Hosts - Alexander Armstrong & Richard Osman
The object of the game is to find not only a correct answer, but also an obscure one. So, if like a recent edition, you were asked to name a member of the current UK Cabinet, you would score very badly to name Peter Mandelson (wrong answer), better if you named David Cameron (correct but obvious), and better still if you named, say, Oliver Letwin (correct and obscure). The scoring is done in reverse and is based on the responses of 100 members of the public. The best answer is a pointless answer - correct and no member of the public thought of it.
The reason why this show is compulsive viewing is that it demonstrates just how completely brainless british people can be. Some topics rarely get a decent answer - History, Politics, Religion - hopeless! The topics that do best, of course, I am sure you can guess - Pop Music, Films & Sport. Here is an example - from somebody who claims to be a Maths Teacher. This person is state-sanctioned to stand in a classroom and impart his vast & blistering knowledge to children. Lord help us!
You can feel the lightning bolts of stupidity flying out of this person's head. But leaving his woeful grasp of Geography to one side - what about the claim that contestants are good at questions on sport? Here is an observation about the british. When they say 'sport', what they actually mean is 'football'. The british claim to be sports-mad, but it just isn't true. Alexander Armstrong will often ask contestants what subjects they hope will come up, and many will mention sport. But when a non-soccer related sports question does come up, they are all-at-sea - at which point they usually admit that they had really been hoping for something on football.
Quiz Contestant
So, let's dive inside the average british person's brain and explore what they know about current affairs and politics. In a country suffering severe cuts and with millions likely to be a lot worse off, you'd think that people would be tempted to know a little bit about who is inflicting this on them. You'd think so, but you'd be wrong. You give people a voting slip and tell them that their lives are going to be drastically affected by the outcome of their votes - and their response is to ask you to move out of the way of the TV - X Factor's coming on in a minute. They deserve a crappy government. Not that politicians mind too much. After all, apathy allows them to carve the country up for themselves - no questions asked. As long as TV gives the public their celebs, then everyone's happy.
The new UK Cabinet according to the average british voter:
- Max Clifford - Minister of State for Celebrity
- Elle Macpherson - Secretary of State for Shopping
- John Prescott - Pies & Cake Minister
- Boris Johnson - Mayor of Britain
- Gwyneth Paltrow - Minister of State for Dresses & Shoes
- Tessa Jowell - Leader of the Conservative Party
* In case you think I am displaying my thickness by failing to capitalise the word 'british' - that is quite deliberate. I don't believe that any nationality deserves to be capitalised. It is just not worthy enough to be 'honoured' in this way.
I have some sympathy for people not knowing members of the cabinet. Having been enthusiastic about politics when i was young, and knowing the names of cabinet members like some kids knew about their favourite football team, I have now passed on to complete cynacism.
ReplyDeleteI don't give a shit what they are called. I've moved on to macro politics; the study of how oligarchies work in concert with the national reserve banks to screw the populus.
Read this if you want an education: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-real-housewives-of-wall-street-look-whos-cashing-in-on-the-bailout-20110411?print=true
That's just for starters.
If you really want to plumb the depths of british ignorance, read some of the comments in the so-called intelligent papers like the Telegraph. Shocking attitudes based on ignorance.
Sorry to hijack your topic. I went on a negotiating course once. The last exercise involved a real envelope on everyone's table with a 20 quid note in it. One person knew how much was in it and the other side didn't. You had to negotiate how it should be shared.
ReplyDeleteMost tables came away with something like 10-10 or 13-7. We asked the facilitator what the record was. It was 19.75 to 0.25. Not only had the winner convinced the other party that there was only 1 pound in the envelope, but they had negotiated the lion's share of that.
This is analagous to how wealth is shared. The politicians convince the public that the cake is small and get people arguing about the crumbs.
Don't believe any politician when they say there just isn't enough money to go round. Britain is stinking rich, it's awash with wealth, and the people would be a lot richer if it was divided up anywhere even approaching equally.
My reading of the Rolling Stone story? They know that the financial apocalypse is coming and they're not even trying to pretend or hide the real game any more - just diviing up the lifeboats to their mates.
I follow the news about the deficit, inflation, gold, silver, America's cosmetic attempts to address its debt. It is unsustainable. US Dollar collapse within 2-3 years tops.
OK. This is getting really tangential now, but what the hell, I'm on a roll. The democrats and republicans have been viciously fighting about the 38 billion reduction in annual spending.
ReplyDeleteThe number looks impressive until you get it in context. If you take away a lot of zeroes by dividing by 100,000,000 then you get this nice analogy:
We have a family that is spending $38,200 per year. The family's income is $21,700 per year. The family adds $16,500 in credit card debt every year in order to pay its bills. After a long and difficult debate among family members, keeping in mind that it was not going to be possible to borrow $16,500 every year forever, the parents and children agreed that a $380/year premium cable subscription could be terminated. So now the family will have to borrow only $16,120 per year.
Translation" we're fucked.
I love this post, I didn't see it before. Now I want to watch this show so I can sneer at those with such a paltry knowledge of geography - but they might have a GCSE at least :-). What a fool!
ReplyDelete