Jihad Walking: Jason Jones Compares American Knowledge Of Iran To Iranian Knowledge Of America (VIDEO)

Jason Jones returned from Iran just before the election that caused a massive popular uprising in the country. Since then the "Daily Show" has aired segments in which he exposed Iranians' true feelings toward America, and interviewed men who would later be imprisoned by the repressive Ahmadinejad regime. In last night's segment Jones compared Iranians' extensive knowledge of American history, geography and political system to the lack of American knowledge of Iran. It didn't go great for us.


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Comments

[amygdalalama]

I LOVE the guy who says the three branches of the US government are "the legislative branch, the judicial branch, and the bureaucracy". Too funny.

[CraziesAreRunningTheShow]

Great piece, very funny...

BUT:
They know lots of facts because every single one of those folks would leave Iran and move to the USA in a New York minute!

End of story.

[raazy]

... i really doubt that. im an iranian citizen and if i could move back to iran from the US i would.. and trust me most iranian would never leave their country to move to the US.. its more about changing who's ruling their country, not moving out of their country.

[CJWebber]

You can't be serious, Crazies. Do you really think others that know more about the U.S. than they know themselves do so because they want to move there?

Classic.

[ElodieStClair]

America ranks 14th in the world in higher education, 15th in reading literacy, 19th in math, 14th in science, and America is in the 94th percentile in total education world wide.

In all of the categories above, Iran doesn't even crack the top 50.

Are there thing that need to be improved in American education? Of course.

That said, stating that the average Iranian is better educated or better informed than the average American... well, that's a simply a statement of concrete, objective ignorance. We have empirical data, kids. And some selective comedy editing and highly non-scientific sampling doesn't change that.

I have the utmost respect for the Iranian resistance and the Iranian people in general. And Iran's urban centers are churning out elite levels of academia and arts. But the undebatable fact is that the average Iranian isn't even remotely as well educated as the average American. This isn't a statement of arrogance, xenophobia, or jingoism. This is simply what the data shows us in international study after study after study.

Stop being so easily manipulated by some comedy editing. All available data on the subject proves the point overwhelmingly. I'm not a chest-thumping patriot. I'm just one of those people who believes in wacky things like science and statistics. It's just the data. Also known as "reality".

Stop being so easily manipulated into scoffing at America. It doesn't make you more liberal. It just makes you as anti-intellectual as any Fox News Neo-Con.

[raazy]

and YOU are obviously ignorant and need to stop being so easily manipulated by everything you ready on the internet. the iranian's education system is much more in depth than in the united states... very much like the education system in europe. most colleges in the states are a joke, and its not that hard to get a diploma. Iranians dont know everything about america because the daily show edits what they said, or because they have an obssession with america.. its because they are educated to know more about the world, not only their own country. americans are so caught up in America and being the world leader that they forget to pay attention to the rest of the world. go ahead and look into any and every big company in america, and youll find an iranian behind the company, and not because they grew up in america and were 'highly' educated, but because they grew up in iran and got the best education and moved to America.

[ElodieStClair]

Every major international study on the subject proves that I am correct. It's not up for debate. There are scores of international studies which confirm your ignorance. Pick one. There are dozens of such studies that are very easily Googleable. And next time, know what you're talking about before you spout off.

[cassamandra]

ouch.... this makes for rather painful reading, as most "studies have shown" posts do. National averages are meaningless when it comes to comparing education systems in vastly different parts of the world, and they are particularly meaningless when they are developed in a particular cultural setting and applied to a very different one. You need data that compare, well, comparable groups, say the urban middle class in Tehran to the urban middle class in Baltimore. Or deep rural communities. Etc. Stop blowing hot air. US patriotism is one of the most unseemly displays globally, seeing how very mediocre this country is despite its amazing resources.

[Caroline Loy]

I don't think the superiority of one education system over another was the point of the piece. Iranians are more informed about the United States because they choose to be - they take an interest in the world and the nations influencing it. Americans have a tendency to be extremely uninterested in the world, to the point that Newt Gingrich's saying "I'm not a citizen of the world... I'm a citizen of the United States of America" is an applause line. This pattern is disturbing, and in stark contrast to the well-informed attitudes of those we consider ourselves superior to.

[Harshal]

The overwhelming majority of the nation (i'd say about 98%) is totally ignorant about everything which is happening outside this country; this does not mean the education system here is poor compared to Iran or other similar country, it's just that we are too self absorbed as a nation while people in Iran (or other similar countries) are willing to know & learn more about other cultures and countries.
In many ways, IMO, we are a more isolationalist country.

[Ohioan730]

I don't think the average American travels internationally that much. Not like the Europeans who have a lot of great locales on their side of the globe. Its not an excuse by any means. There is also a problem with our public ed system and the curriculum is dumbed-down and very focused and centered around America and maybe even nationalism.

For example, I lived in a suburb that was known for being really focused on the arts and even our curriculum was more advanced, I suppose, because there was more $$ per capita. We did at least 4 huge shows every school year with musical numbers, choreography, modern music etc... I played the violin in the band. However, when my family got poorer and moved to the inner city, the music classes were a guy who rolled an upright piano into the room and we all sat at our desks and sang patriotic America songs for 45 minutes. I was horrified. Patriotic songs?? That's all??

Americans have to educate themselves. How did I get all the way through college without ever hearing of the nation of Georgia? For a second, I thought Russia was invading Atlanta. That's pretty scary to someone like me who actually likes to know things.

[rjmiller]

"How did I get all the way through college without ever hearing of the nation of Georgia?"

Maybe because you never picked up a book your whole life? Try some self-reliance. I remember learning of Georgia in elementary school when I read a biography of Stalin (he was born there).

"Americans have to educate themselves."

Get to it. Practically anything you could ever want to know is just a google search away.

The burden of education starts with parents, not the schools which everyone wants to blame (although they certainly deserve some credit). If your parents didn't beat you over the head with a book as a child, then they failed you.

[Json]

I just can't believe that guy has heard of Utica! Maybe he is just a big fan of schwaggy beer.

[brummie]

Reminds me of the 'Americans are not stupid' video on YouTube.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=fJuNgBkloFE

By the way, it's pronounced e-ran NOT eye-ran. It's not some product made by Apple. It's not iRan. :) Glad to hear the Daily Show team pronouncing it properly.
youtube.com/watch?v=z0jrLazqjn0azqjn0

[devans00]

I was very impressed with the guy who could name American presidents back several decades. Definitely did way better than me on American politics and other American minutia.

This Jason Jones man-on-the-street segment definitely made me ashamed that I used to sing that "bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" song. My only defense is that I was a preteen and I was simply parroting what adults around me were saying without really understanding what the words really meant.

[punchthekeys]

i'm going to guess that that guy had probably studied to take the citizenship test for the US.

[thaggas]

"other American minutia..."

Um, our government and the history of our leaders isn't really minutia. Who designed the White House and what did George Washington eat for his inauguration...those are minutia.

[billypilgrimisunstuck]

Persian women are so attractive. I just had to say it.

[Harshal]

I totally agree on that one...

[Lahonda]

Iran's upheaval should be called The Revolution of Women

[LMPE]

It's amazing what we don't know about the rest of the world while the rest of the world knows so much about us. Scottsboro, Alabama, deliberately suppresses memory of the world-famous events there in the 1930s (several young black men were put in jail for a crime that never took place).

Maybe it's fair for us to know about Tibet, while China knows all about Scottsboro.

[obamagramma]

Applied for a federal job today, I see my problem. They're looking for a few "regular parrots".
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24264049@N03/3659341448/

[tungsak]

The thing is, Iran is one of the more democratic societies in the middle east. Far more democratic than American's good friend, Saudi Arabia which, in fact, a real backward repressive tyrant state!

When you're in Tehran you have the feeling like you are just in any modern city in the west which can't be siad the same for Riyadh! The difference is the Saudis sell oil to US while Iran decided they want nothing to do with US.

Speaking from own experience, large portion of Iranians(significantly higher number than other in the neighborhood countries) are capable of speaking decent english. That's rare in the middle east! That may be the reason they have no problem recieving information from "Outside" source. One thing is definite though their education system is in pretty good shape or better shape than other middle easterners. At "foundamental level" I'd say better than US no child left behind policy.

BTW, Iranian women are very intellect and gorgeous in general. Oh, and they speak Farsi not arabic! so, the lame arabic mocking sketch won't do any good there.

[AngieMom57]

Fanned and Favorite!

[SouthJerseySteve]

Shows why we as a country FAIL--except for those working in RETAIL. Who needs to be educated when there's plenty of jobs at WALMART.

[DKLabRat]

I thought this segment was hilarious. Jason Jones at his best. The US guy who had never heard of Iran ought to be ashamed of himself.

[peacegurl48]

Sadly many Americans feel that there is no need to learn about other countries and cultures because we are THE BEST. This is why Bush/Cheney spent 8 years denigrating other countries, especially Islamic countries. This was evident with Palin and her profound ignorance of the world.
The Right hates Obama because he understands that America needs to respect the world's cultures and drop the superiority routine.

[Gainsbourg69]

This lack of knowledge about anything not American also makes it easy for politicians to dehumanize people in other countries. So when they wage war, like we did on Iraq, the citizenry goes rght along with it.

The right hates Obama because he's lifting the cloud of idiocy that sorrounds are foreign policy. It is in their interest to keep the country fearful of them muslim terrorists so they can keep on robbing other countries of their resources. The oil fields in Iraq are being auctioned off soon and the GOPers still maintain that we went to Iraq to liberate Iraqis.