It is understandable that most people know Obama's face since he is the current president. What's sad is how many people don't recognize Washington, or Lincoln and Roosevelt for that matter.
Not including the small handful of women, pretty close to all, yes. I'm also not counting parting your hair on different sides or being bald as a "different haircut." I scrolled quickly through the portraits at congress.gov and only spotted two with facial hair. Of course it is fashion.
People are missing the point...more people don't necessarily know JFK than President Obama, or the current President over George Washington, but people do the test in the order in which it is presented...some may not get down to Washington unless they skip to him.
Dont think that is the point... people answers the ones they know and then skip to the next. Pick and choose in stead spending minutes on one you dont know without moving on..
Grant was very handsome. There's also one photo of college-age Nixon that pops up a lot in which he looks like a Hollywood idol (and, more specifically, like John Dillinger). I don't know if it's just the best photo ever taken of him or if things really south in the looks department as he aged, but it's always amused me that he is so famously homely and cantankerous, and there's one photo out there of him looking like a coverboy.
yes but people not from america, though recognising him, might not remember the exact name and or spelling. (or perhaps just tried his first name, cause honestly they both look like they could be either first or last names.) or they saw the pictures and immediately clicked give up.
Johnson looks a lot like Tommy Lee Jones in that pic. To a lesser extent Calvin Coolidge looks like Crispin Glover. They should make an Avengers-style US presidents team-up movie so we can do the casting.
What about David Paymer as Martin van Buren? He's a recognizable character actor but I doubt anyone knows his name. Took me 5 minutes to try and look it up myself.
A great quiz, which I have taken several times before. One small criticism, though; all of the portraits appear to have been made during or close to each president's term of office except for Hoover, which looks like a much later rendering. Perhaps a more contemporary likeness could be found? Thank you for your consideration.
I think it is kind of sad that Obama doesn't have 100%. I get that there are non americans on this site, but I would think that he is pretty globally recognized.
I think that when there's such an obvious answer to a quiz, it doesn't get 100% because I'm sure there are people who just click on a quiz then click away, or immediately click the "Give Up" button because they just want to know the answers. I'm pretty certain that everybody who has access to the Internet can recognize Barack Obama.
Sad if it is mostly Americans that only got half right as the average. Shows how little this country recalls its own history. We have the a crap load of information at our fingertips compared to other generations, and are more ignorant and clueless than any other, quite sad.
Firstly, we are not "more ignorant than any other" generation. That's ridiculous. Previous generations were so enlightened that they denied women, gay people, and minorities basic human rights. Secondly, why is it so damning if someone can't pick one bourgeois white guy apart from 40 others? I learned all about James Madison...the Federalist Papers, the Constitution, the War of 1812, etc., etc. Why does it matter that I missed his picture? It's really a trivial matter. Get over yourself.
Show me one instance where it specifically said a person was either fired or denied housing. Where does it say it? If not, you can't prove it, therefore your argument is null & void. It's like playing the race card when you have zero evidence of racism...it's a good excuse for when things don't go your way.
So if the person firing someone or refusing to rent/sell to someone doesn't specifically say "I'm doing this because I'm racist against your kind," then it doesn't ever happen? I guess no one is ever murdered until their killer confesses, either.
@pmack, you're wrong. A good way to know someone's argument is terrible is when they need to set the parameters themselves: "If you can't name a specific instance of someone being denied a job for being gay, your argument is null and void." Says who? Says you? It is well-established that there are jurisdictions in which people can be denied housing and jobs based on their sexuality. Analogously, the speed limit in New York is 55 miles per hour. Whether I personally know anyone who got a speeding ticket in New York does not affect the law. Federal law (and many state laws) do not protect certain groups the same as they protect others. The extent of the damage and injustice coming from that is very much up for debate, but to deny it outright is silly. Gay marriage wasn't even legal in many states until the Supreme Court intervened. Before that happened, plenty of states had those discriminatory laws on the books. And they still have discriminatory laws regarding other subjects.
Have to agree with jmellor. Where are you getting this from, other than nostalgia and the mythology of better days gone by? This generation of Americans are among the most informed, educated, enlightened people to ever walk the Earth. I know at least half of you reading this comment just bust out laughing... but it IS true. Sure there are ignorant Americans today, but they are no more ignorant and no greater in frequency than any place else in the world. Nor are they more ignorant/greater in number than at any point in history. Not everyone in the past was Thomas Jefferson.
Also, not being able to recognize a picture of McKinley doesn't exactly make you exceptionally ignorant.
Then again, a much smaller number of Americans today know how to saddle a horse, spin cloth, make soap, etc. Much of the knowledge of yesteryear was of a more practical nature. (Plus, they had a lot fewer presidents to remember!)
Name me one person from 1776 who knew how to program a VCR, drive a car, compute the mass of an object based on its energy and the speed of light, or knock over a building with an angry bird.
I wasn't disagreeing with your original statement, I was just saying that the knowledge of the "good 'ol days" was of a different kind.Their knowledge was more about providing food and shelter. They didn't have time to go beyond the basics of life.
Times and ideals change. Jefferson was considered enlightened in his day for his writing and thinking and scientific interests but he owned slaves and is often condemned for that today. I strongly disagree that we are more enlightened today than in the past. It's like that old candle in a dark room analogy...the brighter the light, the more we know and the more we realize how much we don't know. I can't think of any modern US leader I would put in the same category with Adams, Jefferson, Madison. The last worldwide leader I'd say was great was Churchill, and many would disagree. The reason I think we're not that enlightened is we know so much more today and yet we still squabble like children over petty issues. The number of outspoken racists has gone down but the number of racists who want to atone for past sins has gone up. The average person doesn't know how to do many simple tasks because our lives are so much more comfortable and our arrogance has increased accordingly.
You say that we know more stuff, so I take it you agree that we are more informed and educated than any people that preceded us.
As to being enlightened, I stand by what I said. Yes we still squabble... but... compared to ages past? The world is much more peaceful and less violent. Societies are much more prosperous and equal. We take better care of the poor an infirm among us. There is much great equity between and opportunities for people of all genders, "races," nationalities, religious affiliations, sexual orientations, etc. We understand now almost universally that these things are wrong: racism, rape, slavery, child molestation, torture; yet none of them get a mention in the 10 commandments.
The world is far from perfect. I'll be the first to admit that. But it was never better than it is today. At least correcting for minor trends (for example, SJWs in the USA have set back race and gender relations at least a generation, but that's only the past 10 years).
Education, widely available, is considered by American conservative oppressors as a SOCIALIST concept, only to be afforded to the privileged few, lest the control of the rich corporate machine over the masses be lost.
The difference between now and 'the past' is that while a 'crap load' more information is available, it isn't committed to memory. Almost everybody has pretty much instant access to google/wiki that nobody NEEDS to remember these things anymore, so information goes in, gets used, then forgotten...
Surely you know his face more because of his historically famous short reign? It's not like you've been living through the whole period and couldn't remember Harrison because you didn't manage to glance at the news enough during the one month he was president?
Who takes these quizzes? How is JFK one percent more known than Obama? He's only really known for his death, and was it really more memorable than like, ANYTHING POLITICAL IN THE LAST 6 YEARS??? Especially know in the era of 24 hour news and how much station dissect him and everything he does, and not to mention it's white guy, white guy, white guy, white guy, white guy, black guy, white guy, white guy, white guy, he's not exactly hard to pick out in this crowd...
Cause jfk continues to get regurgitated, there are allwas articles, quizzes, conspiracy theories etc about him. Like elvis and monroe, most people would be able to pick them out of a bunch of pictures.. Cause they are all over. (obama might have been on tv a lot in america, but the rest of the world is not bombarded with his image. Though enough times to recognize his face though, but nowhere neaar it would be nationally)
Plus, might be hard to imagine but not everbody watches the news, or even own a tv...
^ Obama's face might be easily recognized, but perhaps his name is elusive. Just like some people (myself included) might have to make a special effort to memorize the spelling of Netanyahu and Khrushchev.
I'm trying to design a quiz that includes pictures like this one. Unfortunately I can't figure out how to import any pictures. Can you tell me how it's done?
I don't understand why people cheat on these quizzes. It skews the percentages for the rest of us. I can maybe see trying to look up the correct spelling when you know the answer but can't spell it, but looking up all the answers you don't know just to say you got 100% doesn't make sense to me. Why not just retake the quiz a few times until you know the answers and actually deserve that 100%?
I dont get it either, it is not like you can win a prize with it.. all the stars do is raise your lvl, and really who notices that... and it is definitely not something to build your self worth on or something.
If you want to score high, remember that: Portraits generally mean 1790s-1820s. Black and white photos go from the 1820s to 1960s-ish. Color photos come after the 1970s generally.
What they wear around their necks is even more telling. The earliest ones wore cravats or neck cloths. Bow ties were grouped together in the mid-1800s,, and modern presidents wear neck ties. Not too sure what McKinley is wearing around his neck. Whatever it is, apparently it was bad luck.
It's funny how all the pictures look as if they were taken in while in office, but the picture for Trump is just one from a town hall in New Hampshire. Hopefully a better image is used when he gets into office.
^ sad that those were the two options the country was left to choose between. But definitely much sadder than anyone would think the Donald was the better option of the two. Just... pathetic. and speaks volumes about the level of ignorance, bigotry, bias, and outright stupidity among the citizenry.
44 of them do not look incompetent nor ignorant of international affairs and policy making. What happened America? I voted. I respect the results, and understand the desire for change,... but the agent for change is also important. Let's hope the country succeeds.
There are only 44 answers to the quiz. The reason there are 45 Presidents is because Grover Cleveland's terms were non-consecutive, making him the 22nd and 24th President. So yeah, saying "44 of them do not look incompetent" doesn't quite gel with what CyrusK is trying to say, because there are only 44 people pictured here.
Well, he had to rule between Washington and Jefferson. After seeing his legacy outshadowed by two of the greatest US presidents in history, I'm sure that at least he can rest assured that he'll look great between those two pieces of horseshit.
Adams's portrait isn't on any US money, and just isn't encountered nearly as often as a lot of the other early Presidents. It's no surprise to me that it's less recognized.
Here we are witnessing the last weeks of Trump's presidency. Be honest, hasn't your view on him changed? I, for instance, supported him back in 2016 but now I cringe when seeing his name next to the greats like Washington and Lincoln.
Do you mean "better" as in "more amusing"? Because, and I really mean this apolitically, I have always been struck by how odd he looks in still photos. His smile is bizarre.
Well, his official presidential picture is terrible. He looks like a grimly mean old guy who's trying to guess letters during an eye test. And the way it's focused on his head with a blurry flag pin.
If the truth be told, with very few exceptions (Jefferson, Grant, Lincoln, FDR, Teddy Roosevelt... even JFK if his photos weren't
so widely published) and obviously Obama, most of these photos are interchangeable. We may know of their accomplishments and/or scandals before, during or after their terms in office, but there is very little difference in their appearances.
For sure. They're nearly all white men between age 45 and 65, and they're from the white-collar sector of society, so it's really about using context clues to pin down the era of the picture (e.g., photo or painting? Color or black & white? What kind of tie and collar combination? Facial hair?) I recognize probably 32 presidents without any help, but for the others (Garfield, Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, Pierce, Tyler...), I just narrow it down to time period and eliminate the ones I could recognize on my own. Works fairly well. I got 42 right.
Well...I got 19.I think it's not bad for a European! But I accidently guessed Millard Fillmore, who's apperently the least guessed one of all. Well done me :D
I keep typing in Turd but the quiz wouldn't take it. Tried Orange Turd, clown, bonespurs,p#$*% grabber and nothing would work. Guess it's impossible to get 100%
Name all the presidents in order. I can do that. Name them by picture I can only muster a little over 50%. I even had a puzzle with their pictures on it growing up.
Garfield and Hayes almost look like twins.
Shatner
another Shatner picture
Sad if it is mostly Americans that only got half right as the average. Shows how little this country recalls its own history. We have the a crap load of information at our fingertips compared to other generations, and are more ignorant and clueless than any other, quite sad.
Also, not being able to recognize a picture of McKinley doesn't exactly make you exceptionally ignorant.
As to being enlightened, I stand by what I said. Yes we still squabble... but... compared to ages past? The world is much more peaceful and less violent. Societies are much more prosperous and equal. We take better care of the poor an infirm among us. There is much great equity between and opportunities for people of all genders, "races," nationalities, religious affiliations, sexual orientations, etc. We understand now almost universally that these things are wrong: racism, rape, slavery, child molestation, torture; yet none of them get a mention in the 10 commandments.
The world is far from perfect. I'll be the first to admit that. But it was never better than it is today. At least correcting for minor trends (for example, SJWs in the USA have set back race and gender relations at least a generation, but that's only the past 10 years).
Plus, might be hard to imagine but not everbody watches the news, or even own a tv...
It sounds so right. Trump is going to be remembered as one of the greatest presidents to ever live.
so widely published) and obviously Obama, most of these photos are interchangeable. We may know of their accomplishments and/or scandals before, during or after their terms in office, but there is very little difference in their appearances.