So I went outside just now to talk to my mom and stepfather about World War II. I wanted to show them something, so I asked them to start naming names associated with WWII…more notably, the leaders of all of the main countries involved.
Silence.
“Uh…yes? Can you name someone? Anyone.” I’m still smiling by this time, expecting the obvious answer.
Crickets chirp.
“You can’t name anyone from World War II?”
“Nope…nobody. We don’t know history. Not good with it.”
“But what about the main guy. I mean, the one everyone thinks of. You know…the MAIN guy…?” I’m still trying to be too obvious here.
Blank stares.
Sigh. “The guy we were fighting…you know, the main bad guy? Come on…You know, right?”
Now they’re getting frustrated with me.*** With ME*** of all people. Excuse me? I’m the one who has the right to be frustrated with parents who don’t even know who we were fighting in WWII nor can they name a single person associated with that war. “No, Chris…” Sounding annoyed now “We don’t know history, we just said.”
I’m befuddled at this point. How in the hell did I not know my parents were this stupid? I’m embarrassed for how ignorant they are. “Oh come on, you don’t know who we were fighting in World War II? Guy who wanted to kill all the Jews and Poles and other races not like him? Most evil guy in the world, typically thought of?”
“Hitler?” It’s a question. A question! Like they still weren’t sure.
I’m not sure if that’s “stupid” per se – more like utterly and crushingly uninterested in the world. We often use stupid and ignorant as synonyms, but they’re not.
It’s not quite the same thing, but remember all the things that Sherlock Holmes didn’t know.
Exchange we had just five minutes ago:
“Doctor says you can’t have any caffeinated sodas 24 hours before this test”
“Okay, then I’ll have some that doesn’t have caffeine.”
“What? No, it says right here you can’t.”
“…can’t have soda with CAFFEINE…” “… What soda doesn’t have caffeine?!!” Asking it in the tone like I’m the stupidest person in the world and that the answer should obviously be: “None”
Are you serious right now? Are you fucking serious right now? Holy shit.
“Sprite, Ginger Ale, 7 Up” I reply with my hand over my eyes and forehead and through clenched teeth.
I have my own apartment. I need to move back into there ASAP.
one way I like to put it (and I don’t claim to be the first to say this) is that “ignorance” is simply the lack of knowledge. “Stupidity” is avoiding knowledge at all costs.
Yeah I think I can ! My parents didn’t notice I was hard of hearing ! A teacher did when I stayed back in first grade. I was 8 yo when my parents knew this ! That is pretty stupid to me !
They even make caffeine free colas. Caffeine is added as a separate ingredient, not inherent in anything, like the coffee bean, so it’s not too difficult to leave it out.
To the OP, please tell me your parents don’t surf the Dope. We wouldn’t want their illusions crushed, would we? And after all, they did produce an or so obviously stellar offsping.
Back when the movie The Crying Game came out, and was still in theaters, I had this conversation with my mom:
Me: Don’t tell me anything about the movie. I heard it has a big surprise ending and I don’t want to know what it is.
Mom: Oh, you mean that the woman turns out to be a man?
I love history. But I realize some people just don’t care about it. They might have some idea who Adolf Hitler was and who George Washington was but if you asked them which of those two lived first, they couldn’t tell you. They might not even associate Hitler with World War II or Washington with the American Revolution; history is just a bunch of unconnected events with no overall pattern.
And it’s possible to live that way and have a normal life. Plenty of people who don’t know how electricity works are able to use modern technology. You don’t need to know how chemistry and biology work in order to breath. Your understanding of physics will have no influence on what tomorrow’s weather will be. And you can live in a society that was created by history in total ignorance of what that history was.
Whoa… I canNOT imagine. I can’t use ANYthing without wanting to understand how it works.
Luckily, I have a genius friend that I can bug: “So, what’s happening on a molecular level when I’m changing boring bread into tasty toast? So, what’s the solvent in this marker and is it carcinogenic? So, where did Libertarianism come from? So, what was James Joyce really saying? So, why are you putting those ribs in a pressure-cooker the night before? So, wouldn’t a batter have to start his swing before the pitch is thrown? So, why didn’t the guy give his horse a name?”
To stay on topic, my parents wouldn’t care about any of the above. They could grasp the facts if explained, but they wouldn’t retain it.
I guess my first thought on reading the OP is “OK but what sort of stuff do they know about?”
Alien as it may be to me and most of us here, I know there are people (like **IT’s **parents, apparently) who just have no interest or idea about things that seem second nature to us. But usually their attention is taken up by something else. And maybe they have the most incredible knowledge of, I dunno, orchids.
So are your parents like this about everything, IT, or are they smart and knowledgeable about some things.
I kind of feel for your parents. I dropped out of school young myself. I do know most of the very well known things about history but if you ask me something that’s much past common knowledge I probably wouldn’t know it. Other things I am very smart at, my son who has all the degrees still respects my ability to think.
