Clueless People

Simplify

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Arizona
A rather sad commentary on the intellectual health of many people today:

A co-worker and I were talking about summer vacation plans and I mentioned that I am going to hike in Canada this summer.

His response: 'Do Canadians know how to speak English?'

No fooling.

For me I see this as a sad commentary on a society that cares about nothing anymore than sports and entertainment and social media. Look at what it is doing to peoples intellectual health as a result.
 

MacGyver

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...I see this as a sad commentary on a society that cares about nothing anymore than sports and entertainment and social media. Look at what it is doing to peoples intellectual health as a result.
Man... this sure is timely. I've become seriously outspoken about what peoples' priorities have become. People just think I'm just angry and cynical for no reason. All I see is the dumbing down of America and it really pisses me off that people can't see the decline.

Smartphones, in particular, top my list of things that annoy me. Despite the statistics that show how many people are killed and injured while on their phone while driving, there they are - weaving, hanging back in traffic, sitting at green lights... Go out to the bar to see a band play? Just background noise while we check our Facebook pages, show pictures of what we ate for dinner or videos of what our dogs did.

I'll just leave it at that. I could do 2,000 more words on what sports and Hollywood crap has done to "average intelligence" but I've already let out enough steam that I won't explode today. :)
 

Simplify

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We are on the same page.

If I had my way I would have those smartphones thrown into a pile and burned. People don't hardly socialize face to face anymore and when they do the conversation is always centered on the big three: sports, entertainment, and social media.

I can only remember one time that I saw someone watching something of intellectual value while on his phone. He was viewing a video about troubleshooting a car problem he had.

Look at all the people that don't know the difference between there, their and they're or the difference between whole and hole, and so on.

It is no wonder people from other countries laugh at us.
 

dinosaur

troublemaker
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Indiana
I think a better question is: Do we speak English? It is not so much that our culture has invented new words and abbreviations sometimes by misspelling old ones. Pronunciations like "uhmmediately" instead of immediately, "jewlery" for jewelry, "nuculer" for nuclear, even "Holloween" instead of Halloween have me shaking my head praying people will get some diction lessons. I understand when someone has a speech impediment. But the ones I know who suffer from this type of affliction have a better grasp of linguistics than many who have no such problem.
 

Cappy

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Talking about made up words.......Well the Sheeple of America are very easily led astray. I try to walk a different path. Like most of us ole timers, (you know who you are.) I aint got no stinking smart phone and only time I ever text is when its the only way to communicate. Like in hurricanes or something
 

ppine

Forester
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Minden, NV
We are dangerously close to having a country where the majority of people are dumbazzes.
Most people can't find the Middle East on a globe and couldn't find Iraq for a million dollars if it wasn't labelled.

Our education system has failed us. How else can you explain the Kardashians, Honeybooboo and duck dynasty? It is why our jobs are sent overseas. We can't compete like we used to. We are too bloody stupid.
 

Simplify

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And look at all the people that swallow all the propaganda that FOX news and CNN spew out hook, line, and sinker without ever doing their own research to check the facts.

An Australian talk show host walked around American cities telling people that the president had determined that Kyrzygstan was a threat and asked if they supported military action. All people shown said they supported military action and didn't even bother to ask if there was any evidence or proof that Kyrzygstan was a threat.

They just went with the herd mentality and believed the propaganda.
 

Bojib

Active Member
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Lexington, KY
I hate when people say "are" instead of "our", and spell it out that way.

Anyway, what's with the hate on smartphones and new technologies? You realize you're complaining about these things while on the internet, while using a computer if not a tablet or smartphone to do so. Seems very ironic.

My grandparents before they died and my parents now have told me they were always stupid people. So, new tech didn't make them that way, they were just always there. It's just easier to spot them now I suppose.

I say let them keep their noses buried in their screens. Means it's easier for me to to get to enjoy nature myself. Although, the difficult to find parking at the trail heads, and numbers of people I see on the trail not looking at a screen do beg to differ.
 

MacGyver

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Anyway, what's with the hate on smartphones and new technologies? You realize you're complaining about these things while on the internet, while using a computer if not a tablet or smartphone to do so. Seems very ironic.
The difference is, I'm not on my computer in rush hour traffic or while driving 65 miles an hour. I don't take my computer to the bar to see my friends play music and I'm not sitting around a campfire 100 miles from home and checking Facebook.

Yes, smartphones are very useful. A phone, a camera, a GPS unit and a million more apps available to do a million and more things - all in a neat little package. But this remarkable tool is too often not being used as it's name would suggest. What's smart about texting and driving? About going out to get away from it all and bringing the world with you? Text and text speak have infected our children to the point where they're actually turning in school work with improper English. And please explain to me why texts are preferred over a simple phone call. Yeah - I know - there are instances where someone can't talk and a message is better, but all the time? I don't care how fast you can type - a minute of text can be spoken in seconds.

Smartphones were hyped as one of the biggest gotta-haves and people have bought it hook, line and sinker. Now we get to pay insane prices for mini computers that require outrageously priced bandwidth.
 

Simplify

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Update:

The same person who asked me if Canadians speak English (A 36 year old adult) was looking through the list of doctors covered under our company health plan to schedule a routine checkup.

He asked me for advice on whether he should use a general practicioner or a pediatrician because he didn't know what those were. I had to explain to him that a pediatrician is a children's doctor so he should go to the general practicioner.

He looked at me with a quizzical look and said, 'How do you know all this stuff?' as if I was some sort of genius for knowing the difference between the two.

Rolleyes.
 

Simplify

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Arizona
Good point. They think that there actually is a difference between the two major parties and that their vote will actually make a difference, not realizing that both major parties are controlled by the corporate elite and a vote for either is a vote for their own enslavement.

Reminds me of the communist who was interviewed and asked about communist tactics. His reply was that they would put up one side of a fence and put abundant food there and let the sheep come and eat. The next day they would build another section of fence, put out food and let the sheep come and eat and so on until the fence was completed and a gate added.

The last day they would put out food, let the sheep come and eat and then shut the gate on them. The sheep would initially run around and around upset in their new prison but eventually accepted their imprisonment and learned to like it.

Just keep the people dumb and distracted with a never ending stream of entertainment and fluff while you steal their freedoms away.
 

ppine

Forester
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We have plenty of freedom in this country. Travel anywhere else and it will be obvious.

People are unfortunately free to be stupid and uninformed, which helps explain the popularity of Trump.
 

MacGyver

Active Member
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People are unfortunately free to be stupid and uninformed, which helps explain the popularity of Trump.
Have you ever stopped to consider that the upcoming election is just the latest example - and possibly the worst ever - of a lesser-of-two-evils choice? I know plenty of people who are reluctantly going to vote for him because they don't want someone who should be in jail in the Oval Office.
 

Pathfinder1

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Liberty, N.Y. Lower Catskill Mountains.
A rather sad commentary on the intellectual health of many people today:

A co-worker and I were talking about summer vacation plans and I mentioned that I am going to hike in Canada this summer.

His response: 'Do Canadians know how to speak English?'

No fooling.

For me I see this as a sad commentary on a society that cares about nothing anymore than sports and entertainment and social media. Look at what it is doing to peoples intellectual health as a result.
A rather sad commentary on the intellectual health of many people today:

A co-worker and I were talking about summer vacation plans and I mentioned that I am going to hike in Canada this summer.

His response: 'Do Canadians know how to speak English?'

No fooling.

For me I see this as a sad commentary on a society that cares about nothing anymore than sports and entertainment and social media. Look at what it is doing to peoples intellectual health as a result.
 
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