It is just me.....or are people REALLY getting stupider? (generations, illegal)

[Wingfoot]

Originally Posted by jertheber

It seems to be the norm in our country that the average transaction on any level has gotten to be an exasperating ordeal. What the OP is describing is a much too common problem, I dread having to deal with billing errors, bank transactions, auto service, et al, the potential for an explosive blood pressure level is always there.

I also see this complaint from the other side of those counters, badly trained personel are not to be blamed for their incompetence. As for the surly employees I have no mercy, they should always be held responsible to the task, and failing that, we all know how to complain up the ladder, but most complaining is seen as a minor bother to most business'.

Stupider? I can't really respond to these observations in any other way but to realize the sadness that comes with them. We are certainly not the country we were fifty years ago, and that's not saying much given what we know about the mindset of American's in the forties and fifties. Business used to hire the most able people, pay decent wages, and, moreover, provide job security in exchange for good work. Yes as a whole business seemed to take their customers much more seriously in the past, but, it is the management that ultimately runs the enterprise, hires the help, and oversees the day to day transactional part of their business. To say that the failure is really at the leadership level is more to the point, blame them that seek those manager positions only to discover their level of competence has been exceeded.

How true, ex. post .American workers are Ok, american management worlds worst.

A concise one is the ah-ha ! moment I had about a decade ago on the ride in
from Newark from a flight coming from Berlin.

" This country is simply just in bad taste".

[Towhee]

Your experience sounds a great deal like what happens here, in NW Ark. An employee in Wal Mart's electronic department told me that our antenna would damage our TV !!!! I am almost 77 and have cogitive problems....but I am smarter than that! Of course he was trying to sell me a gadget to hook on to my TV. I am thinking he may have been a displaced car salesman???? And speaking of car salesmen........
BTW, I totally agree that people are getting 'stupider', . What I think it is, their minds have been affected in the same manner people's speach was at the Tower of Babel. ( Old Testament)
On Face Book most of the youth can only quote song lyrics.They seem to have no mind of their own.

[Thaskateguy]

I think I just lost about three brain cells reading through all this stuff.

[LinaJo76]

You're not the only one who think this, 20yearsinBranson. I feel the same way too.

I too believe that this country is producing more stupider people. You notice on T.V., even the shows are idiotic and stupid to even watch! It seems like that when I used to go dating and such. It seems all the men (particularly in the town I live in right now) are really dumb, idiots. I believe, as it seems to me, had never went to school a day in their life or something! Sheesh!! Some people, particularly in this town, can't read or hardly write either (can't even spell the simplest of words!). It's scary to date anymore or anything. I'm glad I found one of the last intelligent ones.

[yellfire]

I think it's due to a combination of things.... kids aren't challenged like they used to be. Everybody gets a trophy. Teachers are overworked and underpaid and pressured to push through kids that can't read.

I saw a patient the other day in the ER. No lie, chief complaint was "I think I might be getting a rash." No visible rash, bump, redness, etc. Does it itch? No. Hurt? No. What makes you think you might be getting a rash? "I don't know, I just feel like I might get a rash in a couple of days, can you give me something for it now?"

Yes. Many things I can give you but none that will help you. Only things that will help the rest of us.

[JBMallory]

I believe it's more of a case of people becoming "more ignorant" rather than stupider or more stupid (i believe this is one case where it is correct either way).

Anyways, people are not only lazy, ignorant and dumb, they are too stupid to see all of this... lol

[ChrisC]

//RANT ON

Most of the responders here are confused. We are throwing around the word ‘stupid’ when most of us mean 'ignorant,' which is quite ignorant of us.

I think the best definition for ‘stupid’ with respect to this discussion (out of Merriam-Webster) is this: lacking intelligence or reason.

Is that REALLY how you people feel about all these ‘dullards’ orbiting around your noon-day-sun brilliance?

Here is a definition for ‘ignorant’: destitute of knowledge.

Okay, as you can see there is a bit of overlap, but I think the typical implication of each word is quite distinct, and I think some of you need to come down from your lofty perches.

Someone who does not speak well is not necessarily stupid. Someone who cannot spell is not necessarily stupid. Someone you can’t play chess is not necessarily stupid. Someone who can’t go out in the wild and survive from the land is not necessarily stupid. Someone who can’t bake bread from scratch is not necessarily stupid. How do YOU define stupid? I teach math, and I would bet the farm that most of you are ‘stupid’ as compared to the Holy Math Gods (tm) that reside in the university Ivory Towers (tm). Are you all up on your Gauss-Bonnet Theorem? Are you cool with abstract groups, rings, and fields? How about the Gauss Markov Theorem?

Yeah, not so much for most of you, right? You see, we all have our tiny one-dimensional little world where we are the biggest fish in the pond. And all the other fish are ‘stupid.’ I think we need to be careful when throwing around the word ‘stupid’ when we really mean that someone lacks knowledge in whatever we are discussing. They are not stupid (in general), they are ignorant.

I see hundreds of students every year. Not a one of them that I have taught is stupid (I teach remedial college algebra most of the time). They simply lack knowledge. And it may take some of them longer than others to learn to factor polynomials, do logarithms, or whatever, but they all do get it if they sit their butt down and practice. They come to me as ignorant and they leave with the required knowledge (or return to give it another try). They are NEVER stupid! Stupid means they lack the horsepower to even understand the concept. Ignorant means they simply don’t have the knowledge.

Using myself as an example: I couldn’t say s**t if I had a mouthful. I’m a rather poor speaker. I don’t speak eloquently. I don’t have a big spoken vocabulary. I often fumble for the right words as I speak. But I guarantee you that I am not stupid. We all have different strengths and weaknesses. Very few people are truly stupid and unable to reason or form basic logical thought. They simply have not been exposed to the material and have not had a chance to absorb or practice it. My strengths are writing, painting/art, music performance/theory, mathematical crap, blah blah... however, if you find the right topic, I guarantee you that you would call me stupid. But, I’m not stupid. I am simply ignorant of that topic. Give me some time with it and I’ll be no more ignorant than you are.

Sorry for the rant, but this topic has always infuriated me to tears. Stupid people lack the ability to comprehend; ignorant people haven’t put in the time required to comprehend or haven’t been exposed to the material, thus haven't the knowledge in their heads.

//RANT OFF

[El Dakar]

.

Finally, after a very long pause she asks me for my ACCOUNT NUMBER. Yikes, I should have written it down, but I didn't.

You should have written it down but you didn't. If you would have written down the account number you would have been in and out of the electric company in under 5 minutes. But because you forgot to do that you had to deal with the supposed incompetence of customer service. If I was in your situation that would have been the first bit of info I brought along with me. Poor planning on your part. Knowing that most costumer service types are like this should have prompted you to bring along the account number. Your failure to bring aforementioned account number shows a lack of planning, at least in a pragmatic way, and places you in the same category as the people who you are railing against. Your post does not pass muster.

[MOD CUT]

[Thomas R.]

Originally Posted by Wingfoot

Yes, beyond doubt !
Avg. american today has half the vocabulary of 1960.

But despite the rightists who scurry out on every post like this, it has little to do with government and everything to do with TV, rock/movie star culture, materialism and all around bad taste
of american culture.

Maybe "rightists" don't complain about those things, but conservatives certainly do. I think there should be more classes teaching Greek and Latin root words in school. Particularly the poorer schools. I want kids on the meanest streets of Chicago to quote Ovid during drug deals. (Actually I'm not really kidding, just that last sentence and even that could be err interesting)

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