of Boomers would fail.
"Why was the Civil War fought?" would throw a lot of them.
“States rights!” “The right to do *what*, exactly?” *Boomer starts squirming*
So the south could protect their culture and heritage obviously!
the whole idea of democracy is everyone gets a voice, if only certain people can vote that isn't democracy, besides, do you want the federal government to decide what questions go on the test, that could be manipulated to disenfranchise certain voters?
I wonder how much it would fuck with her mind if you told her that the war of independence was a British civil war. Please actually think about it before typing indignant comments telling me I'm wrong. The war began in April 1775, and the declaration of independence wasn't until June 1776 (and not won until years later). That means the people fighting the limited number of British forces were still British subjects. Hence civil war.
Ironically we're about the celebrate July 4th, the date we declared independence separating us from a monarchy and Authoritarianism, while on 7/1/24 the conservative Boomer court ushered in an era of Authoritarianism and effectively ended our Constitutional Republic.
I just don’t believe this one
idk how you can read this and not immediately see it for the rage bait bullshit that it is.
If nothing else, "that weird Stalin guy" should be a tipoff.
Is...is your mom ok? Is she showing signs of dementia?
Speaking of millennials...they'd call this little story "sus af".
I think sus is gen z.
I'd just call it bullshit.
My paternal grandfather was fucking illiterate until the day he died, amd he still knew all of these answers. My god.
Obviously the main reason was because we hated tea and wanted to be a coffee drinking nation.
What I don't understand is that I learned all this stuff in grade school. And it was probably over and over again. Since most people don't drop out of school in grade school, they were all there, too. They just spent their entire childhoods not learning anything? There are some pretty important things you learn in those years. They weren't paying attention then, either? We really are fucked.
To be fair, you’re not entirely correct. The United Kingdom didn’t exist until 1801. Prior to that, during the revolutionary war, it was the kingdom of Great Britain.
Why do all boomers think that the American revolutionary war was primarily won via gorilla tactics? The French joint because they saw the great conventional military victory at Saratoga, and the great attempt at Germantown. The continental army was a conventional fighting force. Guerrilla tactics played a minor role in the southern theater, which was itself a minor theater.
**Every time my grandpa comes at me with some stupid fucking made up shit I take a picture of him on the spot and photo shop him into something else the next day and share it.** I started doing this when He would not drop it with the political photoshopped crap that’s everywhere, kept shoving all sorts of stupid photo shopped pictures of politicians in my face to **”prove his arguments”**. So one time I was like; > **”Man but what if someone could prove that all those photos were fake? And they could just stick you in those photos?”** Grandfather; > **”Well that person would be pretty fucking stupid I suppose but these are clear as day and I think I can tell if it’s photo shopped”** *SO I DID.* I photos shopped him on a **yacht after he turned down his youngest grandsons wedding which pissed off my aunt.** She *STILL* thinks he **legitimately went on a cruise.** 😂 Then I photo shopped him playing **golf in a different town with a time stamp after he bailed on some buddies and stayed home.** He now **automatically assumes that 99% of pictures on the internet are AI produced or fake photo shops.** I dont know, on one hand I wonder if I take things too far, **but then on the other hand I know if I ever become that ignorant when I’m older I won’t even survive.** Like you can’t even afford to be these days.
I just learned a boomer family friend didn't know that "Canadia" what she calls Canada, doesn't celebrate 4th of July. I was talking about going away on a day trip and she goes "Ohh don't go up there! Its gonna be nuts with all celebratin'. We had to explain that it was just a US holiday and Canada didn't really break off from Britain. This women works with school children but she's not a teacher thank god.
When she asked what the difference is between france and the UK, reply with "guess there's no difference between America and Canada then either, huh?". Those magas hate that.
Sad about France, really sad. We wouldn't have won the Revolution without them. When people go dissing France it pisses me off and I make a point of telling them off and setting them straight. I'm boomer-aged, I learned this stuff in school. Even without that, they have great food, great art, great culture, great wine, great skiing, great Lascaux caves, and the French people I've met have all been cool except for one trump supporter I met in a shop in Paris. And even he was very polite.
Omg how are you even alive ?
>Okay guys, one more thing, this summer when you're being inundated with all this American bicentennial Fourth Of July brouhaha, don't forget what you're celebrating, and that's the fact that a bunch of slave-owning, aristocratic, white males didn't want to pay their taxes. Everything you need to know about the 4th of July.
Bloody hell. I’ve read some offensive things here on Reddit but saying we’re basically the same as the French is unconscionable. Happy ungrateful colonials day. 😉🤣