Video: Beachgoers Tested on Basic Facts About American History, Fail Spectacularly

Beware America: if you see Jesse Watters walking towards you with a microphone, run. Run as fast as you can.

However, if you must speak with him, at least know when the 13 original colonies declared their independence from Great Britain, and who the first American president was.

I wonder how many beachgoers, who were interviewed by Watters, actually answered these questions correctly, and therefore were left off the final cut because they didn’t sound like total morons. Even so, some of the answers were spectacularly awful. According to one interviewee, America declared its independence from Great Britain in 1946; another said 1973. I also particularly enjoyed the comment that King Arthur was the monarch from whom the colonists separated and cut ties with in 1776. Wrong again.

And yet, I’ll award these sun-loving, forgetful Long Islanders points for trying, I suppose — and for subjecting themselves to mockery and scorn. At least they were good sports about it.