Young America’s Foundation released a video Wednesday that should have Millennials worried about their knowledge of current events crucial to our country and its safety.
YAF spokeswoman Ashley Pratte visited George Washington University’s campus on September 5 and asked students about their awareness of the upcoming 9/11 anniversary and the recent beheading of two American journalists — James Foley and Steven Sotloff — by ISIS terrorists.
According the data Pratte collected from the GW students, only six out of 30 knew of the 9/11 anniversary the following week. What’s more, only four students could name at least one of the journalists beheaded by ISIS. The video also reveals that multiple individuals had no knowledge of ISIS at all.
“Next week marks an anniversary of a major national event. Do you know what that is?” Pratte asked the students.
“Um, March on Washington?” one woman responded.
A laughing male student joked, “Thanksgiving? I don’t know.”
Turning her attention to ISIS, the YAF spokeswoman found several students who could not name either of the journalists murdered by the terrorist group. Worse, she managed to locate at least two students who did not recognize ISIS and did not know of the beheading of two American citizens.
One of them, a male student in a wacky hat, put on a colorful show when he learned of the beheadings.
“What?” he said in astonishment, placing his hand over his mouth and removing his hat from his head.
Perhaps the only insightful comments came from two female students who, when asked about President Obama’s strategy for dealing with ISIS, responded, “Does he have one?”
In stark contrast, everyone in the video seemed to know that Jennifer Lawrence was one of the celebrity victims in the nude photo hacking scandal. In fact, when Pratte asked the same 30 students if they could name at least one celebrity implicated, an impressive 29 did so.
A note to Millennials: It might be time to start watching a little more Fox, CNN, NBC, CBS and MSNBC and a little less E! News.
