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Eh, the classic version of this is a late 1960s experiment that asked people to sign a petition... which happened to be the Declaration of Independence. The overwhelming majority of Americans who started reading it didn't recognize it, and thought it was too radical.



I mean, that shouldn't really be a surprise. It would be a very bad sign if people today thought signing something like the declaration of independence (presumably independence from the USA, in this case) wasn't too radical. In theory, we should have a better relationship with our govt today than the colonists did with England back then. Although the way things are going, I wouldn't rule it out in the not too distant future, sadly.


That's fascinating. Do you have more information on that experiment? A few minutes searching did not turn up anything.


I wrote a term paper about the Students for a Democratic Society (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Students_for_a_Democratic_Soci...) in high school, and this is something I recall from it. I did a little googling and don't see a reference to it. Sorry.


Just found it!

After 36 Years, More Recognize Historic Documents, Survey Finds http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1987/After-36-Years-More-Recogn...

50 years ago, fear ruled Fourth: Reporter's petition measured effect of McCarthy http://host.madison.com/ct/news/local/govt-and-politics/year...

Plain Talk: Would people sign ‘subversive’ petition today? http://host.madison.com/ct/news/opinion/column/dave_zweifel/...




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