Plan B Forum

Interesting quiz. (I came in at No. 2, just behind Netherlands.) I was surprised by a few of the answers but not so much by the general perceptions of my fellow Americans.

Indeed, it's people's perceptions that are illuminating, rather than the actual answers. It's not difficult to see where rampant Islamophobia comes from, for example, when it is believed that the Muslim population of a country is five or six times greater than it actually is.

I did not do so well but at least I finished 18 points higher than my fellow USians.

Sue U wrote:Interesting quiz. (I came in at No. 2, just behind Netherlands.) I was surprised by a few of the answers but not so much by the general perceptions of my fellow Americans.

This, although I came in 4th, not 2nd.

I finished in 5th spot.

I'm not surprised that the biggest perception gap was on this:

what percentage of people do you think said that, taking all things together, they were very happy or rather happy?

People see so much in the news about folks who are suffering or are unhappy about one thing or another (which is not an unfair practice; shining a light on things that are wrong or that people are upset about is part of what the press should do) that they assume their must be a lot of miserable and unhappy people around, and for the most part this is not the case...even people who live in severe poverty, and people with a lot of other problems frequently consider themselves overall to be "happy". (I guessed that 78% were happy, and I was still low by 11 points)

The abortion question being split right down the middle was the least surprising to me, but the percentage on this one:

When asked in a survey in US, what percentage of people do you think said they personally believed that sex between unmarried adults was morally unacceptable?

Still being as high as 30% in 2016 did surprise me. I know the US is more morally conservative than most European countries, (I guessed 20%) but I was surprised that nearly a third would still give that answer.

I was thrown by the Muslim question because I forget not everyone lives in SE Michigan but I was still way below the "average" guess

Ha, I tested my knowledge of Australia, which is based almost exclusively on what I've read here and in Bill Bryson's In A Sunburned Country, and scored No. 1! I knew I was living in the wrong country!

Ha! Similarly, I was No. 1 in France. The only question I got wrong was the "happiness quotient." Time to emigrate, I suppose.....

ETA: Also #1 for UK, and #2 for Germany.

#1 I beat the Netherlands!

The only question where I was further from the truth than the avg American was the "What percentage think abortion is morallly unacceptable." I used the percentage who believe it should be outlawed not the percentage who think it is wrong.

the other one where I was further off was the happiness question. I doubt that the self-reported happiness quotient is really reliable since we are conditioned so often to dissemble and say we're happy when we're not. Also, a lot of people regard admitting to unhappiness as a personal failing.

yrs,
rubato

I was #2 when taking the quiz about France, much better than I would have guessed. I need to go back there again.


yrs,
rubato

Well, I'll admit I was way off. Well, #12. Better than the US average by 25 places, but still.