Are you what's wrong with the world?

[Chimera Kitty]

I don't recognize everyone on the left, but I have no idea who the person on the right is. Am I still what's wrong with the world?

How about you?

 

[cybrxkhan]

It seems the selection of people to the left are mildly biased in favor of the hard sciences and more biased towards "Western" people.

Also, I don't know who the person on the right is, but I'm guessing it's something to do with Jersey Shore.

 

[ace99]

Don't lie, everyone knows Snooki. She and the rest of the Jersey Shore cast were tragically killed during the hurricane. Kind of a low blow to speak ill of the dead like this.

http://www.chronicle.su/news/snooki-missing-and-presumed-dead-after-hurricane-sandy/

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. — The bloated corpse of Snooki was allegedly recovered and then dumped back into the sea Tuesday after the MTV star went missing early Monday evening.

When whaling experts off the Atlantic Coast noticed a disturbance in their dragnets, they claim to have pulled up the bloated, lifeless carcass of Jersey Shore starlette Nicole Elizabeth Polizzi the reality television “actress” widely known as Snooki.

Coast Guard Captain Jacob Funkhouser, who found the body, said he could not believe his eyes. And since this particular whaling expedition was a capitalist venture, Funkhouser said, there was just not enough space in the hold of the S.S. Bismarck and jettisoned her stinking, lifeless body.

It was definitely her.
Captain Jacob Funkhouser, S.S. Bismarck

Internet Chronicle reporters interviewed Funkhouser on the deck of the S.S. Bismarck. “It was definitely her,” Funkhouser told reporters, slamming a defiant fist down on the platform where he sat. “Even though it was all purple and puffy, I’d recognize that face anywhere. Now that I look back on it, we could’ve made more money selling the corpse back to her filthy rich guido family than I’d get from a big, juicy Sperm whale.”

Though he lamented losing the chance to capitalize on her fame, Funkhouser said he does not regret the decision to jettison Snooki’s body, saying “America dumped Bin Laden, so I did the same for Snooki.”

Snooki leaves behind an infant child whose birth raised controversy after critics labeled her a “negligent monster . . . incapable of motherhood.” (NY Times, 2011)

Known for drinking and getting punched in the face by better people, Snooki capitalized on a baffling book deal that was displayed prominently in bookstores alongside, or ahead of, the works of sociologist Cornell West, popular scientist Niel DeGrasse Tyson and satirist David Sedaris.

It is unknown how Snooki was initially blown out to sea. Sources close to the reality TV star said she was drinking profusely during a Hurricane Sandy welcoming party, and disappeared in her Scion Monday night, a car known to float in less than six inches of water. Authorities have declared her a missing person but are currently occupied with more important recovery efforts.

 

[metatron]

Don't lie, everyone knows Snooki.

I didn't for a rather long time.
This is actually an ESL embarrassment thing. Do i really want to ask "Erm, what's a snooky? Is it something naughty?" and look stupid?

 

[Tee Kay]

I've always known that I'm what's wrong with the world. That said, I don't know who the man on the right hand side of the picture is.

 

[History_Buff]

It seems the selection of people to the left are mildly biased in favor of the hard sciences and more biased towards "Western" people.

To be fair, it largely has been westerners who have dominated the hard sciences, until say 40-50 years ago. There's definitely non-westerners in the club, probably with al-Khwārizmī being the most obvious name in my head, but it's a pretty slanted group.

 

[Tee Kay]

To be fair, it largely has been westerners who have dominated the hard sciences, until say 40-50 years ago. There's definitely non-westerners in the club, probably with al-Khwārizmī being the most obvious name in my head, but it's a pretty slanted group.

Only eight of them are scientists/philosophers though. The real puzzler are the two inflammatory idiots.

 

[Crezth]

Why, er, is Hitchens on the left-hand side of that picture?

 

[Tee Kay]

I think it might be from a "spot the odd one(s) out" game.

 

[amadeus]

Why would knowing Snooki and not knowing, say, Carl Sagan, make me what's wrong with the world? For the record, I knew who everyone was on that picture (though I'm guessing the center one on the far left... is it Curie? Poor picture quality.)

Hitchens, Tesla, Sagan... I'm also guessing this picture came from a redditor. So, I grant this person:

/

4/5 Swedens of Bravery.

 

[rugbyLEAGUEfan]

First reaction was "hell yeah, that pic is so true. The fact that Snookie is more famous than the others is pretty sad".

But in retrospect, I'd kind of need some proof that the average Joe in the 19th century idolized some science dude more than whatever passed for a controversial celebrity back in the day.

It's my conjecture therefore that the world has always been lame.

 

[AlpsStranger]

Why, er, is Hitchens on the left-hand side of that picture?

Hey, I liked Hitchens

 

[Borachio]

Listen. It's my world. All of it. All mineeeee!

And I love it all.

If you don't like it, go find your own world.

(Completely off the subject of what's wrong with the world: I only recognize 5 of the faces, and not the one on the right.)

 

[Quackers]

Think I recognised about 6 of those scientists and of course i recognised Snookie from the cultural spill over we get from the states.

But in retrospect, I'd kind of need some proof that the average Joe in the 19th century idolized some science dude more than whatever passed for a controversial celebrity back in the day.

Spot on IMO

 

[sophie]

First reaction was "hell yeah, that pic is so true. The fact that Snookie is more famous than the others is pretty sad".

But in retrospect, I'd kind of need some proof that the average Joe in the 19th century idolized some science dude more than whatever passed for a controversial celebrity back in the day.

It's my conjecture therefore that the world has always been lame.

I just don't understand why knowing what these scientists look like would matter at all? Shouldn't it be more important to understand/have a basic grasp of what they theorized or wrote than to be able to identify their pictures?

Oh, and that's leaving aside the Holmes argument [heavily paraphrased]: why should I know these people or their theories if they don't directly affect the everyday needs of my life? Why should I clutter my mind with eccentricities like understanding the heliocentric theory if that room can be better served studying the differences between cigar ashes or committing to memory a detailed layout of London and its roads?

 

[Lillefix]

Who is that painted guy on the left?

 

[AlpsStranger]

Jokes aside, Snooki has nothing to do with what is "wrong with the world."

Celebrities work hard at getting attention, but most scientists and philosophers just go do their thing. It's only natural that what you work hard at doing works.

I'll often piss and moan about how some jerk who just recirculates money makes more than the guy who will end up curing cancer, but it's for the same reason. The cancer cure guy is working primarily to cure cancer, but the wheelbarrows full of money guy is working to make money, so he tends to make money.

 

[Quackers]

I can't see Niall Fergusion on that picture (i can see his woman) bit of a shame really, quality historian.

 

[Borachio]

Isn't he an apologist for the British Empire, Mr Q?

 

[Quackers]

Well his arguments are a bit more naunced then that, obviously, he objects to the massacares and injustices but battles for the good features of our Glorious Empire.