Sunday, August 10, 2008

No wonder Americans suck at geography

I'm watching the Olympics this morning. I love the Olympics. I get excited about 6 months before they even start, then I try to watch as many obscure sports as I can, always chering for the underdog.

Right now I'm watching badminton. Cheering for the woman from Mauritius, naturally, as I always support African players when they are up.

And if I have to hear MSNBC call Africa a nation one more time, I am going to scream. Hello, major news service? Perhaps someone should inform you that Africa is actually a continent. With more than 50 separate countries, and vastly differing cultures and communities.

So I guess the news really is getting dumber and dumber each year. I guess that explains the election coverage.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's Orwellian INGSOC Newsspeak. Continents are simply land masses. "Nation" of Africa politicizes it and helps create the "they're all the same" prejudices that the U.S. gov't and its media outlets thrive on.

(... I'm probably way off on this one.)

jcelestelay said...

We noticed the same thing! I thought at first they must have been talking about the African nation of Mauritius, but no, they called Africa a nation. Unbelievable. We were both screaming at the TV.