Are we really this dumb?

I personally think that this 'stupidity' can mostly be summed up by people lacking in general common knowledge, as opposed to actually being mentally deficient. I think that this lack of common knowledge stems primarily from that fact that people's lives have gotten so much easier as time moves forward, if you ask for something, it usually comes easily, nobody has to use their mind to create/ find/ solve anything for themselves anymore, so consequently people just don't use and develop the grey matter that they've been born with. I think if people had to work for things, then they would know to use critical thinking, and actually think things through! I think 'yahoo answers' is a perfect example of this (i'm sure most people have seen examples of this)

reply to post by Mountainmeg


Are you sure this really happened and it's not just an urban legend. I'm not calling you a liar I just hadn't any idea things had got that bad. Please can you direct me to footage or reports on this incident I just must see it for myself.

Your mention of the moon reminded me of stats I've seen over the years in regard to questionnaires/polls taken in the US where:

1. Over 40% couldn't tell how long it took the Earth to orbit (they actually said circle to make it easier) the sun.

2. Over 40% did not know wether the sun orbited the moon or the other way round. How mad is that??????

even though I'd seen them in science publications I still couldn't quite accept them as real.

[edit on 7-1-2010 by spookfish]

Just the other day i saw some person on the street wearing a Montreal Canadians Jersey, i know for a fact stupid people walk among us!!


Any of the Americans on here ever heard of Rick Mercers talking to Americans?

If you havent check it out it is hilarioussssss, some of the answers are just incredible.

[edit on 7-1-2010 by Hack28]

I think one of the things that really worries me, is if this sort of trend continues, what are the implications for the future? If people are continually dumbed down in this way, although it may be funny to us, what happens say in a life of death situation when one would need to act on a very basic level of intellect, or just basic common sense. If this continues those things will become a thing of the past and we would be in a situation of total control, because the people with a little bit of brain left will be the ones being pushed out, maybe even the ones taken out of society through fear of contaminating the majority. Its happening everywhere, I wonder if this wakening thing is going to kick in any time soon, and people are going to realise what is going on. Its pretty scary IMO.

Im starting to wonder if there is a link between poorly educated folk
and the increase in military sign up's?

Heres a sample of the Rick Mercer

www.youtube.com...

"Congratulations Canada on becoming part of North America"

"I wanna say congratulations Canada on preserving your national Igloo"
-Mike Hukkabee

Originally posted by neo5842
It is said that the MSM, and our governments have been and are in the process of dumbing us down, so we become good little workers and stay within the law.

George makes some good points about that in this clip.



Its incredible that a comedian can actualy be missed that much.

Originally posted by neo5842
reply to post by Mountainmeg

 

Like they were steeling it.

what happened to common scenes, and basic education...

What the kids thought they were covering it in steel?

What's 'common scenes'? My education is not up to it.

Sorry couldn't resist

OH NO I had to edit out a spelling mistake!

[edit on 7-1-2010 by spookfish]

Originally posted by MadameGuillotine
Sadly, I've had clerks unable to give change on numerous occasions.

But then we are much more dumbed down than the UK is. My daughter spends only about half her time in high school learning anything. The rest the teachers let them fool around or sluff. I'm really concerned about this!

Here is how bad we are compared to your neighborhood...

Its not about the movies or the drug use its about menatlity. I live in Belgium (Europe) and we are overall smart people with some dumb people like in every country, but we are pretty modest compared to Americans. Russians for example are even more intelligent then us and more strikt.

I believe its the fault of your media, all the advertising and all of that proud being an American bull#, you guys have tunnel vision because you think your the greatest.

I don't want to # on your country but its a fair observation I believe. Capitalism and too much dreaming turned you into this. I'm not saying dreaming is bad, but sometimes the individual needs to make room for the whole. I'm not saying go commy style but atleast try to find another system.

Belgium is I would say socialistic but at the same time quite capitalistic and I believe we have a very good balance between consumerism and human life.

frankly consuming in America goes above humans.

The problem is, these people are inescapable. They are in every facet of our lives. They are the people who pull out in front of you doing 20 when your going 50. They are your boss who can't seem to figure it out. They are the hordes of people you deal with when going to the mall, or the people that want to do 50 transactions at the atm when all you need is 20 bucks. I really wish I could give me credit to the human race, but with each passing day, stupidity becomes harder and harder to avoid.

I hate to use this example because frankly I blocked MTV on my TV because I don't even want to see a millisecond of the garbage they call programing on that station. The show Jersey Shore is something my little brother watches and I had the misfortune of catching a glimpse of that horrible excuse for "reality TV". It's a bunch of morons running around getting hammered drunk and getting into fights, and its glorified. I can't recall how many times I've seen an a-hole with that stupid tapered fade haircut who walks around with a chip on their shoulder looking to fight anyone who will engage in their idiocy. These types of "reality shows" have been glorifying stupidity ever since the first season of The Real World. And not only are these types of people put on these shows, they are given a beautiful huge house to live in with copious amounts of cash to get hammered drunk and act like fools.

Sorry for rambling guys! This has been a topic of discussion that I have been engaging in with friends and family for a while now, so I'm glad that I can contribute to this thread a bit.

Once again thanks to the member that pointed out the Idiocracy link. I've been saying that to all my friends since I saw that movie a while back.

just to let everybody know, these are "chain" emails sent to everybody, i dont think they are true!!, yes i aggree there are stupid people in this world but...........i live on the west coast of the united states, the rest of my family lives on the east coast and i recieved the exact email from my dad the OP had, just the prices in the storys were in US dollars and OP was in british pounds!! the locations were here in the US and the locations in the OP were in the UK other then those two things being different,..........the email from my dad WAS EXACTLY THE SAME!!

so just proved that this chain email was a hoax!!, i got the same email storys as some other posters also

yes, people are realy stupid sometimes i see it every day

reply to post by SpacePunk


I constantly get frustrated at the appalling spelling and grammar by Americans on this site. They often end up saying the opposite of what they mean

'I could care less' is a common one.

this one bugs me because it is not just poor spelling it's a lack of understanding.

'For all in tents and purposes' and 'for all intense and purposes'.

The other ones I see constantly here are 'then' instead of 'than' and vice versa. In fact I've never seen it written correctly.

And also 'of' instead of 'have'.

Some might call me a pedant. But none of them will be American.

I remember a thread a while back talking about the poor grammar skills on here and someone pointed out that there were 5 errors in the thread title!


[edit on 7-1-2010 by spookfish]

To be fair to us DUMB Americans, do you think that a lot of these interview type videos, would keep the intelligent people they come across, or would they edit them out?

Just saying, Deny Ignoraamousnesses

reply to post by viperdave


I did think it was a chain mail, but it really brought home some of the things i and it seems many people are seeing in reality, I dont usually take much notice of chain mail, but this one did sort of hit a nerve which is why i used it. Not that i needed to i could have just used some of the hilarious videos others have posted in the tread.

When I go to the gas station to fill up the tank in the car, I usually ask for the amount in gallons. It seems where I live, people are used to just asking for the amount of money they want to pay, not the amount of gallons. Anyway, more often than not, it seems to frustrate some of these attendants. They cannot calculate a price based on the amount of gallons I request, even with a calculator sitting right in front of them. One time, I was told that they cant do that, they don't sell it by the gallon. Worst, they get an attitude over something so simple. I have to agree dumb. Good thread OP.

My impression is that US education has always been worse than UK.
In the late 50s ( I was 14) my school had a teacher exchange.
A US teacher of english arrived from Great Falls Montana and taught us for a year.
She only managed 2/3rds of that year's curriculum.
On her return she arranged for us to have penfriends.
My penfriend expected me to know the Beatles personally because there was only a short distance between me and them in Liverpool (40miles).


[edit on 7-1-2010 by margaretr]

I will admit i've had an "are you serious?!" moment.

My dad, my brother and i were going to Wisconsin for a Dave Matthews Band concert. We stopped at a diner on the way. I started thinking, "what language do people in Germany speak?"
And before i knew it, i asked, "What language do people in Germany speak? Germanese?" I knew how stupid i sounded the second it came out of my mouth. I get crap from my brother to this day.

reply to post by unicorn1


I'm hoping to see someone on this thread ask you why you don't just give them £3.20 if you've got £4.20. Someone's got to do it surely, please, pretty please.

Originally posted by spookfish
reply to post by unicorn1

 

I'm hoping to see someone on this thread ask you why you don't just give them £3.20 if you've got £4.20. Someone's got to do it surely, please, pretty please.

I was wondering that, I just didn't want to ask.

reply to post by neo5842


Unfortunately, people are that dumb. Years ago, A&W restaurants launched a marketing campaign to try to gain market share from McDonalds. They were selling a 1/3 pound burger for the same price as the Quarter Pounder. When the burgers weren't selling, they initiated market research and found the average American thought that 1/3 was less than 1/4.