perfidy

According to this article, "One-third of Germans under age 30 believe the U.S. government may have sponsored the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington."

"Asked whether they believed the U.S. government could have ordered the Sept. 11 attacks, 31 percent of those surveyed under the age of 30 answered "yes," while 19 percent overall gave the same answer.

Die Zeit said widespread disbelief about the reasons given by the United States for going to war in Iraq and suspicion about media coverage of the conflict had fostered a climate in which conspiracy theories flourished.

"The news is controlled," 17-year-old Kenny Donaubaur was quoted as saying. "You could see that in the Iraq war. It doesn't seem to me that you get the full truth."

My instinct is that if you ask a 17-year old a question, you get a 17-year old's answer. I know at least one of our regular correspondents is in Europe right now... any ideas what gives?

[moreover] Matthew Yglesias nails it: "I believe that that's smaller than the proportion of Americans who believed that the Iraqi government was behind the 9/11 attacks, so you've got ill-informed people everywhere.... The point... is that people everywhere are shockingly ill-informed about almost everything."