Are you amazed by the stupidity around you?

Today we got the mail. We usually only get it once a week because, well, we're lazy. Anyway, I got my first statement to pay my new Jeep Payment. Inside is actually a brochure on how to read your statement. I just thought reading it let you in on what it meant. I'm intelligent enough to pick up on the nuance of statements. But apparently this isn't the norm? I had no idea adults were so stupid they could not read a simple statement from Chrysler Financial. WOW. I feel like a Genius this morning!
What makes you feel like a genius?
Duckie

I AM the stupidity around you. :P

No, seriously, I live in a red state. Stupidity doesn't phase me any more. I expect it. I'm actually surprised when I meet another Dem (translated: an intelligent person) around these parts.

There is actual common sense that can be found in Oklahoma. It's rare, but it can be found. Stupidity usually doesn't phase me, but still, I get surprised when I see certain things.
Duckie

If you are in a rural area, it's pretty bad. If you get near the cities, it's not nearly as bad. I see what you mean.

is for the birds. CH will make up for it. :toast: And I don't mean maybe. I went to the State Fair, I know what you're talking about. But still, there are so many of us who work hard for the Dems.

And I can't spell this morning....

In any case, there is a HUGE HUGE difference between CH and rural areas like Rockingham. I see what you mean though. I just don't see a lot of signs of intelligence here compared to some of the nicer areas of the state. Of course, I'm sure we both agree that the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area is the best area in this state.

Don't be confused. I'm just spoiled cause I live here, sweetheart. :hug: :yourock:

and the Triangle, and Asheville......

There's a lot of good in NC......

I would LOVE to go home.
I had no idea they had 1 1/2" flying cockroaches here.
I am TERRIFIED of the things....and the humongous hairy spiders are another thing!

You MUST be careful driving at these times. I am not sure of the brain is being starved as well or what in the hell it is.

Those lines are on the road for a reason. This bunch here in NC don't seem to get that. :scared:

Knowing the motivations behind the small egos does nothing to alleviate experiencing them, but what are you gonna do. Hate and r-r-r-revenge K-K-K-Ken instead of understanding and responsibility for the actions putting them in that position in the first place, rebellion against childhood experience projected upon others, cupidity instead of the golden rule (shitting where you eat), incomplete beings in power because they don't yet have the experience that others feel as they feel (as little as they are capable of feeling, or admitting feelings, that is). Liars, phonies, people who are incapable of being perceived as being wrong and will attack you if you dare impinge (even for the greater good)... What a sick little zoo this is, but with such amazing unrealized potential.

If people can get beyond their little selfishnesses and insidiousnesses. Don't act like a Republican and expect Democratic results. It really is that simple.

Unaccountability is the watchword of the 00's. If global warming is as bad as we think, responsibility is going to become the watchword of the 10's. I wonder if responsibility will be able to overcome the burgeoning world economy (and its masters).

This is the animal realm. If we're stuck in it, it's because we haven't yet transcended the animal.

Me too. But at $&(@)$!! I'm working on it.

There is quite a range in intelligence where I work. We have a few people who have taken these jobs who are significantly above average and would have done quite well in jobs requiring higher education if they had that oppurtuntiy/ambition. Since intelligence is not a requirement for the lowest level jobs, though, we have a significant number of people who are below average, sometimes compounded by alcohol and/or drug abuse.
Then there is my boss who is supposedly significantly above average in intelligence but has become intellectually lazy and just cannot seem to think in ways that most people can easily think. Sometimes, I have to explain things three or four different ways before he will understand my point, while every other person, even the significantly below average people there, can understand the first and second ways. By the same token, most people cannot understand that first way that he explains something to them. I am actually more frustrated with him than the alcoholics/drug addicts who are significantly below average intelligence.

"Woman runs over own legs in McDonalds drive through"

Sometimes I feel like Einstein, I swear.

---------

Anyhow, to be totally honest, I work with the general public and I honestly think most people are maybe not so much "stupid" as they are self absorbed. It is like they are sleepwalking--the lights are on but NOBODY is actually home--ya know? I'll grant you, there are people out there that are less intelligent than others, but mostly I think they aren't paying any attention. Reading financial statements is not that hard, it is mostly about paying attention.

Maybe we need to preach "situational awareness."



Laura

I've been off work recovering from surgery and have been subjected to the horror that is daytime television. I've been amazed and saddened by the idiocy that is exhibited daily on television..from the local "news"casters to the morons on talk shows, court shows, game shows, the list goes on and on. After about a week, I had to give up TV altogether and just read because I couldn't handle it anymore.

I don't know why I didn't notice this before but it's been so long that I've been off work for a long period of time and had nothing else to do but lay around and watch TV that this is the first time that I've noticed just how bad it is.

And feel better soon.:hi: And don't watch the news. And catch me up on what Dorian Lord is doing on OLTL.

I am now 54 and used to watch it when I was in high school! At the time prim and proper Victoria Lord had a sleazy alter-ego named Nicky. Is she still around? Who is Dorian the offspring of? Are there any Wollicks on the show? Larry Wollick was a handsome doctor married, as I recall, to Meredith Lord. His brother Vinnie was kind of a lowlife. They had a long-suffering sister named Anna, too.

I haven't watched that show in many years. It used to move at a snail's pace, so even if you missed a month or two, you could pick it right up!! Amazing it's still on.

That was Vickie who had the alter ego of Nicky. I'm not sure who Dorian's spawn of, but I can tell you this: she has the best lines in the show and she delivers them with OOMPH!

:pals: :yourock:

Looks like Dorian's ties to the Lords is by marriage. (See Cramer Family)

http://facstaff.elon.edu/martinda/Faces.htm

because the kid ahead of him got the last piece of cheese pizza and wouldn't give it to him.


Witnessed it first hand.

If I were the principal, I would have had to smack him upside the head consequences be damned. :eyes:
Duckie

One really only needs to spend 20 minutes in a grocery store a few times, and you get kinda numbed to it.

I think half of the folks I saw today probably eat with their feet.

The WalMart Neighborhood Market. I've been sick the last two days, and needed to get out of here. I'm feeling better, but didn't want to trek all the way across town to Target.
So you can imagine what we saw.
Duckie

Neanderthals are not extinct.

So very, very true. I wonder what big flea markets are like?

but no, I'm actually more surprised now if I see a menu, read a newspaper article, LTTE, or listen to someone speak if it ISN'T utterly ignorant.

Most people are fucking dumb.

Of the US population, probably only 1 percent is smart enough to be considered, IMO, smart. We have 75 percent of the population that constantly amaze me they're able to find their mouth when eating, let alone manage to show up for work, drive a car, or read the Burger King menu at the drive-through.

Maybe 5 percent of our people have what should be considered a standard, average, basic, no-frills high school education.

they order from memory or what the TV told them to order.

...I'd have no time to do anything else but stand around with my mouth hanging open. Still, I suppose I'd at least blend in with 90% of the population, then.

You slay me, as usual.

You really need to write.

Good to see you! How's life treating you? :hi:

Husband lost his job last Saturday, because of politics. Did not see it coming. Jealousy's a bitch, I guess.
Best job that he could land in his field is three hours away (that one was two).
We had a very small cushion of money that is..well..anyway, you get the idea.
Cross your fingers for us; we are floating on trust in the Universe right now.

Hope you are feeling as well as possible.:hug:

Politics will be the end of us all one day. I've endured my fair share, so I know just how you feel.

I hope things start looking up soon. I've got all my crossable bits crossed for you and your husband.

:hug:

IMO, it's about time that these credit companies did break down the terms for the legalese illiterate.
I don't think it's just a matter of how smart someone may be. Many lawyers have stated even they don't
understand everything that's printed in those contracts and terms.

mostly it's the really horrifying lack of cultural literacy and outright racism I encounter...at least once a month that stultifies me with shock.

(perhaps more pet-peeves than stupidity, but ... then again ...)

* When you're leaving someone a voicemail and they call you right back: "Someone from there just called me?", cutting you off in the middle of the message rather than just fucking WAITING 30 seconds to hear the message;

and

* People who call asking for a phone number or email (I'm in customer service) and as soon as I start to give them the info, they say "Oh wait, I need to find a pen/paper". Why didn't you think before you dialed and have that shit handy? D'oh??


:freak:

Who are leaving you voice messages? Amazing!!!!!

... they call while I'm still talking to their damn voicemail. :mad:



:freak:

I want to ask some of these folks how the hell they got into the university.
Fun questions today-
what is a call number?
What does chronological mean?
How am I supposed to find any of the books I need if all the titles are out of order? What do you people do just stick books any place?
Alphabetical? You mean like the ABC's?

edited to add- not a one of these questions were from freshmen.

I think that recalling the results of the testing I took in fifth grade to re-qualify for the academically gifted program and how the tester said I was operating at college level at 10 years old makes me feel like a genius. ;)

Seriously, though, why can't we just think of people as individuals and not as states or rural areas or urban areas or as their jobs? The dumbing down of our educational system affects all Americans. The ignorance encouraged by the media and by our culture affects all Americans. And all humans all over the world are all over the intelligence spectrum.

I also don't really like making value judgements about people based on their IQ (or in general really, but yeah). I mean, believe me, I know that stupidity is really really annoying and frustrating, but usually it's not their fault. Usually. Some people do choose to be wilfully ignorant, but really most people just deal with the hand that their genes and nurturing dealt them. And in our current culture, the nurturing for most people is conducive to ignorance and stupidity.

That's not a response to the OP as more to the posts in the thread categorizing people by where they live and stuff.

For my response to the OP - I worked at Arby's for three years. You do not know what hell is until you're treated like you're less intelligent than the average amoeba by people who are incapable of reading the menu, prices as well as the items. I ended up kicking a hole in the drive-thru wall at the one I worked at while going to school, and when my degree turned out to be useless and I had to go back there again I ended up cutting and almost being driven to suicide.

"Do....ya'll.....got.....that...five fer....five....thing...whatever....deal?"

It's on the huge lighted sign just as you drive in, you freaking idiot. Plus there's a long line of cars behind you, so if you could order at a rate faster than one word per five minutes that would be good.

And then they had the audacity to insult my intelligence and treat me like I was stupid. I'd pit my 7th grade SAT score against their junior year score any time - and yeah, SAT scores don't mean very much but it's not like you can easily quantify and compare internal stuff so we have to settle for external "achievements".

Like I said, stupidity can be really annoying and irritating, and really I've got no problem with being frustrated with it. My problem is with tarring large groups of people with the stupid brush for no reason other than living in the same general area as a few individuals who appeared to be stupid to you.

And going back and rereading the new posts since I started writing this - people are also individuals no matter where they shop. Or which sports they enjoy, because I'm sure any minute now something like, "I'm glad I'm not prejudiced like all those mouthbreathers that watch NASCAR." will show up.

Damn, give it a rest already--don't these people know there's more important things going on in the world than football?

I hate, hate, hate, hate, HATE football season in Oklahoma. :banghead:

way too often.

the one that takes the cake though was the day I was talking to a travel agent in FL about booking her clients on a Grand Canyon trip. she wanted them to get to the bottom and back out in a day and after I explained it's a mile deep her response was "Wow, that must have been some meteor"

:wow:

You win, to me at least.

was talking about a trip to Europe (older Cadettes and Seniors...14-17) and one of the girls asked how long a bus ride it would be.

A friend of mine, about five years ago, invited this girl we know to a party. At one point, a bunch of people were stepping on my friends scale and weighing ourselves (good times). The girl wanted us to wait until she finished eating her donut before she weighed herself because, and I quote, "We won't get an accurate reading if I'm holding this donut".

We tried to explain that eating the donut, or holding the donut, wouldn't make a difference because it weighs the same inside you as it does outside. She didn't get it.

Nevermind that the weight of the donut was negligible anyways.

There are idiots walking among us folks.

I work with the dumbest group of people known to man.

I'm serious.

There is no vaccine for stupidity...

Whatsoever.

I notice that on a daily basis, both in my job at a grocery store and in my college classes. People don't know how to analyze the simplest concepts.

Case in point - I have these cardboard 6-pack wine carriers in my department. They simply fold out into a handy carrier with a handle. They are very easy to open. One of my simple joys in life is quietly watching people out of the corner of my eye while they try to figure these things out. Mind you, I live in an extremely wealthy area - my clientele is college educated, probably multi-degreed and with jobs that allow them to buy my top-end wine by the case. But they can't figure those things out. It's a hoot. The best part is when I rescue them - I say sweetly, "Can I help you with that?" and *poof* open it. And, to be clear, I never had a problem with them from the first time I saw them. They're self-evident.

In school - professor explains assignment which is also written on syllabus and which we've gone over with syllabus in front of us. Someone is sure to ask a question that is clearly stated in said syllabus and which the professor has just gone over in exhaustive detail. Part of it is probably tuning out but I think a large part of it is reading but not comprehending. Not making those tiny leaps of logic that one needs to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time.

So, yeah, I'm sure there are people who look at a statement and simply cannot put the data into any coherent form in their mind. For whatever reason. But I also doubt if they're able to understand the instructions any better. :eyes:

if they can't fgure out the statement, instructions probably won't help, nor will the read them. waste of paper.

so YOUR store has all the bottle six pack carriers? mine advertises them, has the instructions (heh), and gives a 10% discount on purchasing 6 bottles, but NEVER has the carriers. Nor do any of the cashiers have a clue how to wrap 6 loose glass bottles for a trip over dirt roads.

But you'd probably spend rather a lot in gas. :D

On the other hand, you'd get a nifty 6-pack wine carrier. :rofl:

I would have to keep it for ever. Maybe get it laminated.:rofl:

The form asked for both my birth date and my age. This is a form that will be on file for the next decade. My birth date will never change and can always be used to calculate my age. My age will be wrong on the form as of November 11. Why do they ask for both?

I would tell the waitresses not to fill the glasses to the very top with ice because when the ice melted the glass would overflow. 1 in 3 believed me. :rofl:

Which means every now and then, I get pleasantly surprised. :)

Not often enough though...

introduced me to another friend of hers, a middle-aged homemaker/mom. I had just returned from a trip, and, in the course of the conversation, mentioned that I had been harrassed by TSA personnel when going through security before my return flight. I have pins and screws in my ankle from an old injury and the metal detector went off. I was pulled aside, and patiently explained my situation to the TSA person, lifting my pantleg to display the 6-inch scar, and inviting the screener to wand my ankle. The screener ignored the ankle and began feeling around my bra. Absolutely ridiculous. Anyhow, I explained all of this to the two women. My friend's friend looked at me quizically and in all sincerity asked, "But, aren't you glad they did all of that to you? They suspected you were a terrorist. How did they know you weren't?"

The crap we now have to put up with is stupid enough, but that people buy into the "necessity" of it is even more ridiculous. People have simply stopped thinking.

Mostly, I think they're being lazy or just not thinking. Either way, it doesn't make me feel like a genius. It just makes me sort of tired. :yoiks:

Some Real Estate developer steered sales of the houses to be built (back in 1999-2000) to Chinese immigrants. We bought our home from one of them when he was transfered to MIT. The Agent was successfully prosecuted for violating Equal Housing Laws.

I live in the county with the highest proportion (29.2%) of people with advanced degrees in the USA - shoot, you can't be a cop here without an AA, and if you want any sort of promotion, you'll need a Bachelors at least.

So no, I am not surrounded by idiots.

Stupidity everywhere! Mostly the drunk slack jawed mouth breather packer fans but;):sarcasm:

Amazed by the stupidity around me? That's putting it mildly.

They put those flyers in the bill so that someone can't try to evade payments by claiming they didn't understand the statement. It's a legal issue.