To wonder why so many people are so inexplicably stupid?

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I saw a comment by someone in another thread that said ''People don't think that a bank cashier is a banker, do they?'' and it has set me off on a Major League Rant (not aimed at the person who wrote that, but at people who DO think exactly that.)

My fella used to be a cashier at a bank for years before he got promoted. EVERY SINGLE DAY, without fail, he'd get moronic customers moaning at him for being a ''banker on a massive bonus''. He was a cashier on minimum wage, and even the bank managers didn't get the ridiculous sort of bonuses these imbeciles were on about.

I asked around and it seems that cashiers at various banks get this crap all the time.

What sort of moron really believes that a bank cashier is a millionaire banker? Why are so many people so dim?

...AND BREATHE!

They says "I don't follow the news or anything like that...", but they read enough to know what is going on with politicians and society etc. Very few of them are really stupid. There is more information available now with the internet, there is more communication and chatting with forums and facebook and the word about what is going on spreads much faster

claig I'm interpreting "following the news" as using all kinds of media to get your information. I'm referring to people who know nothing of current issues and care even less.

potatoprints The term I used wasn't meant in its disused former meaning (I've not known it to be used in that sense in my lifetime), but in the now common meaning of 'stupid person'. I have a young niece with special needs and would not be deliberately offensive. Apologies if you thought otherwise, it was not intentional. :)

I think people may not know about Syria or the Arab Spring etc, because those things don't directly affect their lives. But they will know about the deaths in Mid-Staffordshire hospitals, about windmills and green taxes and bankers' bonuses and charity boss salaries and energy company price hikes etc because their families and friends will discuss those things with them even if they don't read a newspaper. They care about local issues that concern them.

LaQueen

I like the ones who say 'we don't vote as it's a waste of time' and then moan and moan about the state of the country.

Dampwellies did you say "If food, rent/home, clothes, bills, etc were free?"

I get told by my mother that I should find a real job... Very offensive. I learned so much from my work and have grown a lot. My work is tough.

Considering most of the young can no longer realistically expect to own a home and start a family before they are 40, its not surprising they are less charitable than their predecessors (who have largely benefitted from this state of affairs).

I try to zone out the truely stupid things people say & do - it beggars belief.

I'm not so sure that everyone does know about or take an interest in local issues that affect them. You only have to read the thread about the privatisation of the probation service to see that.

'You only have to read the thread about the privatisation of the probation service to see that.'

Yes you are right about that, because that doesn't get s much media coverage and people don't understand what the implications might be, which is how these type of policies are able to be pushed through.

My dd has no money. She's studying. But I know she begrudges giving to quite a few charities - those that use aggressive chuggers and those that bombard us (8 from Cancer Research in a few days) with calls, not taking no for an answer.

She is a lot more cynical than I was at 18.

'She is a lot more cynical than I was at 18.'

And she is right, she is no mug, like most of our young people aren't either. The chuggers, the charity bosses, the slebs, the pop stars etc have given a bad name to some of these organisations which are operating as businesses and people do not trust them anymore.

LaQueen, I had a colleague (a teacher) who had no idea that people from Norway spoke Norwegian. It doesn't bode well for our kids if their teachers have such poor general knowledge.

Hidden, I posted last night about the waist high floodwaters I had to walk through. I also put 2 videos up.

Haiyan was expected to hit this area.... I can't imagine what it is like in the Philippines...

"How did they get through a minimum of 11 years of formal education, and still be so utterly uninformed and ignorant? How? How?"

New Labour education policies?

ooohhhh yes and also every time we have an elementary maths question on MN....

11 years of maths classes....and people have no idea how fractions/percentages/multiplication/division etc. work.

Claig, some busineses masquerade as charities, or the opposite way around It can be a very competitive environment to work in. So true.

I think some people simply like living in their little bubble.
They don't want to think about the wider picture.
They just like living their day to day lives and that's it.

A lot simply don't see the point in 'wasting time thinking about stuff that doesn't affect them/they can't change/they don't understand etc.'

It's just a different mindset I suppose.

The ones that rant at front line staff are just ignorant though. They know perfectly well that it's not the person they're berating's fault. They're just pissed off and want someone to take it out on.

I cam here to say YANBU, and I am inexplicably stupid ... I can't explain why I'm so stupid; it's inexplicable and, anyway, I'm too stupid to understand.

But posts on your thread are making me think there are some even stupider Mumsnetters! Can anyone explain? In short sentences, please?

'New Labour education policies.' Oh dear. Something the Cons will put right with their Free schools? Or with payments for university?

Am I the only person to have just googled " what language do they speak in Norway"

I clearly would not be welcome in laQueen's intellectual bubble.

I know an English teacher who didn't know who the Bard was until I told her. How she got through an English degree continues to amaze me.

Oh come on, Philo, everyone knows they speak Scandinavian.

Yes, that is teh problem.

You have politicians who have their own charities which are about politics, not helping people in need. You have the Bilderbnerg Group having its own charity, you have ex-New Labour politicians who have been kicked out of office on high-paying roles in charities and trusts, you have pop stars who don't pay tax like everyone else in charities.

The public then reads about the salaries of some of the charity bosses and about what percentage of the money collected is given to people in need.

The politicians and lawmakers who allowed all these entities to become "charities" are responsible for the loss of public respect that tarnishes many worthy charities.