To think a lot of people are completely stupid?

[blaisealex]

Someone posted a photo on a Facebook group of a Fabulosa product that is mean to keep artificial lawn clean and smelling nice. Said product is rammed full of toxic chemicals that are harmful to humans, animals and the environment. Hundreds of comments of people praising the product, tagging their mates in it. Lots of people going to be buying it, damaging the environment, probably harming their cats and dogs in the process. So bloody stupid. This cleaning craze of fabulosa and zeflora is beyond stupid.

Saw another post where people where complaining about paper straws and posting links of where others could purchase plastic straws. I mean, sure, I preferred plastic straws. They didn't go soggy and disintegrate half way through a drink but really, it's a small sacrifice to make. It's stupid and selfish.

Spoke to several people recently, ages varying between 20s and late 50s. None of them aware of who the suffragettes were.

So AIBU to think that so many people really are just stupid?

Agreed. My dm was one of seven children and had a serially-unemployed father in the 1930s. My dm was hospitalised for malnutrition. So QED she couldn’t be expected to want to learn about history or acquire cultural knowledge?

If you take this argument to its logical extent we would still all be communicating in grunts because it would be too much effort to learn anything.

It there is plain stupid. You only need to read trip advisor reviews. One place lost a mark because it was “rainy” and another I was looking at got a low rating because the staff’s English was poor - this was in Morocco,

@NeverDropYourMoonCup

Was it changed in that release?

No, but as it wasn't shown in the cinema between around 1965 and 1973 (there was a short rerelease), anybody born after that point would have only seen clip shows on Bank Holidays, which would usually do Supercaligragilisticexpialidocious or A Spoonful of Sugar, rather than the Suffragette bit, until it was released on video when they'd see it in full for the first time - if their parents owned a video player (not that common in 1983, slightly more so by the end of the decade when it was re-rereleased) and were prepared to pay the very high cost of a Disney Video (it was £4.99 for most albums at that point, but Disney videos were around the £19.99 mark and CDs were about £14.99).

As such, people born between about 1966 and 1986 were unlikely to have seen all of Mary Poppins, never mind identify the political references in one minor segment. Leaving it to school to cover.

I'm sure I saw it at the cinema as a child in the 70s.

Wasn't the suffragette movement taught in history.

I remember it being a big storyline in Upstairs Downstairs with Rose being involved in the 70s

Howard's End around that time and Tracey Chevaliers book about Cemeteries.

A level history course about 1900s politics - suffragette movement and dds GCSE history course - suffragette movement

@Soubriquet I was at school in the late 90s and studied women's suffrage throughout secondary school - it was a topic in year 7 English, years 7 and 9 history and both at GCSE and A Level. History departments get some choice in the topics they teach, the same way that English departments get to choose which books will be studied.

There's probably a happy medium. It's fair to say I bloody despised the Pankhursts by the end of secondary!

[quote Winkywonkydonkey]@TurquoiseLemur well it's a Russell group so it's not like they are unfiltered in terms of educational attainment.[/quote]
Oh sure I wasn't trying to cast aspersions on your own institution! I know this is a problem generally.

I was reading maybe a couple of years ago an article by a professor of German (my own area) at Oxford and he was saying that his freshers usually arrive with 3 or 4 As or A*s but that they need most of the first year to do remedial work on grammar. That they struggle to read and comprehend fairly simple short stories in the language. He didn't talk about gaps in their cultural knowledge but I imagine they had that too.

It seems widespread.

@woodhill Yes, that would be the 1973 rerelease I mentioned. Technically before my time in that I was born in 1973, so wouldn't see it other than short clips on TV until it was issued on video (and I'd got a job to be able to buy Disney videos - and a child that would be interested in Disney videos) until the mid 90s.

Was also too young to be up watching Upstairs Downstairs (or comprehending what it all meant), as that ended in 1975. Might have been mentioned in some other programmes later on, such as When the Boat Comes In or The Sullivans if I wasn't in school, but again, I was very young, so they would mostly have gone over my head, assuming the other subject matter was even suitable for me to watch.

On your other point (school history) - yes, hence the comment 'Leaving it to school to cover'.

@woodhill

Howard's End around that time and Tracey Chevaliers book about Cemeteries.

A level history course about 1900s politics - suffragette movement and dds GCSE history course - suffragette movement

Didn't know Tracey C had a book out on cemeteries, must look! I enjoyed the unicorn tapestry novel and her Remarkable Creatures based on the life of Mary Anning.

I’m struggling to find the link between the Sufragettes and people using fabulosa products, you lost me there really.

Yeh, I was generalising about how I knew about the movement 😊

TC - Fallen Angels, Highgate Cemetery features

but as it wasn't shown in the cinema between around 1965 and 1973 (there was a short rerelease), anybody born after that point would have only seen clip shows on Bank Holidays, which would usually do Supercaligragilisticexpialidocious or A Spoonful of Sugar, rather than the Suffragette bit, until it was released on video when they'd see it in full for the first time

Why have you omitted to mention that films also get shown on TV? I was born after 1973 and saw Mary Poppins (full film) on TV as a child during the 80s. As did many others, I'm sure.

In fact, all of the children's films that I watched in the 80s were on TV rather than video, as we only got a video right at the end of the 80s (possibly 90s).

@PseudoBadger

Mr Google says suffragans are bishops. I am confused. And my ability to admit that means I can't be stupid.

 I googled this too and got the same answer.

I wonder if @0None0 has muddled up Suffregand and Suffragist??

I think lots of people try to feel clever by knowing something that others don't but at the end of the day we're all "stupid" in some areas and "clever" in others. It's not a competition.

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

They locked the children in. Apparently it didn't occur to them that either child might need to come into the house during the night to use the loo.

Fucking hell. What were the kids meant to do in case of a fire?

Campervans usually contain gas tanks, and I am always very aware that we need to be able to get out in case of fire. How can someone own a camper and not be aware of this?

Well, quite. I'm not a perfect parent (who is?) but this shocked me.

People often assume that this kind of daft behaviour is confined to folk wit a low IQ and low educational attainment but, if anything, I've come across it more in people who, on paper, are well educated and have had many advantages. The complacency of the privileged, perhaps?

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

but as it wasn't shown in the cinema between around 1965 and 1973 (there was a short rerelease), anybody born after that point would have only seen clip shows on Bank Holidays, which would usually do Supercaligragilisticexpialidocious or A Spoonful of Sugar, rather than the Suffragette bit, until it was released on video when they'd see it in full for the first time

Why have you omitted to mention that films also get shown on TV? I was born after 1973 and saw Mary Poppins (full film) on TV as a child during the 80s. As did many others, I'm sure.

In fact, all of the children's films that I watched in the 80s were on TV rather than video, as we only got a video right at the end of the 80s (possibly 90s).

I do apologise - I've looked on the BBC listings records and apparently it was shown on Christmas Day 1984 as their big ticket movie (as in, it was the first time ever shown) and then New Year's Day 1987.

That's still a fairly significant gap for anybody not old enough to have seen it in 1965 or 1983.

1973, even.

No it's not insulting, offensive (or actually from a place of ignorance!) to suggest that when you are pretty much fighting every day for your next mouthful, dealing with debt/bailiffs/court summons/rent arrears etc then guess what - you don't give much attention to your cultural education.

When you are the third generation living like that it gets ingrained in your family culture. Then generational knowledge is about knowing your rights when the bailiff knocks, how to feed the kids for a fiver over the weekend and where to get help in the neighbourhood or family. It's not about women's rights 150 odd years ago.

@Diverseopinions

Marshmallow Area

As I said above : a 'campaign of nationwide bombing and arson campsigns' is what is cited on wiki, re the Suffragettes. And 'smashing windows'.

I think franchise was under review in other countries and peaceful methods, as advocated by the other suffragists, would have been sufficient to bring about reform.

Campaigners for the vote for women had already tried peaceful methods and felt that they were getting nowhere. Many men in power laughed like drains at the very suggestion, as did most of the media. It was often stated by opponents that giving women the vote would damage women's reproductive functions and/or imperil their mental health!

The First World War changed everything., For the first time, women were in all sorts of jobs (bus conductor, munitions worker) and that changed the perception of what they COULD do,.

I'm uneasy about some of the methods employed but the suffragists were up against it, very much so.

Also, if you're even slightly concerned about general levels of knowledge and education then please support your library and don't vote for any politician who thinks it's ok to close them.

Libraries were a lifeline to me when I was in that position and gave me the means to change my circumstances.

@madroid

No it's not insulting, offensive (or actually from a place of ignorance!) to suggest that when you are pretty much fighting every day for your next mouthful, dealing with debt/bailiffs/court summons/rent arrears etc then guess what - you don't give much attention to your cultural education.

When you are the third generation living like that it gets ingrained in your family culture. Then generational knowledge is about knowing your rights when the bailiff knocks, how to feed the kids for a fiver over the weekend and where to get help in the neighbourhood or family. It's not about women's rights 150 odd years ago.

I agree. Underprivileged people have more struggles to contend with every day. . .that's the definition of underprivileged.

What's more intriguing is the lack of cultural, historical, etc awareness in people who do NOT fall into this bracket. That's very much a thing and my impression is, it's got worse.

@TurquoiseLemur what counts as important 'historical or cultural' awareness though? Things like Brexit obviously. Women's suffrage probably. But then what else?
Unless these things are taught in school or publicised (e.g. newspaper articles /social media campaigns marking the anniversary of women's suffrage) how exactly are people magically supposed to know?
It was easier in the past when the amount of media consumption etc is limited. Everyone read the same few newspapers and watched the same few TV shows. So if you'd read something you'd assume that everyone else would have too. Thus 'common knowledge'.
Nowadays it's the opposite. I know people who have a very solid understanding of how specific things work (the economy and financial systems, computer networks and security, classical music history) but who don't have a clue as to what women's suffrage is.
I'm not taking a dig but as a foreigner who is somewhat in the above category (although I do know about women's suffrage as that is a particular area of interest) - how do I know what's supposed to be common knowledge?

I hate glass milk bottles though. Since switching I've thrown out loads of sour milk. This never happened with plastic. I am now ready to be told I should be vegan anyway 😬. (Disclaimer I have vegan friends and really don't mind other people's dietary choices.)

The point I was making is that it seems incredibly stupid to put any kind of toxic cleaner onto artifical grass because, 1. It's harmful to the environment
I think that we can safely assume that anyone with artificial grass doesn't care about the environment.

@blaisealex

Another headline I've just seen: 'Tilly Whitfeld, 21, who appeared on Big Brother, attempted to make herself look sunkissed using ink and a sewing needle, but soon discovered she had stabbed lead into her skin'

She apparently saw a new beauty hack on TikTok that created faux freckles. She tried it herself and bought brown tattoo ink from Amazon. She used a needle to poke 'freckles' onto her face with the ink. But the ink was full of lead! She was temporarily blinded and left scarred. I'm sorry she was hurt but honestly! What a stupid thing to do.

Tiktok videos are incredibly harmful to young people. Plenty of children and teens have been causing all sorts of harm to their bodies after watching videos on there.

I think we all have a tendency to live in our own little bubbles .Its a mindset of "I love Zoflora, disinfectant ,plastic straws whatever .You only see yourself using it and can sort of block out all the downsides!. As far as not knowing who the Suffragettes were ,its hard to see how this can happen ,but unless you are studying that portion of history then you wont necessarily know about it .As time passes less will be known about events like this of around a century ago .My parents and DGM often told me of these events ,and issues of the day (70s/80s) as well .Lots of people seem to have tunnel vision! Did seem odd that there were people unable to erect a Deckchair! (Watched a show where people really struggled) Truthfully!