Friday, December 7, 2012

Could this be our future?; "I do not live amongst the most intelligent group of people."

Monday, November 26, 2012

It’s 5:00 AM here in the sandpit and my vacation is officially over today. Overall it’s been long enough and I am mentally ready to go back to work. Being off work has been nice, but it has also served as a reminder that being around the yard all day can be incredibly draining. There have been so many problems within the inmate population and truthfully, I am tired of hearing about them. Actually, I am tired of pretending to care. Getting back to my regular routine will be really good for me.
I have always been aware of the fact that I do not live amongst the most intelligent group of people, but somehow this past Friday, that point was illustrated for me in spades. Some of us got into a pretty heated Q & A debate that made every fiber of my being cringe.

A white guy across from me, asked me about the largest continent and I told him that would be Asia. He balked and said that it had to be America. When we looked at the map, he pointed out all of America, including Canada. I said ‘no, that would be North America”. He was lost. That segued into a larger debate about many things.
Another inmate asked me when the Louisiana Purchase was. Then another chimed in and asked; “yeah… when did we buy Louisiana?” I at first thought he was joking, but it became clear that he was being completely serious. At the same time, other inmates shared that they believed that India was actually Indian territory.  They went onto say that they did not believe that it should be considered an Asian country. The reason of course, is because they do not look Asian.

The entire exchange went on for about 30 minutes and I could do nothing but become more and more depressed. I realize that it may be unfair of me, but in my mind, all of this is basic educational information.

 



CONTINENTS (by size)
#1 Asia - (44,579,000 sq km)
#2 Africa - (30,065,000 sq km)
#3 North America - (24,256,000 sq km)
#4 South America - (17,819,000 sq km)
#5 Antarctica - (13,209,000 sq km)
#6 Europe -  (9,938,000 sq km)
#7 Australia/Oceana - (7,687,000 sq km)

CONTINENTS (by population)

#1 Asia - (3,879,000,000)
#2 Africa - (877,500,000)
#3 Europe - (727,000,000)
#4 North America - (501,500,000)
#5 South America - (379,500,000)
#6 Australia/Oceania - (32,000,000)
#7 Antarctica - (0)




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