Do other people ever astonish you with their lack of general knowledge?

[Ohnotanothernamechange]

Just recently I've spoken to a few people who expressed amazement when they disocovered that Chernobyl is a real place. I know that we all have gaps in our knowledge but how the hell you can not know about the Chernobyl disaster? It's a bit like the simpleton on a twitter some years ago who was amazed to discover that the Titanic was a real ship and not figment of James Cameron's imagination....

I remember one time a work colleague was going to Rome and when I told them I'd been they asked me if there was lots of stuff to see and do there. I was like well of course, it's Rome. And they asked me what they were. I then had to list the coliseum, the Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, The Vatican, the countless Roman Ruins etc not to mention the countless designer shops and fabulous restaurants. They genuinely had no idea what was in Rome. I was gobsmacked. This was someone I'd assumed was pretty intelligent as well.

I can't work out if I just know too much, or these people are just really ignorant?

I also went to point out some people have busy lives. My Mum was so smug about her knowing more about Greece’s financial crisis than I did.

Yes I’m sorry I have a job/life and don’t have time to sit on my phone all day reading the news unlike you.

When I was very briefly unemployed for 5 weeks I actually learned so much but I have a feeling a lot of these smug people who spend hours reading the news have too much free time. Sitting on your phone all day is not an achievement. I’d rather work hard at my business and learn everything to do with that than learn about Stalin 🤷‍♀️

I would not put myself in the braket of someone who doesn’t have general knowledge but other than the Colosseum I’d have no idea what to do in Rome because I’ve never been there!

I'm a big fan of history, especially the golden age of piracy but I wouldn't expect people to know everything about history or even know the things I know.
My maths and geography knowledge however is terrible, and I've had people look down on me for not knowing things about certain countries/places.

Hate to say it OP but you sound like one of those people, and not knowing about Chernobyl might be silly to you, but maybe they haven't heard about the disaster for whatever reason. Age, education or whatever.

Yes I’m sorry I have a job/life

But so do most people.

don’t have time to sit on my phone all day

Neither do most people.

As an example my cousin who is a solicitor who works 16 hour days sometimes has very little idea about current affairs because he doesn’t exactly have time to read the news, whereas his unemployed wife knows all about current affairs because she’s on her phone all day. That doesn’t make her “better” than him 😳

I wouldn't expect people to know everything about history or even know the things I know.

But even if you don't know, there is a big attitudinal difference between:
"Hmm, the 1325 War of the Oaken Bucket? Tell me more!"

and

"No. Never heard of it, not interested"

But even if you don't know, there is a big attitudinal difference between
Hmm, the 1325 War of the Oaken Bucket? Tell me more

Oh my god get over yourself. Some people aren’t interested in History, some people aren’t interested in Economics, some people aren’t interested in Biology. I’d argue the latter two are more important subjects in todays world. One effects everyone’s income/livelihood, the other saves lives. I’m such you’d do very well on a pub quiz though so you’re much better than I am.

I have an Economics degree, Economics is a hugely important subject in todays world but I wouldn’t scoff at you for knowing absolutely nothing, not even the bare minimum on such an important subject. Honestly the smugness on this thread. It reminds me of that South Park episode where they all bought electric cars.

Get over myself?!

FFS that was just a random wiki article to point out the difference between people that want to know more about the world and people that shut any new piece of info down.

That it could have been about anything is the whole point! Your defensiveness about it is strange.
Sausages
Economics of Peru
Porcelain teacups
Mice breeding
Cork soled shoes
Inventor of the hole punch
etc

Most scientists I know are well aware of basic history and geography.

It's weird this attitude that people with jobs and lives can't possibly be expected to know about niche things like Stalin or the Holocaust. I've never heard it before.

I do worry that ignorant people, especially older people can be very easily manipulated and hoodwinked because they know so little of how the world actually works.

I wonder how many, well educated, well read people get ripped off by various scams or get fleeced by feasible sounding sales people?

Most scientists I know are well aware of basic history and geography

Oh I’m sure you know so many scientists

But some people aren’t particularly interested in History as a subject? Some people don’t choose to take it on at school after 14? Who cares? How is me learning about the Plague going to help society?

We have a generation of people with useless History degrees and a chronic shortage of Engineers so it’s not like this information is dying out.

Can I ask all these very smug people who know random historical facts what exactly you do for a living?

I hope you all have very important jobs where your knowledge is contributing so much to society and not just spending all day on your phones.

@Galdos
Treaty of Westphalia was on 24 October 1648. No need to be shocked. Of course I didn’t remember it off the too if my head, but I googled it because I you made me curious and now I know.

See how it works?

:) I write historical fiction.

I genuinely think knowing about the rise of dictators and the holocaust is massively important - I think people who don't understand history are sitting ducks. An educated populace are far less likely to fall for fascists and demagogues than an uneducated one.

@Herbalteahippie Thank you.

To me subjects like Economics are much more important in todays society. It has real world consequences.

I highly doubt Brexit would have happened if people were seriously taught this important subject. The 2008 crash would have been much less likely as people would have known that giving the Banks more free reign would have been a disaster and there would have been huge public pushback, which politicians respond to.

Most people have little to no understanding and it depresses me. But I’m not going to be a smug asshole about it because others don’t take the time to learn about these important issues.

I work in IT. I know random historical facts, and random geographical facts, random facts about science, literature, all sorts. And the odd bit about IT.

I am better at my job than many of my colleagues because I know stuff, and if I don't know it, I am the one most likely to find the information on it. A lot of stuff I know isn'the immediately relevant, but you never know what facts will be useful when. The fundamental interconnectedness of all things.

I genuinely think knowing about the rise of dictators and the holocaust is massively important - I think people who don't understand history are sitting ducks. An educated populace are far less likely to fall for fascists and demagogues than an uneducated one.

This. The world is a worrying place just now for this reason alone.

I work in IT. I know random historical facts, and random geographical facts, random facts about science, literature, all sorts. And the odd bit about IT.

Exactly. It's not like we have a limit on things we can know about!
Going round insulting people just because they don't agree with your personal opinion of what you think is THE most important thing to learn shows a whole other type of ignorance.

Let me also say that other people’s basic ignorance is not only depressing but also dangerous - especially in a democracy. Everyone gets a vote. Chances are that the people OP mentions who know nothing whatsoever about Rome, know next to nothing about Europe. Chances are they cast their vote in the Brexit referendum on a topic they know next to nothing about. So ultimately, other people’s ignorance affects the way I can live my own life, and it does bother me. A lot.

If people knew more about history, especially about the reasons for the two World Wars, they could easily tell when cynical politicians are manipulating them. Because human nature doesn’t change and the same rhetoric, playing on the same human emotions and ignorance, has been used over and over again since the ancient times to ‘divide and rule’.

Ignorance of how other people live, how other cultures work, that there are different ways of doing things and believing in things - and that it’s perfectly OK - leads to sectarianism, xenophobia, and all the wars and other nasty things that result from it.

One would think that these days, with Google and Wikipedia at our fingertips and free access to libraries, there would be no excuse for the population to be ignorant of basic issues, but it seems even worse, with all the propaganda and fake news around. The reason? Because of ignorance many people are unable to think independently and critically. It’s a vicious circle that can be broken only if the model of education and the general attitude to education - which should be seen as something cool to aspire to rather than something to be mildly embarrassed of - changes.

Absolutely horses for courses. I'd say my general knowledge was "ok" but ask me a question about planets/space and there's very little there

Musical theatre and literature however, then I'm a whizz.

I agree - I know someone who was gutted that the 'fictional' Titanic film didn't have a happy ending.

And just last week a thirty something asked me "What's all this about D-Day on the TV? What is D-Day?"

Re the world wars: in the World War 2 museum in New Orleans it's clear for all to see that the Second World War didn't start until 1941, so maybe that confuses some?

I guess so long as people are happy with their lives and knowing the birth dates of all Love Island residents, then good for them, but I'd rather know a bit more about the world and how we got to where we are.

Ok I’m at work so don’t have time to respond to everyone but one point I will make is I speak fluent Spanish, French, Portuguese and I’m learning Italian. This is all self taught.

Can you imagine I started a smug thread about how I’m astonished how useless and lazy most English people are for not even trying to learn another language when most of Europe is bilingual.

I would come across as unbearable. It’s the same for half this thread. I would never do that as I realise different people have different academic interests to me. The world would stop if they didn’t. Even though I do find it pretty astonishing given how easy it is to learn another language nowadays.

Yep! And they voted on whether to leave the EU!

I am reasonably intelligent and well read. I do very well at pub quizzes so,I am confident that I have good general knowledge but even so I am constantly amazed at what I don’t know. One example is that recently I made arrangements to meet up with a friend on her around the world trip. The dates I could meet her she was going to be in Patagonia. I enthusiastically agreed and then after the phone call I had to get out an atlas to find out where Patagonia was!

It’s the height of arrogance to assume that because you know a certain fact or facts that other people are ignorant because they don’t know the same things.

JonSnowsALoser: my reference to the Treaty of Westphalia was a joke, inspired by a piece in The Spectator by Charles Moore. I think most folk can get by without knowing of the Treaty's existence. Like some posters on this thread, I do think an awareness of recent history is helpful in assessing current affairs. Some events are more important than others: Brinks Mat I would suggest is lower on the scale than Chernobyl, for example.

My own view is that the current political position in the UK, and Europe, can't be properly understood without some awareness of European history since around 1500, although even then it would be better to glance back to 1066 at least. I wonder whether many people realise just how fractious and divided Europe (including the UK) has been over the centuries, and that the wellspring of the EU was a desire to create economic and political structures which would deeply disincentivise the use of war as a tool of foreign and economic policy - which was the case from before 1066 to 1945 (with a remarkable, but not completely Europe-wide, period of peace from 1815 to 1870).