• LeroyJenkins@lemmy.world
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    5 hours ago

    how hard are new yorker comics even supposed to hit? they’ve always been just gags that make you blow some air through your nose. I didn’t know they’ve gone through some sort of slump…

  • courageousstep@lemm.ee
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    21 hours ago

    I was initially really confused by this meme because Neanderthals were actually creative and rather culturally rich, unlike this administration.

    • jaybone@lemmy.world
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      15 hours ago

      Neanderthals were a lot like homosapiens (in fact they could breed, and they did) They could paint cave walls. They had culture and social structures. They were destroyed by violent invaders.

      • toy_boat_toy_boat@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        i think you’ve got to consider the audience. roughly 1 in 5 americans are ILLITERATE. about 1 in 2 americans read at a 6th grade level. it’s easier to manipulate these people than a bunch of preschool kids.

          • Cgers@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            4 hours ago

            I gotchu these stats come from the 2012 & 2014 PIAAC, or Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (only done every 10 years so this is the latest data available but the next cycle/data set is coming soon)

            18% are below level one, defined as;

            The tasks at this level require the respondent to read brief texts on familiar topics to locate a single piece of specific information. There is seldom any competing information in the text, and the requested information is identical in form to information in the question or directive. The respondent may be required to locate information in short continuous texts; however, in this case, the information can be located as if the text were noncontinuous in format. Only basic vocabulary knowledge is required, and the reader is not required to understand the structure of sentences or paragraphs or make use of other text features. Tasks below Level 1 do not make use of any features specific to digital texts.

            With 4% of those being actually entirely illiterate

            Breakdown

            Actual methodology and whatnot

          • Match!!@pawb.social
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            4 hours ago

            the usa withdrew from the UN’s literacy program and data collection decades ago amidst continuous cuts ti public education. many kids in my state only have classes 4 days a week

          • The Quuuuuill@slrpnk.net
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            18 hours ago

            our schools have become child warehouses thanks to Bush’s dedication to standardized testing, Obama’s dedication to fixing the standardized testing problem not by saying “this didn’t work” but instead focusing on getting more kids into charter schools, Trump’s dedication to just simply ruining the whole thing by defunding and deregulating, and then Biden’s inability to address any of the things that really mattered, instead focusing on traditional economic indicators.

    • Hawke@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      I still am. This comic (I don’t think it’s a “meme”) makes no sense.

          • courageousstep@lemm.ee
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            20 hours ago

            They’re comparing the current administration, which is canceling all research and progress such as the invention of the wheel (or other scientific development), to the Neanderthals, who are in pop culture stupid and backward people.

            But it falls flat because Neanderthals were smarter than Trump and Elon combined.