Global Ignorance: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

For some reason, TV producers seem to consider geography to be the most basic form of human knowledge. When they want to show that a person is an idiot, they almost inevitably show some geographic mistake, such as mistaking a continent for a country, or inability to find a given location on a map.

Often a character who isn't characterized as being either [[The Smart Guy]] or [[The Ditz]] will make understandable but amusing slips along these lines to cement their position in the intellectual hierarchy particularly if they have been being a bit too smart recently. A good example would be thinking Thai people are from Taiwan which is wrong, but not completely stupid either.

 

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', when Makie reveals how much she's learned much about the history and geography of Mundas Magicus in a few weeks, Yuna is surprised, given that normally she can't find Germany, Italy or France on a map, and thinks that Switzerland is near England and that ''Australia'' is around Europe.

* Pictured: Alfred/America in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' asks where Japan is on a map... of North America.

** In the English dub of the anime, the narrator begins a discussion of a part of Polish history, stops herself - "Right, anime fans." - and backs up to begin a dumbed-down version of the same information. Then she stops herself ''again'': "Right, American fans. Poland is a country. In Europe!" Ow.

* Used as a plot point in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket|Gundam 0080]]''. Bernie, [[Dressing as the Enemy|posing as a Federation soldier]], claims to be from Australia while making small talk and mentions how he used to love playing in the snow around Christmastime. [[Eureka Moment|Several minutes later, the man he was talking to realizes]] that the Southern Hemisphere has '''warm''' weather in December; this is the mistake that blows the team's cover {{spoiler|and gets everyone but Bernie killed.}} {{spoiler|Not to mention that Sydney was wiped out by}} The [[Colony Drop]] {{spoiler|and no longer exists at that time, anyone from Sydney should not be talking like that about it.}}

 

== Comic Books ==

'''Joey:''' Um.... Pennsylvania Dutch come from Pennsylvania.

'''Chandler:''' But original Dutch people? Would you say they come from somewhere like the Netherlands?

*** For some reason, Chandler doesn't point out that Pennsylvania Dutch are actually German. <s> The word "deutsch" degraded into "dutch" because it's easier to say.</s> It took to the 19th century for it to be firmly established that in English, Dutch referred to people from one of the Low Countries, and not to the Deutsch.

** Joey also spent an episode trying to find somewhere he could change US dollars into "Vermont money".

*** Andy choosing a country for a model U.N.

{{quote|'''Leslie''': Andy, will you be Iceland?

'''Andy''': The bad guys from ''[[The Karate Kid|Karate Kid 2]]''? Even worse. How about Germany? They’ve never been the bad guys. }}

* In one episode of ''[[Boy Meets World]]'' Shawn thinks that you can get to Europe on a bus. He even buys a bus ticket to Paris, Texas thinking it will take him to Paris, France.

* In the ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' episode "Chimera", Carter remarks to her [[Cop Boyfriend]] Pete Shanahan that there's no zoo in Colorado Springs, apparently completely unaware of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. [[Word of God|Writer Joseph Mallozi]] said that this was done on purpose to indicate that she spends so much time working she's completely unfamiliar with the city she lives in.

* "Moldavian wedding massacre" was a major plotline of the soap series ''[[Dynasty]]'' Apparently, the show's producers and writers were unaware that Moldavia was a real region and a historical country (although, at that time, a Soviet Republic and not an independent country).

 

== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==

** Although in fairness, while you can't genuinely see Russia from Alaska, its not exactly a huge stretch to say 'You can practically see Russia across the Bering Straight'. It's only about 50 miles from western Alaska to eastern Russia. Sarah Palin may not be the sharpest knife in the draw, but she's not actually psychotic.

* Conservative humorists had a field day when then-candidate Barack Obama mentioned visiting 57 states.