Rather than try to figure out what people "think", I try to find out what people "know". I have found after 70 years of observations that what people "think" is a lot less significant than what they "know". When you think about it, how can a person have a logical thought if they don't know anything? Religion is a good example of people "thinking" when they don't "know" anything. Notice how most people have gotten all involved with what people "think" rather than what they "know"?
The way that I have gotten around this loop hole is to ask simple questions that have definite answers. In interviewing, we call these "knock out" questions. You could talk to someone for hours and get a very wrong impression if you relied on answers about what they "think" rather than what the "know". I have had several discussions with people who seemed well educated about the character of the USA. They all had plenty to say and were quick to let me know what they "think". I was at first impressed until I asked them a few "knock out" question about American history. Here are the questions that I asked and they could not answer a single one.
* Where is Fort McHenry where Francis Scott Key was held as a prisoner on an English ship while he wrote the Star Spangled Banner?
* Where is Jamestown, the location of the first permanent English settlement in the New World?
* Where is Yorktown, the location of the last battle of the Revolutionary War where the English surrendered?
* Where is Fort Sumpter, the place where the first shots of the Civil War were fired?
* Where is Alamance, the location where the Colonialists with 2,000 fighters fought the Battle of Alamance against 2,000 English troops for two days just prior to 1776?
They could not answer a single one of these correctly, but they could tell me all about Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower. I have a feeling that the several well educated people whom I asked these simple questions are very typical of our general population. You take the test and give it to a few of your friends and tell me how much weight you should be giving to what they "think".
