To wonder why people are still so woefully misinformed?

[Lucia39]

We now have access to more information than any previous generation. An entire reference library is available at the click of a mouse, public libraries were still free last time I checked, and general reference books are readily available and comparatively cheap.

Why then is the apparent standard of general knowledge and informed opinion amongst many people in Britain [especially the younger generations] so abysmal?

[cornsilk]

For example....?

[cookielove]

yes please do tell?

[Lucia39]

"Reader, if you seek a monument, look around you!"

[Trikken]

I didnt realise it was. Have you an example to back up this claim?

[LackaDAISYcal]

eh?

[PortBlacksandResident]

Oooh ooh that's a parody of Sir Christopher Wren's 'monument' in St Paul Cathedral.

Does that make me clever?

[cornsilk]

That explains everything. I agree totally.

[PortBlacksandResident]

It is cool to be thick and uninformed and never to have read a book among SOME young people.

Of course those same youngsters could secretly be hiding 'an apocryphal history of the Popes St Peter - John Paul II' behind their copy of Nuts .

[Goblinchild]

What's the profit in it?
Will it help you grab your 15 minutes of fame as a reality TV show contestant, or become a WAG?

Those who have a wide general knowledge and an enthusiasm for learning new things tend to flourish in an environment that encourages it.
Otherwise the level of ridicule, disbelief and 'Wot yew goin on about?' tends to squash it out of them.
Hard to keep going with little or no support.

[Lucia39]

It's not a "parody" it's a paraphrase! You appear to be providing evidence to prove my point!

[cornsilk]

How rude.

[Goblinchild]

Sir Christopher Wren's epitaph at St Paul's reads "Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice"

Did you misquote intentionally, or did you half-remember it and are attempting an intellectual fudging exercise?

[Trikken]

does it really matter that it a paraphrase not a parody?

[BoysAreLikeDogs]

Lucia either tell us the point you are labouring or bugger orf, please

[playftseforme]

unpleasant

[cookielove]

this seems rather pointless

[Trikken]

Well said Boysarelikedogs

[nickytwotimes]

I wonder why some people like to make obscure, self-righteous comments on internet forums. Perhaps in an effort to make themselves look clever, Lucia?

[Trikken]

It doesnt make you look clever, just snobby

[nickytwotimes]

(that was directed at Lucia, btw!)

[PortBlacksandResident]

A paraphrase can also be a parody.

So nerr

[Goblinchild]

Except when you just get your quote wrong.
Then it's a mistake.

[Quattrocento]

I think she's saying we're all uneducated. I'm not sure how the dodgy translation helps to prove that point, of course. I was always taught that quotations needed to be apposite. Perhaps I haven't had enough education to help me make the connection?

[nickytwotimes]

Yeah, Lucia, and you can't even speak latin! Ha! How smart are you now?

[PortBlacksandResident]

Goblin