March 09, 2005

America...Number...49?

Interesting article on America and how it really ranks in the real world.

From the article:
No concept lies more firmly embedded in our national character than the notion that the USA is "No. 1," "the greatest." Our broadcast media are, in essence, continuous advertisements for the brand name "America Is No. 1." Any office seeker saying otherwise would be committing political suicide. In fact, anyone saying otherwise will be labeled "un-American." We're an "empire," ain't we?


  • The United States is 49th in the world in literacy (the New York Times, Dec. 12, 2004).

  • Twenty percent of Americans think the sun orbits the earth. Seventeen percent believe the earth revolves around the sun once a day (The Week, Jan. 7, 2005).

  • Lack of health insurance coverage causes 18,000 unnecessary American deaths a year. (That's six times the number of people killed on 9/11.) (NYT, Jan. 12, 2005.)

Read the full article here.

(Link courtesy of Steven Grant)

Posted by bkirsten at March 9, 2005 11:11 AM | |