FA+
Shop
I wonder.. Hey American's, I have a question. (edit)
15 years ago
So, I live close to the great city of Philadelphia, and nothing makes me feel more proud then when a tourist comes up to me and asks me questions about the city, to which i know the answers to. (Proud that my brain even remembered anything in the first place) But I have to say, there is one question I was asked.. that has always had me in wonder about something. I had a friend visiting me from another state, and i took him over to Philly to play in China Town. I then thought it would be fun to take him to see where Ben Franklin is buried. He is in a grave yard, next to an iron gate. You can touch his grave if you stick your hand in. So it's right on the sidewalk. Which is pretty cool) It just so happened that Obama was speaking in Philly that night.. and so A LOT of people where in the city. Obama picked to make his speech in front of Independence Hall. Since it is right next to where Ben is berried, I took my friend there to show him the building and such. (I didn't care about Obama really at the time) As I was standing in front of the building and taking a picture.. this cute couple walked up to me and said.
"So ok.. What is this building? I mean. Why is it so important? I don't get it" I looked at them in awe for a moment, then said..
"It's Independence Hall. Where the Declaration of Independence was written.. Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams.. all signed it in there."
They looked at each other and then went "Oooooh ok! I get it! Thanks" And walked away. Now.. what I found weird was that they just didn't know about it. Growing up in South Jersey, all that shit was shoved in my face since i was a baby. So I know how important Philly was at that time, and what that building was.. but it made me wonder how much school's outside of my area.. taught it.
SO my question! Do you know what Independence Hall Looks like? Or would you know of it IF you walked by it. My friend who grew up in Indiana, knew it.. and was amazed the couple didn't. As was I. But now I'm honestly just curious.
[Edit]
Picture - http://www.goebus.com/797px-Independence_Hall.jpg
It's not to impressive. So I guess many wouldn't know it just by looking.
"So ok.. What is this building? I mean. Why is it so important? I don't get it" I looked at them in awe for a moment, then said..
"It's Independence Hall. Where the Declaration of Independence was written.. Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, John Adams.. all signed it in there."
They looked at each other and then went "Oooooh ok! I get it! Thanks" And walked away. Now.. what I found weird was that they just didn't know about it. Growing up in South Jersey, all that shit was shoved in my face since i was a baby. So I know how important Philly was at that time, and what that building was.. but it made me wonder how much school's outside of my area.. taught it.
SO my question! Do you know what Independence Hall Looks like? Or would you know of it IF you walked by it. My friend who grew up in Indiana, knew it.. and was amazed the couple didn't. As was I. But now I'm honestly just curious.
[Edit]
Picture - http://www.goebus.com/797px-Independence_Hall.jpg
It's not to impressive. So I guess many wouldn't know it just by looking.
an example would be the mountains that surround my city - a person (in their 20's) who was born and raised here had no clue of their names, and needless to say my jaw dropped when I heard. I did not think it was possible to live here and NOT know the names of the mountains.
you can find examples of this in every city and every country - either people are uneducated (you can blame it on their schools OR on their own lacking desire to learn) and some people are just... ignorant. XD
either way, this is one of those "big" things that you kinda just expect people in the western world to know - and I don't blame you for being surprised that your fellow americans don't know this stuff. :3
I only had one class in school. Western Civ. ...... which.. Now that i think about it.. makes NO sense.. because we were learning about European history. But i guess its Western if you go by the old world look at it. Asia is the east and Europe is the west.. i dunno. .anyway.. Just one year. 42 mins a day.. to teach you AAAAAALLLLLLLL of Europe history. Most of what I know now.. I looked up after high school. Cause just one year to teach all that. A lot of stuff was skipped over.
Never liked history in high school.
"Social studies" was one of my favorite classes in school.
not only do I know what it looks like, I have driven my commercial motor vehicle past it (I got lost, and that's how I figured out where I was)
anyone that does not study history will be doomed to repeat it's mistakes over and over again.
like voting for Obama, or Bush... but I'm opinionated.
My fav moment was when i was driving and took an odd turn and stopped at an intersection. I looked over and saw Ben Franklin's grave next to me. I had noo idea where it was and always wondered about it. I've seen its location on TV many times, but never really tried to look for it. So i was surprise to drive up next to it one day.
Schools here in the Midwest... well my classes skimmed everything, they were general history classes, they did not go into very specific details over the buildings, the names of them, etc, just more when we declared independence, when it was signed, more dates then specifics.
It's sad because I love History, I'm looking to take a few more classes in college to see if I can actually learn more.
I think it really relies on whether or not you WANT to know and retain important
historical facts and what not, and how much importance your family and or school
put on it :3!
Occasionally.
Not as occasionally as I'd like to though.
A picture I took that night, of Ben's grave. I just stuck my hand in between the bar's and took a picture.
http://www.goebus.com/797px-Independence_Hall.jpg Independence hall. Still standing!
so yeah
watch this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTY-JmKsR4Y
Though, I'm unsure if you are showing this to me as an insult.. or a joke. Cause if its an insult.. it's a pretty sad one at that. No mater how shitty a city might be now.. if it holds historical importance (like the birth of this nation for one), you really shouldn't ignore that part of it.
do you have any idea how much he loves soup?
DO YOU?!!?
that soup is all she had to sustain her massive girth
;___;
also, philly is just new jersey's canada
and maple leaves
and sandwiches made of cow taints dyed brown and passed off as "steak"
But prior to that movie, i did know of the importance of Independence Hall, i just never paid it much mind since i don't live anywhere near it. Or any national landmark to be precise. Our nations history really isn't on the forefront of my mind at any given point.
And yeah, you should see National Treasure. It made me miss Philly like whoa.
Looks like schooling is a bit of a tradeoff.
"...what I found weird was that they just didn't know about it. Growing up in South Jersey, all that shit was shoved in my face since i was a baby. So I know how important Philly was at that time, and what that building was.. but it made me wonder how much school's outside of my area.. taught it."
So my comment was on topic. Thanks.
You know how amazed and confused you felt when those people didn't know about Independence Hall? That's how I feel when people can't write in their own native language.
I advise you to give up. You won't win this.
Fail.
Is pointing out your deficient spelling insulting? Well that's your problem, not mine.
Fail.
There's a lot more wrong grammatically with this thing than just that one word. If I wanted to troll, I would've addressed all of the errors.
Fail.
Of course I'm fully capable of following directions when required, I'm just not required to obey you.
Fail.
Anything else?
The biggest fail of all, is attacking and insulting strangers for no reason other then you feel the need to show off. I don't give a rats ass about the mistakes people make. I sure as hell have enough respect to not belittle them or put them down for it, if I do feel the need to correct them. (Example, someone thought Philadelphia was a state. Did I insult them because of it? No. I politely told them it was a city, not a state.) I don't feel the need to be insulting to others about their mistakes. Where as you do. That's pretty pathetic.
This is my journal. You don't have to listen to me.. but don't come on MY FA page and insult me, and think that somehow means you Win in some way. The only thing you won at, was showing everyone how much of a dick you can be. For as smart you seem to think you are, you clearly failed to learn anything about respect. And you sure don't have any manners what so ever. Some of the easiest things to learn, yet you can't even do that. I would rather have bad grammar, then have your disgusting attitude.
If you can't bother to show any respect, then don't waste your time in commenting again. You feelings and opinions are not worth reading and will be ignored from now on.
But what you did for those people was really neat, I'd really appreciate someone taking the time to show me things like that.
As for ignorant tourists, I live in Vermont. I've had people not only ask me what state they were in while driving through, but on vacation to other states, people have asked me what state Vermont is in.
Tourist questions aren't bad, although there isn't much more to Vermont tourist questions than "where are the ski resorts?" and "why aren't there any fast food restaurants in town?" We get a lot of "the leaves on the mountains here are beautiful," though.
I swear to God, the last public school I went to, in certain classes they would play cards in the back of the class. The teacher wasn't very firm on the students and they knew they could get away with it. I used to get picked on for actually wanting to learn. :P
I have a friend in Philly that I'll be visiting at the end of the month. I was going to have her show me some of the fascinating landmarks of historical importance while I'm there. Plus, I want to see the statue of Rocky Balboa! lol!
Lastly, I grew up and live in Southern California.
I've lived in Texas my whole life and the main crap I've heard about was the Alamo, Austin, Dallas, how Texas was once its on country, and how everyone kept fighting over the state. Stuff like that.
Yeah we briefly talked about Independence Hall, but only when talking about the Declaration of Independence. And even then, we were really only shown a painting of the inside of the Independence Hall when the Declaration of Independence was being signed.
I don't know much about other states because the main stuff we were taught here in Texas dealt with Texas :Y
In other words, I wouldn't know it if I saw it.
Otherwise I agree. It is hard to follow along in a class that puts you to sleep.
Of course, if you wanted to get real technical about it, American history started way before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Native Americans were making history before the Queen of England even had dreams of an empire. :P
It's set to 4:10.
Of freedom.
However, growing up in the various parts of Virginia and D.C., I could point out and describe to you any colonial building or landmark. Having lived in Charlottesville for a few years of my childhood, I could tell you about the University of Virginia and Monticello. Thanks to numerous trips to D.C., I would never be ignorant about the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial or the Washington Mall. So, my question to you and anyone else who did not grow up in a similar area is this: all of this seems pretty obvious to me, and I've always assumed that it was obvious to everyone else as well. But would you know these places and buildings if you saw them? I guess they're a lot more recognizable than Independence Hall, being in and around the nation's Capitol and all, but now Katabira has me curious. :3
Now... who knows what the Alamo looks like?
It'd be great if history tests would ask you to identify historical art and buildings, but they are always about memorizing names and dates. No wonder we forget so quickly.
However, I doubt I'd go visit it.. XD