"Pets, Press ... Same Difference"

Here's an alarming, yet somewhat amusing, piece of news: Americans know more about The Simpsons than about the First Amendment to the Constitution, according to a story from the BBC.

Per the article: "Only one in four (Americans) could name more than one of the five freedoms it upholds but more than half could name at least two members of the cartoon family.

"About one in five thought the right to own a pet was one of the freedoms."

Wow! While I'm sure Snowball II and Santa's Little Helper would be thrilled, this is just a little scary. Of course, we could always give the American people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they just forgot what the First Amendment guaranteed. People forget stuff all the time.

"Remember that time I took a home wine-making course and forgot how to drive?"
"Homer, you were drunk!"
"And how!"

See? Forgetting stuff and replacing it with Simpsons knowledge is totally understandable.

For the record, I actually do know the five freedoms the First guarantees us (speech, press, petition, assembly and religion), so I'm allowed to fill my brain with useless Simpsons trivia. Plus, I'm not sure that knowing two members of the Simpsons family really counts (that was the test, according to the article).