Aibu to worry about general public intelligence

[Collectivethoughts]

Aibu to be worried about the intelligence of the general public?
I know intelligence is generally a bell curve with most people falling in the middle with minoritys falling either side.
Im in no way saying im extremely intelligent because im not but I would say i use critical thinking.
For example hearing other people in the supermarket over the weeks. People swearing at each other, stopping dead in the centre of an aisle so no one can get through and actually being oblivious to themselves blocking others. Some of the conversations I hear.
Then in my job, having to tell people how to parent when thats not really my job. Parents actually being clueless on what to do I.e seeking further help.
Recent political things. Some people think if they just shout loud it means they're correct without any critical thinking and weighing up sides, policies and mandates.
Im finding the general public harder and harder to be a part of and overly frustrating to be apart of as in finding most dont want to engage with any critical thinking.
Aibu?

I think the difficulty is that the way your post is written suggests a more limited intellect than you're setting yourself up to have. The ideas are a bit repetitive and don't add up to the kind of cogent argument that I'd like to see, personally, being a fan of critical thinking.

However I do empathise with frustration with others. There are different sorts of frustration though - people getting in the way in the supermarket isn't the same as people espousing neofascism online for example. I tend to find when I am angry with all of humanity in one box, it's more about me.

It's pretty graceless to pick up on things like spelling and vocabulary so I won't, because I don't know you and how you came to write the way you do. But I suspect more pedantic folk than I will jump on you. Eeek.

People have always been daft. It's just that now we have social media, people can display just how thick they are. Don't get me wrong, I'm not the Brain of Britain but when you have a device in your hand that allows you to look up anything you want, there's really no excuse for spreading misinformation.

Well I would say that im writing this in the middle of the night in bed and this is what sprung to mind. I dont really have the time right now to sit critically and list out everything. Its a passing thought. Also your post comes across as pedantic and almost like youre better. Yes my spelling and punctuation is not perfect but I cant be bothered to correct it right now.

I’m not sure anyone has a scintillating conversation in the supermarket! Surely it’s ’do we need any milk’ rather than ‘what is your take on the moral ambiguity of buying this chicken’?

Living in a rural area, I really get the supermarket thing.We have couples who shop on Sundays and who meet up with other couples.Lengthy catch ups ensue and they block large areas of shelving, sometimes whole aisles.

You’ve listed a number of things that irritate or disappoint you @Collectivethoughtsand fair enough, but I’m not sure that your limited sample size says much about the intelligence of the general public.

i live and work in the middle of Oxford so there is usually a good chance that the person stopping dead in the centre of the supermarket aisle or swearing at their partner or ranting about their political position or doing an apparently shite job of parenting is also a bright student or a member of university staff. I think I’ve probably seen all of those things and been guilty of them myself. I don’t know what that says about my grey matter and ability to think critically?

Tua descriptio argumenti exemplum eius est, as they probably once said in downtown Rome.

I do wonder about people who believe the poisonous garbage that spews lies and division.
Daily Mail
Farage ..man of the people🤣🤣
Tommy robinson..coke snorting racist git.
X.
Anyone thinking the above value ordinary people are very much mistaken.They only value their own kind fellow millionaires.
They get others to do the dirty work ,it's been a tactic of the extreme far right for decades.

Maybe the people you’re dissing can’t be arsed either.

I think today's society is doomed, but on the brightside the meercats appear to be pretty adept (based on their recent advertising campaigns) so why not let them have a go?

I don’t really think you need intelligence to thrive in society though. If you have a decent family and decent confidence, generally you’re going to be fine.

But even if intelligence is useful, you surely pick and choose when to apply it. It wouldn’t cross my mind to judge the intelligence of society based on 1 supermarket outing. It’s hardly a way to showcase intelligence

I apologise profusely for not using every last bit of my intelligence when wandering around a supermarket. You are right. I should be 100% focused at all times.

Well yes, but what are your thoughts on the intelligence of the general public?

It's pretty graceless to pick up on things like spelling and vocabulary so I won't, because I don't know you and how you came to write the way you do. But I suspect more pedantic folk than I will jump on you. Eeek.

But yet, you did.

They’re probably in the Epstein files.

What a spectacularly disingenuous last paragraph 😄

I would like to think most have a degree of common sense but other than that it's not something I ponder over.
As for the supermarket scenario some are a pita arse and others are not.

The average national reading age is 9-11 years old.

That can be down to how kids were treated in the education system.
I'm old enough to remember the kids that struggled with reading were written off as slow/thick.
I myself was told by a teacher I was thick regarding arithmetic,algebra so I stopped trying and resigned myself that I was in fact stupid.
Circa 70s,early 80s.

That tells you how bad the situation really is.

Its also the reason why propaganda and short slogans in politics work.

Well said, that is exactly what I was thinking. I don’t think a failure of intelligence is the issue but I am shocked at the lack of self-awareness I see everyday in people like the OP.

Quite. Immediately following a critique of the OP’s writing skills, too…

When even an experienced chief constable is fooled into giving false information to parliament, because a 3rd rate AI product invented a football match and presented it as fact, I think the general public can be forgiven for believing their browser.
That is what makes AI so very dangerous.

More than 50% of the UK's population do not reach A'level standard. They are not taught critical thinking. One in 6 UK adults is functionally illiterate.

I worked with the emergency services 20 years ago and some of it was painful. The levels of ignorance were initially astonishing and I wish more people understood what our public services have to cope with.

Imagine dealing with a medical emergency in a child when the parents believe in witchcraft or were more worried about their dog being left at home alone. (two I came across).

But no, yanbu to get frustrated.

I think people like to be on the winning side so will pick who to vote for and their opinion on something because they think that's what's popular and will make them "win".
Depressing but all those vote on the app/website type programmes and social media have driven things this way.

…more pedantic folk than me 😉