Do you know anyone that is oblivious to the world affairs/domestic affairs outside of

27-10-2020 10:30am

Jim Root wrote: »

The framing of the op has a smug self righteous whiff to it. Leave the woman be, there could be all of sorts of things going on in her life to explain a perceived lack of interest in current affairs or Netflix.

I didn't get that from the OP. Sounded more like a genuine curiosity to me. That woman is probably over on the Fair City thread saying how she was speaking to someone who had no idea Tommy's Leeks are going down a treat with the Hotpots customers.

Badly Drunk Boy · 27-10-2020 10:43am

pgj2015 wrote: »

what gets me is people who couldnt point out any country on a map or that dont know common knowledge things we all learned in school. like did they never listen or what?

I remember watching an episode of Come Dine With Me where one of the contestants was from Serbia. She said that when she tells people where she's from, they often think that she's from a very cold part of Russia. (Siberia, obviously). I was thinking "People wouldn't really think that, would they?" but when she told her fellow contestants, at least two of them thought she was from Russia. :rolleyes:

Hyperbollix · 27-10-2020 1:19pm

paleoperson wrote: »

Why are you trying to belittle the beliefs of Brexiteers and Trump supporters and acting like we all agree with you as fact that someone who was informed wouldn't vote for them? Plenty of highly informed, educated and intelligent people voted for them, a lot of the demographic were working class people because it helped them - or was projected to help them - a lot more economically.

Trumpism and Brexit are the same thing, tailored for their respective audiences, namely a nationalistic nostalgia trip designed to get the majority to vote against it's own interest for the benefit of a small minority.

I'm not for a second pretending that both these electorates don't have very real problems to be angry about, my point is that neither Donald Trump or Britain leaving the EU, will do anything to solve their problems, in fact they will compound them. Just because a lot of people fall for the charms of a snake oil salesmen, doesnt suddenly give the snake oil real medicinal properties. It just proves that people can be easily manipulated, especially in the age of social media.

As for highly informed, educated people voting for Trump and Brexit. Of course, there is always going to be a section of society which is in the priviledged position of being fully insulated from whatever shocks that society is subjected to, and often those same people are in a position to profit from those shocks taking place. Is it then ok to drive your country and the majority of its citizens off a cliff because a tiny minority are cheering it on?

paleoperson wrote: »

Who shows a small bit of interest in what's happening in the world - so are you saying all those MAGA hat wearers don't care what's happening in the world? I mean you have to make sense, you can't just make things up as you fancy.

Yes, I would absolute say that these MAGA people don't give two shíts whats happening in the world. Most of them probably couldn't pick out Germany on a map or many other places for that matter, probably some in the US itself.
Let's not cod ourselves. Trumpism is nothing more than Wrestlemania dressed up as politics. Trump rallys are like Superbowls. It's an event to go to and scream your lungs out and laugh at the main attraction, a mentally deranged sociopath who has fluked his way into the highest office in the land by virtue of a quirk of a flawed electoral system, and plenty of voter suppression and cheating to boot.
We won't pretend this is an informed audience packed with conservative voters who are deeply worried about the spread of liberalism. Trumpism is just a simple "fúck you" vote, the very definition of cutting off your nose to spite your own face. 25% of the worlds death toll for covid19, in the world's richest and most scientifically advanced nation. Speaks for itself.

ShatterAlan · 27-10-2020 4:40pm

My sister hasn't a clue about what's going on in the world. Not a scooby. She's not thick just has zero interest in politics or current affairs. She wouldn't know who the Taoiseach is (she lives in the UK...so the majority of brits wouldn't know either...but still).

She probably knows that Trump is US president but wouldn't know who VP is or who the opposition is (Biden / Harris).

I wish I was like her, I'd probably be a lot happier and more successful instead of wasting my life wringing my hands about the state of the world and stressing over things that I can't change or have zero influence over other than to bitch about them.

pgj2015 · 27-10-2020 5:09pm

I met a woman one night who was with her other half, straight away she starts ranting about the Irish politicians and other issues with gay marriage (she was in favor). oh her opinion was 100% right and no one else got a look in. I was only in her company for about 10 minutes, it was awful, I felt sorry for her other half who didn't seem to be as political at all.

why get worked up over things you cant change?

Justin Credible Darts · 27-10-2020 5:26pm

igCorcaigh wrote: »

The price of petrol and gay rights, eh?

You do indeed live in a bubble.

Global warming i assume you mean.

yes, and do you know what else ?

As a man I could not give 2 fecks about abortion
or black lives matter, us politics , how much ciggies go up in the budget, brexit, whether people like their toast done on one side or two

As someone who has no kids and too old to start now, I just dont care what happens when i and my wife wont be around. In fact care very little now unless it directly impacts me.

I know some might see this as selfish, but again i dont care, what I do care are those close to me, family friends etc. That is plenty to worry about, instead of worrying about stuff I cannot control.

ShatterAlan · 27-10-2020 5:47pm

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

There's a special place in hell for those who get worked up about politics but don't actually vote.

I would beg to differ. The US political system is completely rigged. Democrats and Republicans are two cheeks of the same arse. The president isn't elected there, he's selected. The two party system is effected to give the public the illusion of choice when in fact it is corporations that pull the strings for their own aggrandizement.

What matters to the American public:

Jobs
Affordable and Universal Health Coverage
Affordable and quality education.
Responsible gun law reform
Reining in military spending
Ending never-ending illegal foreign wars for profit
Regulation of the casino capitalism of Wall Street
Tackling climate change

These things matter to the majority of Americans left, right and centre yet neither party has done a damn thing about them since Kennedy. Instead the parties deflect and distract the public with non-issues like Roe v Wade or gay marriage or fcuking gender neutral toilets or non-existant caravans of rapists coming over the border to steal your daughter's virtue and your precious lettuce-picking job to the point where the public are at each others' throats calling one another "wingnuts" or "libtards" and that suits both parties just fine.

When that sums up your voting choice then what's the point?

paddythere · 27-10-2020 6:45pm

pgj2015 wrote: »

I met a woman one night who was with her other half, straight away she starts ranting about the Irish politicians and other issues with gay marriage (she was in favor). oh her opinion was 100% right and no one else got a look in. I was only in her company for about 10 minutes, it was awful, I felt sorry for her other half who didn't seem to be as political at all.

why get worked up over things you cant change?

Because things can be changed

ShatterAlan · 27-10-2020 7:47pm

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

it took me three seconds to find out the cases were around 1000k today.

I am a quick thinker though ..i tend to be able to make sense of information quicker than others.

Maybe some people DO have to sit and read things over for hours. I don't.

A MILLION cases :pac:

ShatterAlan · 27-10-2020 10:44pm

gigantic09 wrote: »

I have a couple of teenage nieces and nephews who don't seem to have a clue about what's going on in the world outside their own teenage bubble. They seem to have very little general knowledge, political, historical etc. They wouldn't be aware of the likes of the beatles, Hitler or jfk.
We were playing charades last Xmas and I did 'the Angelus' for my turn. They looked at me like I had two heads, never heard of it.
Their gran offered them a slice of rhubarb pie and again not a clue what rhubarb was.
Nephew got a dog for birthday, and I joked when I was his age I had to walk the plank everyday as we couldn't afford a dog. Joke fell totally flat.
Sometimes I question the government's insistence on keeping schools open at all costs if this is what the result is &#55357;&#56834;.

Your nieces and nephews are a dream come true for politicians and their handlers.

ShatterAlan · 28-10-2020 2:06am

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!

The "-stans"?

Is that your collective for countries that end in "....stan"?

What about your thoughts on people or languages ...are they the "...eses"? You know...Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese? Maybe Congolese or Portuguese brings it a little closer to home.

DeanAustin · 28-10-2020 2:33am

yosser hughes wrote: »

This actually says a lot about the quality of education in this country.

She probably did well in exams.

Believe it or not, she didn’t particularly. She did pretty well professionally because she knew how to get things done, wasn’t afraid to tread on toes and knows how to get people on her side. She’s very streetsmart, she was quite intelligent but she just wasn’t well informed or well educated.

Professionally, people who can get things done are worth more than people who have degrees coming out their arse or who can name the President of Venezuela.

28-10-2020 3:44am

ShatterAlan wrote: »

The "-stans"?

Is that your collective for countries that end in "....stan"?

What about your thoughts on people or languages ...are they the "...eses"? You know...Chinese, Japanese, Nepalese? Maybe Congolese or Portuguese brings it a little closer to home.

They're known as the Stans. It comes from Persian.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/-stan

Mules · 28-10-2020 6:19am

Deleted User wrote: »

I think people who are obsessed with US Politics but show zero interest in domestic politics are worse.

Like people who seem to genuinely care about Trump's new judge, how that effects anyone in Ireland, I just don't know.

Graces7 · 28-10-2020 6:57am

ShatterAlan wrote: »

My sister hasn't a clue about what's going on in the world. Not a scooby. She's not thick just has zero interest in politics or current affairs. She wouldn't know who the Taoiseach is (she lives in the UK...so the majority of brits wouldn't know either...but still).

She probably knows that Trump is US president but wouldn't know who VP is or who the opposition is (Biden / Harris).

I wish I was like her, I'd probably be a lot happier and more successful instead of wasting my life wringing my hands about the state of the world and stressing over things that I can't change or have zero influence over other than to bitch about them.

Indeed yes, / I watch the news, then resume MY life

Graces7 · 28-10-2020 6:59am

paddythere wrote: »

Because things can be changed

By who? Not you and I

paddythere · 28-10-2020 2:59pm

Graces7 wrote: »

By who? Not you and I

By the public, of which you and I form part of. How do you think we got from feudalism to a stage where every adult has the vote? It was just voluntarily conceded by the powerful.

For example: You ever heard of Karl Marx? Just one guy who wanted to change the world and I think it's safe to say he did whether you agree with him or not.

saabsaab · 28-10-2020 5:57pm

I'd say a few don't even know about the pandemic! Met this woman in the middle of the foot and mouth crisis in 2001, she asked what the wet mats were about (disinfectant at the doors) . Told her and she said she never heard about the crisis! Wasn't Dublin either.

Be right back · 28-10-2020 6:18pm

I once worked with someone who had never heard of Auschwitz.

Justin Credible Darts · 28-10-2020 6:39pm

I had to google who this greta thomberg was.
There are multi millionaire musicians, celebrity, oscar winning actors I have never heard off

These things are not important to me.
But ask me the capital city of any country, almost anything on geography, ask me about history or the music I do like, ask me about dogs, gardening etc and can chat with anyone.

Its all about what you deem is important.

paleoperson · 28-10-2020 6:40pm

ShatterAlan wrote: »

I would beg to differ. The US political system is completely rigged. Democrats and Republicans are two cheeks of the same arse. The president isn't elected there, he's selected. The two party system is effected to give the public the illusion of choice when in fact it is corporations that pull the strings for their own aggrandizement.

What matters to the American public:

Jobs
Affordable and Universal Health Coverage
Affordable and quality education.
Responsible gun law reform
Reining in military spending
Ending never-ending illegal foreign wars for profit
Regulation of the casino capitalism of Wall Street
Tackling climate change

These things matter to the majority of Americans left, right and centre yet neither party has done a damn thing about them since Kennedy. Instead the parties deflect and distract the public with non-issues like Roe v Wade or gay marriage or fcuking gender neutral toilets or non-existant caravans of rapists coming over the border to steal your daughter's virtue and your precious lettuce-picking job to the point where the public are at each others' throats calling one another "wingnuts" or "libtards" and that suits both parties just fine.

When that sums up your voting choice then what's the point?

Right. It's getting ridiculous how extreme they're portraying the differences between the Trump and Biden administrations when they're so utterly similar on most things. You're never going to have universal healthcare or free education - things most civilized countries take as a given. The FDA and EPA will always be a farce with their strings pulled by corporations. They're still going to **** all over climate requirements and environmental concerns whether it's Trump or Biden. It's all a distraction to the real issues.

saabsaab · 28-10-2020 6:41pm

Be right back wrote: »

I once worked with someone who had never heard of Auschwitz.

Denial?

Be right back · 28-10-2020 6:43pm

saabsaab wrote: »

Denial?

No, more like a lack of awareness.

saabsaab · 29-10-2020 1:18pm

Justin Credible Darts wrote: »

I had to google who this greta thomberg was.
There are multi millionaire musicians, celebrity, oscar winning actors I have never heard off

These things are not important to me.
But ask me the capital city of any country, almost anything on geography, ask me about history or the music I do like, ask me about dogs, gardening etc and can chat with anyone.

Its all about what you deem is important.

True enough we all have areas that we don't have interest in but there are some it seems that have no interest in hardly anything.

Justin Credible Darts · 29-10-2020 2:38pm

Remember as a kid hearing mentions of persian, tanganyika,zanzibar, ceylon etc and use to love look at atlas's and seeing what the new countries were now called

back then it was yugoslavia, czechoslovakia, ussr. All those break ups happened long after I had left school so I would read about them out of interest, loved learning about the national flags.

When i hear people like some of those mentioned earlier who think Italy is the capital of france, or have no idea where a certain country is, I think that is more unusual that not caring about say politics

29-10-2020 3:50pm

I dunno. I'm good at world geography and capitals etc. but it doesn't really add much to your knowledge of the world. Does it matter than I know where Ghana is and what its capital is.

Justin Credible Darts · 29-10-2020 3:58pm

Deleted User wrote: »

I dunno. I'm good at world geography and capitals etc. but it doesn't really add much to your knowledge of the world. Does it matter than I know where Ghana is and what its capital is.

I think you misunderstand me, I am saying geography knowledge of the world we live in should beat the very common knowledge.

I am not saying it trumps politics, those are all things you develop an interest in possibly when you get older, but not knowing where countries 5 and ten times the size of ireland are not on a map.....that says a lot about the education system.

Language, geography, basic arithmetic , and possibly history to a lesser extent is something every kid should have a comprehension of.

What "interests" they pursue after that as they get older is their choice, but geography should be a basic.

I remember camping with a guy years back and he did not know east from west ....when the sun was setting....these are basic things like knowing where the sun sets.

paleoperson · 29-10-2020 4:21pm

Justin Credible Darts wrote: »

but not knowing where countries 5 and ten times the size of ireland are not on a map.....

Ireland is a tiny country, I bet there are countries five times the size of Ireland you couldn't find on a map. Chad, Mali locations trivial to you?

Justin Credible Darts · 29-10-2020 4:27pm

paleoperson wrote: »

Ireland is a tiny country, I bet there are countries five times the size of Ireland you couldn't find on a map. Chad, Mali locations trivial to you?

really ?
Because you said so ?

I know where the countries are, maybe you should not be judging people by your own standards.

paleoperson · 29-10-2020 4:35pm

lmao, you seem unable to even understand how a conversation works, that's a lot more important than knowing where places are in the world.

29-10-2020 4:36pm

Justin Credible Darts wrote: »

I think you misunderstand me, I am saying geography knowledge of the world we live in should beat the very common knowledge.

I am not saying it trumps politics, those are all things you develop an interest in possibly when you get older, but not knowing where countries 5 and ten times the size of ireland are not on a map.....that says a lot about the education system.

Language, geography, basic arithmetic , and possibly history to a lesser extent is something every kid should have a comprehension of.

What "interests" they pursue after that as they get older is their choice, but geography should be a basic.

I remember camping with a guy years back and he did not know east from west ....when the sun was setting....these are basic things like knowing where the sun sets.

HBC08 · 29-10-2020 4:53pm

paleoperson wrote: »

Why are you trying to belittle the beliefs of Brexiteers and Trump supporters and acting like we all agree with you as fact that someone who was informed wouldn't vote for them? Plenty of highly informed, educated and intelligent people voted for them, a lot of the demographic were working class people because it helped them - or was projected to help them - a lot more economically.

Who shows a small bit of interest in what's happening in the world - so are you saying all those MAGA hat wearers don't care what's happening in the world? I mean you have to make sense, you can't just make things up as you fancy.

I don't like Trump or Brexit very much, but your sort of thinking is the biggest NPC farce of all. Your simplistic idea of very complex issues and legitimate choices.

An informed electorates might be able to tell the difference between the likely reality and something being "projected to help them".

completedit · 29-10-2020 5:14pm

It's honestly very difficult to stay abreast of political, social and economic developments. Like not only do you have to deal with the information itself but then the context of that information, veritability, bias, opinion, half truths, agendas and so on.

Like take the budget a few weeks ago. They mention a desire and commitment to climate change objectives while at the same time talking about economic growth. This dissonance is just head wrecking and you start to think are you just being cynical for the sake of it

Then you have that Mother and Baby home case and the discourse around it is just exhausting. "typical fianna fail and the Catholic Church" Its just tiring.

Justin Credible Darts · 29-10-2020 5:22pm

paleoperson wrote: »

lmao, you seem unable to even understand how a conversation works, that's a lot more important than knowing where places are in the world.

you spout nonsense like stating what I know or dont know, like it is some sort of fact.
You have absolutely no idea my level of geography and your claims of "I would bet" does not constitute fact nor proof but your ill informed opinion.

I am not even sure why my knowledge of geography upsets you, then you do seem to have issues with a lot of people, so rather than let the topic derail, i will bid you a good evening.

paleoperson · 29-10-2020 5:42pm

HBC08 wrote: »

An informed electorates might be able to tell the difference between the likely reality and something being "projected to help them".

It might, but it depends how you define inform. Sometimes people can have a very accurate idea of the reality with "low information" but it's the right sort of information and experiences over the years while someone else might have a masters in a similar subject and not have a clue.

There's also how being "informed" is never the discrete, yes/no entity the word makes it sound like. You can't just read a newspaper and consider yourself informed because others will say it's the wrong type of newspaper or you don't understand what they're talking about. You could read a book about it but then someone could pull out complicated tax structures and then say "what you don't know about that, I thought you said you were informed?". On the flipside you could be an expert in the minutiae of it yet have very little idea of how it's actually going to play out. So it's like an ever-shifting goalpost.

Nobody goes out voting saying well I don't have a clue of anything, people always think they are informed well enough.

Hangdogroad · 30-10-2020 10:08am

The oddest example was a guy I knew twenty years back. He was convinced the USA was a continent (think we were watching a quiz at the time). When I explained to him that it's a country and that it's part of North America he laughed at me as if I was the one being ridiculous. He thought Band Of Brothers was about the Vietnam war. Genuinely thought aids came about from Africans "riding monkeys" as he put it. He was a deeply strange chap in other regards but wont go into that as I'd be going off topic.

Do you know anyone that is oblivious to the world affairs/domestic affairs outside of

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