We Fought Albania in WWII? Memorial Day Beachgoers Fail the Most Basic US History Questions You Can Think of
The text describes a Memorial Day street interview in Los Angeles where a Fox reporter asked young people basic questions about U.S. history and current/past global events.Several interviewees gave answers the article portrays as severely wrong or confused-such as saying Memorial Day is “America’s birthday,” misunderstanding who America fought in the Revolution, claiming the Civil War was about “taxes,” and giving incorrect responses about World War II and why the Cold War was called “cold.”
The article then argues that this kind of ignorance is unacceptable, questions why money is spent on education, and suggests instituting stricter civic or history knowledge requirements before people vote or hold office. It also frames the issue as part of a broader cultural/political conflict over patriotism and how history is taught.
Do you remember when the United States fought the French for independence and the Russians won the Cold War? Gen Z apparently does.
On Memorial Day, “Jesse Watters Primetime” took to the beach in Los Angeles, California, to quiz the younger generation, asking them some pretty basic questions about our nation’s history, some of whom gave spectacularly bad answers.
The New York Post reported some of their responses.
One young man told reporter Johnny Belisario “Memorial Day is…it’s America’s birthday,” while another concluded the American Revolution was fought against France.
When it came to why the Civil War was fought, the reply was, “I’m gonna go with taxes.”
You may also be surprised to discover dinosaurs were around for the Civil War, according to one of Belisario’s guests.
“Who did America fight in World War 2?” the host asked.
This seemed fairly obvious considering the film and gaming industries have made a point to draw on this event often, but the reply was… Albania?
Answers also included Korea and Vietnam.
“Who won the Cold War?” did get Russia as the reply, but the answer for why it was called the Cold War was equally ridiculous.
“It was snowing. I played games called ‘Cold War,’ so that I know.”
Belisario tried leading one young woman, “They called it the Cold War because not a shot…” he said, hoping she would complete the sentence with “was fired” only to get, “was drank,” believing he was referring to alcohol.
Footage of the interview can be found on social media platform X.
Why are we spending billions on education if this is the result? These aren’t erudite topics.
One wouldn’t even need to study history deeply to know them. They’d just need a basic knowledge of the past.
Of course, presumably everyone in this video can vote and hold public office. Maybe a basic civics test should be required before that’s possible.
History has been one of many battlegrounds in the left’s efforts to eradicate the patriotic spirit they see as a plague.
They don’t even need to inculcate young people with their warped, ideologically charged version of history. They just need to make them ignorant and uncaring.
In accomplishing that, the way has been paved to denounce and dismantle the foundations which we’ve built to enjoy freedom and prosperity. If you don’t have the tools to rebut the left’s destruction of civilization — a knowledge of history, specifically our ideals and triumphs over evil — then you have no means to fight back.
Why would we want to safeguard this great nation from Marxist ideologues who want to destroy it when we can’t even articulate what makes it great?
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