I often wonder about these random quotes of idiocy involving the "average individual."Â
 The American man on the street interview:
Interviewer: "Sir, could you tell me what we are celebrating on July 4th?"
Man on the Street: "No. Oh wait maybe it has something to do with WWII?"
Headlines across the US. Average American has no idea why we celebrate July 4th.
Last presidential electon (circa late 2004):
Interviewer: "Excuse me Miss, could you tell me who is the vp of the US?"
Woman on the Street: "Al Gore."
A friend of mine in her 30s: "Is it Christ's resurrection we are celebrating at Christmas?"
                 Me: "Uh no. Its the birth.
                 Her: "Oh right." (Another example of rabid Christian fundamentalism that is sweeping the US)
In defense of my friend, I believe she had what is known as a "brain fart."
In all seriousness, in my experience, I have met few people who are genuinely stupid or as misinformed as the above examples might indicate. Generally, whether it is the clerk at the convenience store, or the plumber fixing, well, the plumbing, people are quite well informed and thoughtful.
A final note, the last time I went to the Democratic Underground site was after the Berg beheading and basically what they were saying is that it was not terrorists, Baathists, insurgents who committed the act but instead it was American Secret Agents and their reasoning was fivefold:
1) The executioner was fat and there are no fat Iraqis.
One of things I noticed was in the crowds that celebrated SH before the beginning of the war was that much of the crowd was comprised of fat men. Jokingly I said to someone that it would be easy to pick out a Baathist because they were fat. The weight, imo, indicated their privileged status under SH.
2) Some of participtants in the beheading wore sneakers. No Iraqis ever wore sneakers.
Again, I could not help notice the varieties of goods, from Coors beer to Vanity Fair magazines, available to members of SH's regime.
3) American mannerisms of the execution party. This was said but never truly defined.
I have no idea what was meant.
4) Beheading is a type of execution foreign to Iraqis.
Hmm. Well, to me, there did seem to be some examples of beheading within the culture.
5) The Americans did it because they wanted to cause shock/horror against the freedom fighters of Iraq.
Best reason to attribute the beheading to American Secret Agents.
A personal peeve of mine, I hate it when people use false argument (unless I do it). I will give you two examples.
A editorial against dirt bike riders: Amongst the several valid points the writer espoused, he also included the fact that dirt bike riders were fat and out of shape. The long and short of that argument is no. Professional dirt bike riders are among the fittest athlete in the world. An out of shape dirt bike rider could not ride 50' down a trail.
A young man, a proponent for veganism, centered his argument on the fact that humans have herbivorous teeth. There are many sound and moral arguments to be made in favor of veganism but that humans have herbivorious teeth is not one of them.
End of rambling rant.