whisky_galore wrote: » Tbf I'd be pretty ropey on many of the -stans, the small countries east of say Poland, much of Africa esp the smaller ones, and South America. A fair whack of countries that were around in school are called something else now!
pgj2015 wrote: » yes but im talking about people who cant find the likes of scotland or portugal on a map, they exist, i have met them.
whisky_galore wrote: » You did say "any country", not Europe specifically.
completedit wrote: » The weird thing I find is those people who seem to know every twist and turn to any development or happening. They seem to be experts on the housing crisis, clerical abuse, US elections, the conflict in Armenia, global warming, pandemics, the pros and cons of vaccinations, the dangers of big pharma, the threat of big tech, water charges. You name it they will have some sort of view.
Graces7 wrote: » I have no radio, TV or newspapers. I read the news here maybe 2-3 times a day. It is enough. More than enough. .
DeanAustin wrote: » Went out with a girl, who is probably above average intelligence and who has done very well in life, who thought Africa was a country and that Nigeria was a city in it. I was stunned. She wasn't stupid by any stretch of the imagination, just ignorant. There are lots like her.
Rodney Bathgate wrote: » Rarely their own opinions though.
eviltwin wrote: » Some of the people in college with me have no knowledge of politics and current affairs but what’s worse is they are almost proud of the fact.
completedit wrote: » Thing is you can be perfectly employable/functional without having a care in such things. Our society doesn't value this stuff anymore. In a world of specialization, why bother with stuff that is fairly inconsequential? There's have only so much bandwidth you can allocate to certain things and CA involves far too much brainpower imo.
eviltwin wrote: » How do you get to your mid twenties without registering to vote?
pgj2015 wrote: » I remember a quiz on the radio last year, some woman was asked the capital of France and she answered Italy. :pac:
murpho999 wrote: » Stupid alright especially when we all know the answer is 'F'.
Hyperbollix wrote: » The problem with being clueless to current affairs/politics etc is you may not make informed decisions when voting, or you may not vote at all because you don't care about any of that stuff. We only have to look at the Trump and Brexit phenomenon to see how badly a country can go wrong, with potentially devastating consequences, when large swatches of the electorate are oblivious to reality. An informed individual who shows a small bit of interest in whats happening in the world wouldn't think Trump is actually going to make anything great again, and in Britain, only the terminally gullible and misled would believe Boris was going to get Brexit done.
GarIT wrote: » Voting is virtually pointless, the only impactful thing you can do is convince others how to vote. I also doing get all the people encouraging others to vote. Unless you can be sure the group you are talking to mostly think the same as you then you should be encouraging as many people as possible not to vote.
paddythere wrote: » I know loads of people like this. What's going on in the world just doesn't interest them. More into netflix, online shopping, reality tv.
paleoperson wrote: » Nice to see some of the understanding replies here. I do wonder sometimes when I look at or read the news - what the hell is the point?! I mean, there is almost nothing going on that's going to be of benefit for me to know, at least not that I couldn't know elsewhere. Irish politics in particular I only feel a sort of obligation to be familiar with it. I'm not saying there is no point, I'm just raising the possibility. What if you were like that Playstation girl who didn't know where Phibsborough was (which I don't btw, but I'm not from Dublin). What if you read the paper for two weeks every year? You'd see about Trump, you'd see about Covid, and so on.
Justin Credible Darts wrote: » and I bet a lot happier than those crying about global warning, evil trump, the price of petrol, gay rights etc
paddythere wrote: » BTW, keep up the blog, I get a good laugh every week reading it.
Justin Credible Darts wrote: » So many of the terms I have made up or made popular are used on other forums by people who claim they would never read it. so always good to hear from people who admit to reading it
bb1234567 wrote: » Yeh it's gas isn't it, more juicy issues there like racial tension for them to get behind and act like it's personally affecting them Anyway I think she was having you on OP. A woman in her 30's who's never even heard of netflix? Is she a mormon or Amish or something? Taking the piss outta ya
Deleted User wrote: » I feign complete disinterest apart from with a couple of people whose opinions I'm interested in. The main person I would ever discuss politics with is a Brexit-voter so that's not even me looking for an echo chamber either. I basically only care to talk to people who form their own opinions. OP, you brought up a US-China trade war with a women who clearly has no interest in politics. That screams autism to be honest. That is a sub-topic you move onto; you don't just bring it up.. It's a conversation about complex tariffs. Then you moved onto an election in another country involving a man most people hate the sight of and would rather ignore. The actual electoral process itself means nothing to Irish people. Then you brought up Covid-19, a depressing topic where keeping up to date on hospital figures changes nothing about one's life. And when she started talking about something she liked, you had to bring up a modern form of media mostly used by young people, instead of just talking about TV with her for a while. It's all about you and what you want to talk about. Honestly, it just sounds like you're extremely bad at conversation and cannot talk to someone unless it is current events. That's around the same level of conversation as people who can only talk about football. Instead of repeatedly pushing current affairs on someone who either doesn't care or doesn't care to talk about them with you, find out what actual things she's into. It's the most unnatural thing in the world for people to know what's happening outside of their immediate tribe, so don't be surprised when people, especially with the shltshow that is the media nowadays, to go back to basics like to their immediate surroundings and storytelling ie. TV shows and books. We're not meant to know about scandals across oceans, and it's clear the vast majority of people who get into this stuff are negatively impacted by it. We're not made for this level of information you bemoan she doesn't have, and we never will be. I know plenty like her and they're all the happier for it.
Justin Credible Darts wrote: » I am very much the same in that whilst I have a tv, it is only on when its something we have planned on watching. We have no kids so its not like it would be on otherwise. I enjoy not concerning myself with global happenings unless it is something i could do something about. I am more concerned about my wife, my family, my dog and friends, than I care about the economy, god, trump or global warming. Those things will still be debated about long after I am gone and forgotten
