# Seemingly normal people that have no common sense or awareness of current events **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 17, 2009, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234 "2009-02-17T04:28:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/41 "2009-02-18T17:06:09Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Good lord, every time a newspaper article mentions Adolf Hitler they go on to _tell you who he is_, how much more do they need to bend over backwards to catch people up? Good catch. Now this will bother me for the rest of my life, tyvm. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/42 "2009-02-18T17:29:56Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > There’s so much wonderful and endlessly riveting stuff in the world it surely takes some kind of pigheadedness not to take at least some sort of interest. I totally agree with you. But while my parents took us traveling, we never left the continental US. In school, I got no “World History” or “World Geography” until I was about 12 or 13. We had “Current Events” in class where we had to bring in newspaper articles, but the US news media doesn’t really talk about international news. International news is something individuals have to expend a tiny amount of effort to find, but even that tiny amount of effort is a barrier to someone who isn’t interested. I’m not sure \*how \*to force people to develop an interest in world events. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/43 "2009-02-18T17:47:42Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Good lord, every time a newspaper article mentions Adolf Hitler they go on to _tell you who he is_, how much more do they need to bend over backwards to catch people up? Right, but that’s one world figure. To really understand Hitler, then you have to know how he got into power given what was going on in Germany, centuries of history leading up to that, the reaction of every other country to his power, everything that happened in WW2 and after, and how it all leads up to today. And that’s just a drop in the bucket. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/44 "2009-02-18T18:34:41Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > Right, but that’s one world figure. To really understand Hitler, then you have to know how he got into power given what was going on in Germany, centuries of history leading up to that, the reaction of every other country to his power, everything that happened in WW2 and after, and how it all leads up to today. And that’s just a drop in the bucket. Yeah, but do you think anybody who doesn’t know the basics of who Adolf Hitler is would really be helped by reading the rest of the article? Whatever the article might be? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/45 "2009-02-18T18:43:27Z")
Don’t be so hard on them. They’re the common people, the common clay, the salt of the Earth. You know…_Morons_. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Danalan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/76d3ee/32.png) [@Danalan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danalan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/46 "2009-02-18T19:03:29Z")
There’s just as much space under the low end of the bell curve as the high end. Just be thankful you don’t hang out there much. I think the pathology of the person who is willing – no, anxious – to take advantage of people’s stupidity is more interesting than the fact that people are stupid. How twisted do you have to be to scam grandmothers out of their life savings? Whether it’s the religion, ponzi, or nigerian scam, that kind of evil is all too common. What causes such callousness? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/47 "2009-02-18T19:29:59Z")
Greed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/48 "2009-02-18T19:32:41Z")
Greed, and the feeling the marks deserve it for being so dumb (or greedy, depending on the scam). ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/49 "2009-02-18T19:41:58Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > I don’t understand that. If you live in the middle of the US and _don’t_ have the chance to travel easily to see different places and cultures first hand, surely that is _more_ of a reason to learn about them in whatever way you can. > > I didn’t even travel outside the UK until I was almost into my teens - despite living barely 100 miles from the Continent as the crow flies, and yet I was always fascinated by maps and photos of faraway exotic countries like… Belgium 😛 > > There’s so much wonderful and endlessly riveting stuff in the world it surely takes some kind of pigheadedness not to take at least some sort of interest. Yeah, but in the middle of the U.S. you have two countries within 1,000 miles of you, and culturally one of them is pretty much identical. In the middle of the U.K. you are 1,000 miles from maybe a dozen countries, all of which are remarkably different. There are a lot of people in the middle of big countries who will never travel to another country and therefore have no vested interest in learning about them. Sad, really. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/50 "2009-02-18T19:49:26Z")
> [@Quasimodal](#): > > I had a co-worker who didn’t know who the freaking prime minister was! Yeesh, and she called herself Canadian! I recently asked my sister who the prime minister was, and she answered “Ben Harper”! In her defense, it was during her exam time and she was incredibly stressed and tired, and she corrected herself pretty quickly, but it was damn funny. “No, wait, that’s the musician!” She was able to come up with the correct name, though. She did, however, have to ask me if the pirates in Somalia would affect our Caribbean cruise (she also asked if they wore pirate hats). She’s a smart girl, but just doesn’t make the time to learn things she isn’t interested in, so while she can name every bone, muscle and nerve in a half dozen animals, recall ridiculous levels of details from things she’s learned in her undergrad, memorize entire plays and perform them… well, she can do all that, but never cared about politics, current events, or geography! ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/51 "2009-02-18T19:58:44Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > A person who reads **USA Today** and **People** , watches Fox News Channel, and visits gossip blogs will barely garner any common sense… You do NOT gain common sense from reading newspapers. Either you have it, or you don’t; unfortunately, the vast majority of people don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/52 "2009-02-18T20:09:30Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > When I was a kid I was utterly astounded by the adults I could see on the streets of New York City being taken in my the Three Card Monte hustlers. It was incredibly obvious to me that this was a complete and total con, and it couldn’t be more obvious, even if the dealer had been wearing a flasing neon sign that read **This is a Con – There is No Way You Can Win. I WILL Take Your Money**. And yet people were _willingly_ plunking down bets on the guy’s rickety cardboard box “table”. (I had no idea how the details of the con worked – but the entire setup was fishy. And I could easily see the dealer scooping up the cash and running if it looked as if he’d lose.) > > That taught me how hopelessly naive some people (with real money to lose) really were. What’s really fun is to step up and watch for a while, then “let” them pull you in. Bet a buck or two; you’ll win because he’s getting ready to set the hook. You then pick up your big, honkin’ two dollars and walk away. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/53 "2009-02-18T20:19:16Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Greed. .And for the victims: desperation. My ex-girlfriend _would have_ fallen for a scam, but she missed the response deadline. It was a snail-mail, phony lottery scam, kind of like the ones you get in email that says you MUST collect your Netherlands Lotto jackpot by Friday or lose they payout. She called me all upset saying, “I think I lost some _money_!” It was a time when she was in between jobs, in debt up the whazoo, and even $5,000 would have been a huge relief to her. She wasn’t stupid and was reasonably well-informed about scams, like the 419 stuff and had even helped a developmentally handicapped acquaintance fight back and recoup her money from a “You won a cruise!” scam with the help of the bank and credit card company. So she was reasonably well-informed and knew how to spot a scam… Unless _she_ was the target. She _needed_ money and to have the carrot dangled in front of her was tragically tempting. She had previously fallen for a pyramid scheme while similarly in tough financial straights. Wishful thinking overrode her common sense. So even if something had all the earmarks of a scam she could deluder herself that, yes, this looked like a scam, but this time it isn’t one. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/54 "2009-02-18T21:32:57Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Don’t be so hard on them. They’re the common people, the common clay, the salt of the Earth. You know…_Morons_. 😛 😛 I’m not a moron, I swear. I’m ignorant. There’s just no way to catch up on all the information out there and I don’t know where to begin. Even if I learn all about one tiny slice, there’s still a huge pile out there I can never get to. ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/55 "2009-02-18T23:08:22Z")
> [@Q.E.D](#): > > You do NOT gain common sense from reading newspapers. Either you have it, or you don’t; unfortunately, the vast majority of people don’t. The fact of the matter is that common sense does not exist. Good judgment does exist, but it is not particularly common and is often the direct result of the lessons learned from poor judgment. Expecting most people to make good decisions when they haven’t the knowledge, experience, or wisdom to do so is asking an awful lot. Most people, IME, are disinclined to put in the effort required to be informed, are always looking for the easy way out (even when the easy way is obviously a scam), and will always choose the path of least resistance, no matter how detrimental that may be in the short- or long-term. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/56 "2009-02-19T00:07:28Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Good lord, every time a newspaper article mentions Adolf Hitler they go on to _tell you who he is_, how much more do they need to bend over backwards to catch people up? If he’s so great I would have heard of him. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/57 "2009-02-19T14:43:56Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Don’t be so hard on them. They’re the common people, the common clay, the salt of the Earth. You know…_Morons_. 😛 This was one of my first signs of getting old…when you can quote Blazing Saddles and many don’t realize what is is. It was a sad, sad realization 😉 ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2009, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/58 "2009-02-19T17:38:48Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > This was one of my first signs of getting old…when you can quote Blazing Saddles and many don’t realize what is is. It was a sad, sad realization 😉 :smack: Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Shamozzle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shamozzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shamozzle)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/59 "2009-02-27T03:57:11Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > …well, she can do all that, but never cared about politics, current events, or geography! Or fashion trends in piracy. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2009, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234/60 "2009-02-27T13:04:37Z")
I have known people like that. Not so much now, but I have known some. Way back in the 80s when Mount St. Helens blew I was in college and at a party and one of the guys drank too much and threw up. I made the comment that he erupted like Mount St. Helens. One of the girls there had no clue what I meant. How could you not have heard of something that was in every news media there is? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seemingly-normal-people-that-have-no-common-sense-or-awareness-of-current-events/486234.md?page=4)