(Source: Big Cartoon Database)
Neil Postman, in his 1984 book Amusing Ourselves to Death posited a world so obsessed with triviality that humanity lost sight of what's important. The late communications theorist would certainly shake his shaggy head over the results of a Zogby International poll on pop culture.
The creators of "Gold Rush," an online game about pop culture, commissioned the poll, which released its results Monday.
According to survey results, 3 out of 4 Americans polled can name 2 of Snow White's seven dwarves, but only 1 out of 4 can name 2 Supreme Court judges.
More than 60% of Americans can name Homer as the hapless dad of The Simpsons but only 20.5% could name an epic by the Greek poet Homer (The Iliad and The Odyssey, for those who are keeping score).
Sixty percent of all respondents named Krypton as the fictional planet where cartoon hero Superman came from. In contrast, 37% could name Mercury as the planet closest to our sun.
And finally, 74% of those polled could name the 3 Stooges - Larry, Curly and Moe - but only 42% could name the 3 branches of the United States government: executive, legislative and judicial.
Pollsters interviewed 1,213 people across the U.S. The results had a 2.9% margin of error.
"These results are not about how 'dumb' Americans are, but about how much more effectively popular culture information is communicated and retained by citizens than many of the messages that come from government, educational institutions and the media," said Robert Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture, and Trustee Professor of Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
"There are important lessons to be learned here," continued Thompson, who served as a consultant to the pollsters.
Indeed.
