The most important job skill of a pageant beauty is the skill of making other people feel comfortable. If she can't do this, then nobody's going to care about how she scores in any of the official categories.

Now look at the question. To paraphrase:

Why do you think Americans are too dumb to find their own country on a map?

"Maybe they don't have maps" is one of the most polite things she could have said in response to a question that was just begging for a rude reply.

That's kind of a mean thing to do, to set her up with a question that asks her to criticize the same people she's supposed to please.

I don't mind it, why do you?

Why anonymous minds it, or the fact that you don't isn't really the point, is it?

The functionality isn't working quite right. It's a usability problem for the site. Not the end of the world, sure, but a valid issue nonetheless. From an operations standpoint, it would probably be a matter of some concern, since it probably impacts page views which can influence everything from ad revenues to staffing decisions.

Maybe they're working on it. Maybe not. Maybe if enough people mention it, they'll decide it's worth putting more energy into solving. Or not. It doesn't hurt to point out a flaw, even if it is a fairly minor one.

What I'm not wondering in the least is why you mind that anonymous minds.

Someone has to be on the left end of the Bell curve. I really don't care that half of everyone is stupider than the other half. However you define that. Can't find the US on a map? So what? Are they navigating the ocean blue? I'm happy if the stoner on the other side of the cash register can make change. First learn to make change then we'll worry about your cartography skills.

Manjoo displays a set of assumptions that I find very often among techie types, and which invalidate his analysis, in my opinion.

First of all, he assumes that everyone either has a computer or has access to one, and that therefore knowledge of maps or geography is unnecessary. Just like most people whose livelihoods, and lives, revolve around high-end technology, Manjoo can't imagine that there are literally millions of people who actually don't have these things, and thus have to rely on their BRAINS to store knowledge, instead of a plastic box.

Second, again like most techies, he makes the assumption that things like the Internet are now a permanent part of culture, and thus (again) there is no need to hang onto "outdated" methods like knowing what the Earth's continents actually look like and how they relate to the boundaries we mark - and like to shuffle around - for ourselves. Again, this is faulty reasoning. Who says these technical gewgaws are going to be around forever? If the rather dire warnings of imminent cultural collapse are to be believed, we may have as little as another 50 years of flickering screens standing in for personal knowledge, experience and brain power. So the art of reading maps may well be something we should be actively teaching, just like myriad other arts that are falling by the wayside. Things like figuring sums with a pencil and paper, reading an analog clock, even such simplicities as making monetary change are things that fewer and fewer folks even seem to be aware of, let alone are able to do with ease. (Let's not get into things like growing your own food or making your own furniture.)

It's very cute to wave your hand at things like this and shrug "What's the big deal?" But Manjoo really ought to know better. The less you use your brain without the aid of toys, the more you give over your capacity to think to machines that will think for you, the worse off humanity will be in the long run. No civiliation ever prospered via encouraging their members to be as stupid as possible.

LS,

Not to disput the main points of your argument, but I just wanted to point out that the finals of the National Spelling Bee have in fact been on in prime time for the past couple of years or so, and I believe they've done pretty well.

This girl couldn't find her way out of her own bathroom without a voice activated navigation system.

Good lord!

It was a normal BS question that demanded a simple BS answer. The stupid git contestant couldn't even manage that.

Why can't a shit load of Americans find their own country on a world map? Very simple, because the American K12 system is so bad that most kids graduate without a basic formation in sciences, never mind humanities. Add to the mixture the nouveau war on science by trying to "democratize" education adding things like ID to the curriculum.. and you end up with the current batch of idiots, for whom anything before Reagan is fuzzy history.

It was funny to see, how in a sort of improvised matter she proved the point regarding the low quality of the American K12 education, which was in my humble opinion the answer demanded by the question.

Sooo... she is either a personified genius with a sense of wit and bitting sarcasm of heights for which the world is not yet ready. Or she is just a really, really, stupid girl whose only talent is that she looks good. I am willing to be my farm on the fact that she is just another idiot bimbo that couldn't place the US on a world map if her life depended upon it. Because, frankly she does not need to, and we live in a society that considers earning potential to be the only goal of a person's life. Thus wasting time on things like developing a full persona are just wastes of time... why would she waste brain space knowing about them foreign countries and their location in the world? Is that going to help her make money anytime in the future? No. So why bother, plus them airplane pilots already know where places are so she will make it OK to wherever she decides to vacation once she marries well.

The apologist for this twit are also funnily proving the point of some of the reasons why the educational system has gone to hell. It is never the idiot's fault it seems, it could not possibly be that the lady is just *that* stupid and leave it at that... noooo! The question must be biased, and the impending lunar eclipse also contributed to the alignment of factors which made this other ways intelligent creature utter such idiotic statements.

Jesus tap dancing Christ on a pogo stick, the stupid git did not even made a coherent sentence in English during her time slot. I guess in this country you will find some idiot who will find an excuse for you as long as you are cute and cuddly.