I am a big fan of the internet.
I assume most of y’all who frequent this blog or follow my incessant Twitter activity have picked up on that by now.
There is something awesome about the ability to gather thoughts and opinions and responses from people all around the world in the blink of an eye.
I’ve live-tweeted the Oscars and numerous baseball games and it always results in interactions with complete strangers from all corners of the earth. It has resulted in some very interesting conversations and even a few online friendships over common interests.
That is the ideal use of social media right there.
On the flip-side of that coin, however, is that sometimes the ability to procure so many different viewpoints leads to something that blows your mind…in all the wrong ways.
Most of you have probably already stumbled upon this amusing (yet sad) bit of news somewhere else on the internet already, but I’m just getting back from a vacation spent with little internet access so everything is new to me.
That having been said, peep this:
That’s right, folks…there are legitimately people out there in the world who have no idea that the movie Titanic is based on actual events.
How in the blue hell is that possible?!
Maybe things have changed since I graduated, but I’m pretty sure the sinking of the Titanic is still a pretty big deal in the education system, right?!
I remember it popping up in history classes all the time. Is it possible that this is no longer the case?
Is there a statute of limitations on how far back history teachers will go nowadays?
Does history start in 1990 now with Zubaz, MC Hammer, and the Buffalo Bills as the cornerstones of a well-rounded history education?!
I feel like I’m taking crazy-pills. I mean, we’re rapidly approaching the 100th anniversary of the sinking this week, how are people over the age of five just now learning that this actually happened?!
Maybe the bigger question is who gets to break the news to these Mensa candidates about Pearl Harbor and Apollo 13?
Blank Stares and Blank Pages 
“How is it that you don’t know __________ by now?” is a question I ask myself at least once per class meeting. /facepalm
LikeLike
By: Katie on April 11, 2012
at 8:13 pm
Youngins…making me nervous about the future one day at a time.
LikeLike
By: Jeremiah Graves on April 11, 2012
at 10:01 pm
Well, someone has to break the news to them that Rose and Jack aren’t real life people .. I guess that would be fun ! 🙂
LikeLike
By: vandysnape on April 12, 2012
at 9:39 am
Oh yeah, there’s that too.
These folks are going to be seriously mixed up on what is real and what isn’t. Here’s hoping they don’t think that everything James Cameron directed is real.
Between Terminator, Aliens, Avatar, and—*sigh*—True Lies, that would get weird in a hurry.
LikeLike
By: Jeremiah Graves on April 12, 2012
at 2:00 pm
This shows how little I’ve been paying attention to all things Titanic…I had no idea there were all these people out there that didn’t know it was real. I’m with you….how the hell can you NOT know that!? My 4 year old knows that!!! Granted, I told her, but now I’m wondering if I should start homeschooling. I know sh!t about history, but I’m thinking my kids would get a better education from me googling lesson plans than they actually get in our screwed up education system. They already stopped teaching them how to write in cursive…I think any & all math that involves the use of letters should be cut from the curriculum next.
LikeLike
By: Bethylicious on April 16, 2012
at 5:49 am
I assume we’re just a few short years from schools teaching kids how to text one-handed while play X-Box with the other hand.
Between the two important courses (“Use of Modern Electronics” and “Devouring Shitty Food So We Can Be Fatter and Diabetes-er Than the Rest of the World”) the curriculum is a little bit lacking nowadays.
LikeLike
By: Jeremiah Graves on April 16, 2012
at 10:29 am
Found my way to your through Vandhana’s 9-3/4 platform.
It’s all about belief, I find it hard to distinguish people who believe Santa is real & people who believe Titanic is fiction! Well presented.
LikeLike
By: Yatin on May 3, 2012
at 10:20 am
Thanks! Always happy to have a new visitor.
LikeLike
By: Jeremiah Graves on May 3, 2012
at 11:10 am
It’s things like this that come up where I can’t help but just stare blankly at the people who say them. It’s almost incomprehensible that someone could not know the sinking of the Titanic was an actual event and not just some blockbuster movie that came out plastering Leo’s babyface all over the planet…
LikeLike
By: Shanno on May 14, 2012
at 8:40 pm