We are physically quite isolated. Most of us do not live near another country and none of us live near two. Just as there is more immediacy to happenings inside your house than in your neighbor’s, nearly everyone weighs news of 200 km away as more important than that of 2000 km away. For the American, that news is almost always in America, whereas for the European, this is not necessarily the case. (Were the contestant to think that Austin was the capital of the U.S., that would be a whole other kind of stupid.) As such, the European will be more comfortable and familiar with news from outside his country’s borders, which then translates to places even farther away.

Look, the very fact she thought Europe was a country is evidence in my favor. I’ve seen the clip and this woman, while not brilliant, was not mentally handicapped. She has, evidently, managed to navigate her entire life without this strange lack of knowledge directly hurting her. In other words, it’s just not terribly useful to know much about Europe in her life.

Now, I’m not saying all learning should be restricted to immediately useful knowledge and clearly, she would have benefited from having this knowledge. I am also not, in any way, justifying her ignorance. However, the importance of this knowledge clearly varies by locale, and any judgment based on its absence should take this into account.

To those of you who say that technology has nullified America’s geographical distance, you’re really only talking about the more educated echelons. To those of you who say, because of the U.S.’s place in world politics, we should be more aware of world geography, ok, you have a point. But that’s a bit on the idealistic side, as most of us are not involved with our political placement.

In full disclosure, I’m a fairly educated person that still confuses Hong Kong and Taiwan. This comment is meant to rationalize my shortcomings and subsequent embarrassment.

My wife is from Europe and I know first hand that families DO have time to spend with their children and make sure that they do their studies and limit their recreational time until thier homework is done.

Too much video game playing and waywardness in America’s youth is leading this country right into the toilet.

You miss the point. All other countries consider teaching geography and history more than learning ones own states and significant events. Sure other countries have morons, but when American after American (beauty queens, Presidents [Bush], athletes, politicians, and here game show contestants) — TIME AFTER TIME — repeat these asinine, completely-ignorant-of-the-world-around- them statements (I thought Europe was a country) we should be ashamed enough to correct our educational system.

I’m getting really tired of this anti-American elitism that Europeans have. Guess what? There are idiots in every country on this planet. Stop acting like everyone in the UK has an IQ of over 150.