I mentioned that I voted, and they naturally asked me who I voted for. I said, "De la Cruz. Third party."

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that?", one of them said, and the whole group looked at me a bit puzzled — so I reiterated, "De la Cruz, a third-party candidate."

"...Wait, there's a *THIRD* party?"

  • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
    ·
    8 hours ago

    I'm certain a huge percentage of Americans don't know there are third parties. And I bet a sizeable number of Americans think Bernie is "third party". More than 50% of Americans read below a 6th-grade level. And - of course - Americans who can read at higher level usually don't. We aren't nation of readers either.

    I was going to quote the literacy in the United States Wikipedia page but I decided not to. I noticed two things that are funny together.

    1. I assume the text is intentionally written to be obtuse, annoying, and unclear because it damages so much of the American mythos. The text is even worse than when I visited the page ~6 months ago.

    2. The average American would never, ever read more than a paragraph of that or similar crap because they can't.

    ---

    Ninja edit

    Snopes is a very American site and can take forever to get to the point but they did answer their main question simply.

    Do More Than Half of Americans Read Below 6th-Grade Level?

    Do More Than Half of Americans Read Below a 6th-Grade Level?

    This claim is true

    • REgon [they/them]
      ·
      7 hours ago

      Nationally over 20% of adult americans have a literacy proficiency at or below Level 1

      mac-concern so first of all "nationally" is redundant, so don't jot that down.
      Secondly: 1/5 of adult americans can't read AT ALL?? That's... that's too much.

      Christ that page needs and editor

      The definition of literacy has changed greatly; the term is presently defined as the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential

      Add quotation marks ffs

      Modern jobs often demand a high literacy level, and its lack in adults and adolescents has been studied extensively.

      Not really relevant to the discussion of literacy in the US. Certainly not in the introduction.

      According to a 1992 survey, about 40 million adults had Level 1 literary competency, the lowest level, comprising understanding only basic written instructions.

      You are adding it as a source, just write the claim and add the year the claim was made.

      A number of reports and studies are published annually to monitor the nation's status, and initiatives to improve literacy rates are funded by government and external sources

      Should be the first sentence if you're going to include it at all.

      • InevitableSwing [none/use name]
        ·
        7 hours ago

        The funny thing is that the page was already bad ~6 months ago. I assume there's endless editor squabbling so the page becomes a bigger and bigger mess.