Are people getting stupider?*

Tha Gopher

*: and before its pointed out, I say stupider, just like we should all say avoision instead of evasion

Anyway, to the point. Do you think that, on a whole, this country is getting less intelligent? I think it really hit me over the last few days, what with the stories of the guy who died in Ibiza jumping between apartment balconys, and the spastic who should actually have been point blank refused medical treatment after being attacked by the tiger in Dublin Zoo. I honestly think that for some reason, only a few years ago people had more intelligence. I dunno why, but, for example, people seem to walk around in a daze these days. Im in town, or in a shopping centre, and every fcuking person infront of me is walking at 0.21 mph, completely ignorant of anyone wanting to pass them. It seems to happen more and more, I dont recall it being a problem even only a few years ago. All of a sudden the country has turned into a pile of sleepwalkers. You even see the decline of the Irish IQ here on boards, with people taking part in debates primarily regarding drugs/race/traveller/immigration/religion issues and embarrasing themselves. Ive read these boards for maybe 3/4 years now, hell even longer, and 2006 has without doubt been the silliest season yet. Even our media seems to be dumbing down.The Independent aint the paper it once was, and tbh Id sooner trust some of the tabloids before it.

And what of our colleges? The standard of college admissions first hit home to me when I was 17, sitting in a class back in secondary attempting to choke back the laughter and ensuing tears from hearing a religion teacher in her late 20s tell us not to get too worried about the Leaving Cert (as if you should, did feck all and relatively walked it), as there was a case a few years ago where a pupil in Kerry or roundabouts killed himself years back in the 80s by sticking sharpened pencils up his nose and prodding himself to death during the exam session, but that he couldnt be removed whilst doign this as it was against the rules of the time
Now, Id had reservations about this teacher before. After all, she was also an English teacher despite the fact she mad minor reading difficulties (until her I hadnt heard people mumble or plain skip large words when reading aloud to the class for many many years). But to think that there are young people in the teaching profession who believe
a- That a young lad killed himself by prodding pencils up his nose during an exam and
b- That exam regulations stipulated that in no circumstance, be it fire, building collapse, student ill health, student misbehaviour, student suicide attempts yadda yadda could a student be removed from the exam hall before the time was up.

I suppose Bebo is another indicator which made me realise how stupid we have become. One reason I never took much interest in the feckin thing was all the forwarded "send this to 20 people and you will have good luck. If this isnt sent within 10 minutes you will end up like...." and then proceeded with a list of about a half dozen people from various parts of the world who apparently died gruesome deaths, all of which would end along the lines of "police investigating the case found this message on her email account. Sarahs family say she was not a superstitious person, and she had not bothered forwarding the message to her friends". Or emailed warnings "My friend picked up a wallet belonging to an Arab guy on O`Connell Street the other day. He was very greatful, and he told her that as a sign of gratitude, all he could tell her was to make sure she and her loved ones and friends avoid Dublin Arport this Friday, something is going to happen!!!!!"

Aye, another feckin bomb scare maybe. It doesnt seem to dawn on the retarded that cold hearted Arab terrorists do not jeopordise years of meticilous planning as a thank you for getting their wallet back.

We are all prone to a bit of stupidity or bad decision making once in a while. Hell, I walked away from the ATM but forgot to take my cash the other day! (luckily some woman shouted me back). But honestly, it seems that retardation has just reached a level that is.....well........serious!

Discuss.

mikemac

Tha Gopher wrote:

a- That a young lad killed himself by prodding pencils up his nose during an exam

I never heard this-have you a link?

Gone West

its not the truth

the Shades

I don't say avoision and it should still be more stupid. But at least you didn't say more stupider, now that's a sure sign of the Apocalypse!

aidan_walsh

Perhaps these are related?

tony 2 tone

micmclo wrote:

I never heard this-have you a link?

:eek:

Sarky

omg i tink its discrasefull u say ppl r gettn stupidr!!!!!*

i like 2 tink im quiet [strike]intelligant[/strike] [strike]intalectuel[/strike] smart, i dont like yr post and it's suggestions!!!!!



*I'm unsure as to how many exclamations I should actually use to appear as a moron, so I decided to settle for 5. Conservative? Possibly.

mikemac

I didn't read the OP's thread properly

I withdraw my post

GAAman

Tha Gopher wrote:

*: back in the 80s by sticking sharpened pencils up his nose and prodding himself to death

when i was in school my Irish teacher told us this actually happened while he was doin his leavin cert. And the way he told it was the guy had put two sharp pencils up his nostrils and slammed the fcuk face down on the desk. Now this teacher was bang on and known for a strict no bull**** policy and when he told us he got that far away look in his eyes so i reckon he was tellin the truth

Tha Gopher

micmclo wrote:

I never heard this-have you a link?

GAAman wrote:

when i was in school my Irish teacher told us this actually happened while he was doin his leavin cert. And the way he told it was the guy had put two sharp pencils up his nostrils and slammed the fcuk face down on the desk. Now this teacher was bang on and known for a strict no bull**** policy and when he told us he got that far away look in his eyes so i reckon he was tellin the truth

My point is proven......

Well, maybe its possible he slam dunked himself, but the slow suicide story we were told was utter cock. Even at that, I dont care how bang on your teacher was, soundness doesnt necessarily mean intelligence. If anyone can show me a newspaper article in relation to this Ill eat my own head (I know theres a certain member here who I usually deride for constantly demanding media proof for stories he knows full well are probably true, but this is completely different )

Aidan_Walsh, no Im not really talking about that. Rumours about things that are quite possibly going to happen is one thing. Cover ups of suicides during exams and Arab plots against Dublin airport that not one newspaper cares to mention but that everyone knows due to spas emailing/beboing/posting the rumour on boards are quite another.

Thats another, ATM security. Now, call me harsh, but I think that if CCTV footage can prove that you didnt even take the most minor fraud prevention risk (giving the ATM panelling a good tug to see if its loose, then covering the keyboard with your hand as you enter your PIN,) that you shouldnt be entitled to a penny compo if the account is cleaned out because of a hidden camera. I mean, jesus h christ, people will avoid the airport based on an email but wont take precautions against something theyve read about in the paper 500 times? I swear I can count on one hand the amount of people infront of me in ATM queues who take basic security measures like covering the keypad. If people are that stupid I say good luck to the fraudsters.

I despair.

Gone West

....
are you all retarded?
This is a well known urban legend...

http://www.snopes.com/college/exam/pencils.asp
Your teacher was talking out of his arsé

formatman

there was an article about the stupidity of society somewhere about a year ago

The jist of it was that the blank response of people is down to low level radiation poisioning from Electromagnetic exposure every day mobile phones and electrical equipment

mikemac

Tha Gopher wrote:

My point is proven......

I refer you to post #8,

emeraldstar

Tha Gopher wrote:

I think it really hit me over the last few days, what with the stories of the guy who died in Ibiza jumping between apartment balconys, and the spastic who should actually have been point blank refused medical treatment after being attacked by the tiger in Dublin Zoo. I honestly think that for some reason, only a few years ago people had more intelligence.

But to be honest I'd say alcohol was the main factor here (that will render anyone stupid!!). It cannot be said with certainty that these were "stupid" people unless you know them.

ThrownAway

Blame the government I tell ya they're putting something in our water to make us dumber

mickd

QED another thread "Things to do in Dublin when you are Drunk" Why??

The_Minister

I blame tv. It has killed my mind.

RE: The colleges thing. I know a certain 3rd year medical student (she's on boards and so will remain nameless) who when trying to convince her friend to stay, offered to get the friend the day off work by diagnosing her with asphyxia.
I have no medical training but I know that is wrong.

dbnavan

Tha Gopher wrote:

*:
and the spastic who should actually have been point blank refused medical treatment after being attacked by the tiger in Dublin Zoo.

I stopped at this line as I would expect someone who wishes to discuss the intelligence or lack thereof of other people, to actually have intelligence themselves, Spastic relates to muscular illness and not one that effects the brain, so unless he had a muscular seizure that made him stick is arm out and towards the tiger, your use of intelligent English is not apparent

Calibos

Used to think University students/graduates were intelligent. Then realised they may be good at memorising, rote learning preparing for exams etc but that is no indication of intelligence. Tiger girl being a case in point. Psychology University Student!!

I remember my brother showing me a UCD student paper. Over the course of a few issues a female student of medicine was arguing for the creationist view that the Earth was only 6000 years old. She could not grasp the arguements/explanations of opposing debaters from the biology faculty, Geology faculty, Physics faculty etc etc. To clarify, this wasn't a debating feature where this 'Intelligent' Med student happened to have to debate the obviously false side of the debate. This was the Letters page!

I am not a genius (an underachiever maybe! ) but I have realised that I am above average intelligence. I used to think I was just average or even slightly below average, but when I was younger I only had my own peergroup, fellow classmembers to compare myself to. Of course I would be put in a class and hang around with people who shared my intellince level. Compared to those groups, I was average.

It was only when I went out into the real world and began to work, that I realised how thick the average person actually is.

So its not that people are getting 'stupider', its that you are only realising now how stupid the average person has always been.

Nehpets

dbnavan wrote:

I stopped at this line as I would expect someone who wishes to discuss the intelligence or lack thereof of other people, to actually have intelligence themselves, Spastic relates to muscular illness and not one that effects the brain, so unless he had a muscular seizure that made him stick is arm out and towards the tiger, your use of intelligent English is not apparent

Ha. Brilliant

Dampsquid

Are people getting stupider?*

Well if the threads on boards are anything to go by, then I'd say YES!!!

slu1exm

As my Dad says "Half of all people are of less than average intelligence"