Another post from betting market company Polymarket read: “BREAKING: Zohran Mamdani to require all New York elementary school students to learn Arabic numerals.” The post has almost 14 million views.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    In Germany, we have a right-wing party en par with the US Republicans: The AfD. Just as Nazi, just as nuts.

    Some time ago, someone riled them up with the “Did you know they teach Arabic numerals in school now?”, and quite a few of them blew a lid…

    • Adulated_Aspersion@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      Well, the dihydrogen monoxide that is in your Zuchini is literally an industrial solvent!

      Have you seen what dihydrogen monoxide does to pure, strong iron?!? It corrodes iron unbelievably fast! And people just…consume it in most of their “healthy” foods!

      Wake up, sheeple! Stop drinking dihydrogen monoxide!

      ~/s - this message brought to you by Brawndo, the thirst mutilator~

    • petrol_sniff_king@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 days ago

      You know what’s funny, the dihydrogen-monoxide bit works in part because when you tell someone “ha ha, you’re anti water” they should get embarrassed. Like, it’s impossible for them to continue arguing, you know?

      But if anyone is going to take hidden-agenda numerals at face value and still insist that we use a new, much stupider number system to get away from centuries of Arabic influence, it would definitely be nazis, lol.

  • mlg@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    People making jokes about dihydrogen monoxide, and imma be honest, I feel like it should have been the gold standard internet stupidity filter that disqualifies your credentials in any form of discussion because of the insane amount of people that fell for it back when the internet was still new.

    If you couldn’t handle H2O, you can’t be trusted to use the internet seriously lol.

    • NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
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      5 days ago

      I had a high school teacher my freshman year play the “dihydrogen monoxide” joke on our class. this was before i had any chemistry knowledge so i sadly fell for it. -It was still funny.

    • Infinite@lemmy.zip
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      5 days ago

      Naw, my 6th grade was on the ground floor and so is my house. I read at the same level.

    • greedytacothief@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      4 days ago

      So, what were you reading in the sixth grade? My memory isn’t that good, but I think I was past reading Captain underpants, maybe I was up to reading Percy Jackson (sorry got a bad case of CRS). I definitely gave Harry Potter a pass through, didn’t like the main character.

      Anyway, I feel like in 6th grade I was good at reading the text of a book, but not much beyond that. Symbols, themes, subtext — those are hard for a 6th grader.

      • Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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        4 days ago

        You hit the nail on the head. Literacy is about more than just sounding out words - understanding the intended message is equally important.

        I wish I could be surprised, but I’ve been on internet forums long enough that it’s undeniable. It’s like understanding subtext (and even overt context) is a lost art. Making a short post and expecting readers to correctly “connect the dots” practically invites commenters to misinterpret things. So the choice is either “over-explain and risk making a super long post,” or “come back again and again when someone inevitably argues something you didn’t intend.” It’s so frustrating.

        • greedytacothief@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          3 days ago

          On the other hand sometimes I get people telling me to re read their arguments because I don’t understand them. Like maybe they just suck at presenting their argument? Maybe they could re-state it so it was easier to understand? Maybe I do get it and their argument sucks? No clearly what they wrote is gold and you would understand if your reading comprehension was better.

      • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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        4 days ago

        6th grade is reading for plot. It’s able to read the story and understand that the hobbits brought the ring to Mordor, and Aragorn fought in Gondor.

        Anything about symbols, themed, subtext, unreliable narrators all comes later.

    • NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml
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      5 days ago

      That wasn’t a study AFAIK it was the official report from the U.S. Department Of Education. -The department run by the spouse of a professional wrestling magnate.

    • Zink@programming.dev
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      4 days ago

      Highly educated USian here.

      I would cry tears of joy if I woke up and found that President Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho was having his inauguration parade exactly as shown in the image.

      To make it interesting, ignore the figurehead and any global elite child sex slave trafficking ring they may or may not have been a part of. Consider the background characters instead.

      In this image you have Luke Wilson playing a character who is known to be the smartest person on the planet, and who saves lives with their knowledge by teaching the people how to do things like water their crops, AND who got dragged into the position rather than being a cutthroat ambitious asdhole.

      In a similar image of the real world you might have somebody like Stephen fucking Miller.

      • otp@sh.itjust.works
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        5 days ago

        They were angry before this and they’ll have been angry if this was never mentioned.

        For those willing to learn, there’s an opportunity for a teachable moment

    • Bjarne@feddit.org
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      5 days ago

      I love that too, but I feel like we have to make them smart and not angry :(

        • tomi000@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          Literally what schools are for (in this context where you are using stupid as a synonym for uneducated)

        • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world
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          5 days ago

          Fuck man! It’s called school!

          That mindset is just so disappointing… I mean, why would you even say that? It’s like a statement that immediately backfires, because it makes it sound like you’re the one not thinking!

      • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        You cannot teach a pig to sing. Well, you can teach, but don’t expect it to work…

  • JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca
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    5 days ago

    If you want to really scare JD Vance, the more proper term is probably Hindu-Arabic numerals.

  • notabot@piefed.social
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    5 days ago

    I just checked with my local school, and they’re not just making them learn these arabic numbers, they’re forcing them to learn AL GEBRA!!! Sounds like foreign nonsense to me, so I’m starting a petition to have the head fired, and possibly flogged.

    You should check with your local schools too. Keep this policically correct woke DEI rubbish away from our kids!