PragerU media personality Will Witt took to the beaches of Los Angeles to ask Millennials a seemingly very simple question: “Why do we celebrate the Fourth of July?” To Witt’s amusement and social media’s collective shock, many young adults don’t know why Americans celebrate Independence Day at all.
The video has quickly received over 1.5 million views, and Witt was even featured on Fox and Friends to discuss his experience.
“The video has definitely struck a nerve and seems to inspire a very passionate response from people across social media,” says Witt. “This is what happens when leftists run our public schools, our universities and much of the media. Kids are being taught to devalue American history and Western civilization more generally. Every American should be disturbed by the amount of ignorance demonstrated in this video, specifically among younger people. This is a terrible birthday present to America.”
While some of those beachgoers featured in the video didn’t know why we celebrate July Fourth, many respondents thankfully did answer the questions correctly, replying the holiday is a celebration of America’s independence.
However, when asked by Witt what the significance of the year 1776 was, most were completely clueless. Common answers included: “I have no idea,” “I forgot,” and “I don’t even know what that is,” (to which Witt responds “It’s a year”). Other notable responses were “the Civil War,” and a favorite from multiple respondents, “Is that when Columbus sailed the ocean blue?”
“Conservatives have been complaining for years that our nation’s history is no longer being taught, or at least taught properly, in our schools,” says CMO of PragerU Craig Strazzeri. “I think this video is terrifying, albeit amusing proof that we’ve been right all along. When something as simple as Independence Day is only vaguely familiar to some Millennials, we have a serious issue. Thankfully, this is precisely the audience PragerU is reaching with our content, and it’s why Will is working to expose just how much information, in the information age, our young people are lacking.”
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