Are People Really This Stupid?

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iRyan

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Ryan
I just had to share this story with my fellow POA'ers. I was flying home
last night from Orlando and at MCO there was a small commotion near my gate. Several minutes later, several of Orlando's finest surrounded a guy in a corner or the gate area. Apparently this genius decided to snatch a fellow passenger's purse; naturally he didn't get too far before he was stopped. I could see a thief trying that before going through security, but what moron would try after going through security with all the cameras around. What an idiot.
 
Yes they are. Exhibit A:


The prosecution rests.
 
Airports aren't casinos. There's aren't nearly as many cameras as you might think. All that post 9/11 security is theater to make people feel better. There ARE new hire rampers walking past security through back doors, there ARE un-inspected vehicles accessing the serile area from outside and there ISN'T a room full of people watching video from all over the airport.


So yes, people are stupid. But not for the reason presented in the OP. BTW, I'm not 'pro-purse snatching' here. Just pointing out the obvious.
 
On a related note... I like on a lake with a walking path that goes around the perimeter. At the edge of my back garden, I put this cute little sign up. I've had people walking by on the path stop and ask me "Oh wow, so this is where he crosses? Is that so people on bike's slow down?" Seriously. Does this look like a DOT standard crossing sign to you? Do you think the beaver reads the sign?

51arizai2SL.jpg
 
Geico266 said:
Beat me to it. ;)

What his really funny is people actually believe she was serious, and obviously still do.

Are people really that stupid? :rofl::rofl::rofl: :rolleyes:
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No, that's the problem. There are people who would listen to that, and think "OMG She's right!! What is wrong with those highway engineers!?". Then sue the state.
 
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Pedals2Paddles said:
On a related note... I like on a lake with a walking path that goes around the perimeter. At the edge of my back garden, I put this cute little sign up. I've had people walking by on the path stop and ask me "Oh wow, so this is where he crosses? Is that so people on bike's slow down?" Seriously. Does this look like a DOT standard crossing sign to you? Do you think the beaver reads the sign?

51arizai2SL.jpg
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I am a volunteer naturalist at the local Nature Center. There is a raised path that goes between the creek and the marsh and there is one location where beaver have a slide going into each of them. Your sign would be a perfect way to identify that particular spot.
 
I was talking with my daughter, who works at Grouse Mountain, where they have two orphaned grizzly bears, now full grown, living in a wildlife preserve environment. Not tame by any means.

http://www.allinvancouver.com/pub/upfiles/2013-08/201308021306361815.jpg

A co-worker was asked by a tourist the other day, "Where do you go to ride the bears?"

Really.
 
What I'm wondering is whether there are people who think reality TV is real.
 
The general public thinks "Airplane Repo" is generally accurate. I get questions about it. Arrgh!
 
Oh yes they are. Some young airmen stole a pair of headphones from the base exchange store at a deployed location. You can bet security forces were called and he isn't in the Air Force anymore. Not worth the $50 in my opinion.
 
I had a tenant call me and ask if she needed to empty the garbage disposal. No, I'm not kidding. :lol:

Yes, some people are that dumb.
 
When I was a teenager, my friends and I used to work at a large state park. It had a 2 mile beach and 500 site campground. We saw 15,000 - 30,000 people on a sunny summer Saturday or Sunday. Plus the 2000 people in the campground. The questions people asked us were out of this world. The kind of questions that make you wonder, if you need to ask that question, how on earth did you get this far in life unscathed?? We actually kept a running logbook of these questions. Here's a sampling. Mind you this on a beach, on Long Island Sound, think Atlantic Ocean.

"What ocean is this?" We made up answers. Some fake ones that don't exist. The pacific. The med. Southern Ocean. And they were all like "ohhh ok thank you"

"Do you have water at your beach?" Well ma'am it's a good thing you called. When are you coming? "Next weekend." Ok good. We actually just drained the ocean so we can clean it. But we're putting the water back in the ocean on Friday so it will be all ready on Saturday morning when you get here. "Oh wow, that's great!! Thank you so much!!"

"Is your beach sandy." Nope, solid granite.

"[Pointing to Long Island, part of New York] What country is that??" Usually we told them it was France, Ireland, or Somolia. But sometimes we'd tell them it was the far end of Japan. This was never unusual to them.

"[In the campground] Where am I supposed to reheat this tray of lasagna?" Back at your house would be the best place probably.

"[After dumping container of hot ashes into the dumpster, and 5 minutes later the dumpster is on fire] "Wow I don't know what happened?!?" Ya. I don't know. Maybe some idiot dumped their ashes in it again.

"It's raining now. Can I have a refund?" No.
 
Pedals2Paddles said:
"[Pointing to Long Island, part of New York] What country is that??" Usually we told them it was France, Ireland, or Somolia. But sometimes we'd tell them it was the far end of Japan. This was never unusual to them.
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Haha That must be a common one. When some tourists are on Grouse Mountain, at 3,000 ft elevation, you can see Vancouver Island 24 miles away, across Georgia Strait. Staff have been asked "Is that Japan?"

My favourite is when my daughter is working in the coffee bar, as a barista, she will notice tourists looking at the beverage menu above her head, and decide that an expresso is what they want..because it is the cheapest.

Imagine the look on their face when they get their drink, in the tiny little cup. Happens once a day at least.

She has also been asked, as the customer was picking up, in their hand, a fruit smoothie, pink and cold.

"Is this my hot chocolate.?" :sigh:
 
Pedals2Paddles said:
When I was a teenager, my friends and I used to work at a large state park. It had a 2 mile beach and 500 site campground. We saw 15,000 - 30,000 people on a sunny summer Saturday or Sunday. Plus the 2000 people in the campground. The questions people asked us were out of this world. The kind of questions that make you wonder, if you need to ask that question, how on earth did you get this far in life unscathed?? We actually kept a running logbook of these questions. Here's a sampling. Mind you this on a beach, on Long Island Sound, think Atlantic Ocean.

"What ocean is this?" We made up answers. Some fake ones that don't exist. The pacific. The med. Southern Ocean. And they were all like "ohhh ok thank you"

"Do you have water at your beach?" Well ma'am it's a good thing you called. When are you coming? "Next weekend." Ok good. We actually just drained the ocean so we can clean it. But we're putting the water back in the ocean on Friday so it will be all ready on Saturday morning when you get here. "Oh wow, that's great!! Thank you so much!!"

"Is your beach sandy." Nope, solid granite.

"[Pointing to Long Island, part of New York] What country is that??" Usually we told them it was France, Ireland, or Somolia. But sometimes we'd tell them it was the far end of Japan. This was never unusual to them.

"[In the campground] Where am I supposed to reheat this tray of lasagna?" Back at your house would be the best place probably.

"[After dumping container of hot ashes into the dumpster, and 5 minutes later the dumpster is on fire] "Wow I don't know what happened?!?" Ya. I don't know. Maybe some idiot dumped their ashes in it again.

"It's raining now. Can I have a refund?" No.
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I live in a beach/mountain resort as well.

Our local favorite is people pointing at Monterey (40 miles away, clearly visible on a good day) and asking if it's Hawaii.

We've also gotten occasional and probably apocryphal stories about people asking how many quarters they get for a dollar at the Boardwalk.

Plus the usual complaints that the ocean is too cold ("yes, ma'am, we'll turn the heat up").

And then there was the British couple in the 90s who somehow managed to drive their rental car right off the end of the municipal wharf.
 
I go to a small town in Alaska to go fishing and hunting. There is a large grizzly bear population there and they have a viewing area for people to go and watch them eat salmon. There was this huge grizzly standing in the road before you get to the viewing platform. Some lady from another country looks at the park ranger and says "Aww.. How cute. What time do you guys let them out in the morning" (as she is walking towards the bear to go pet it like a puppy). :yikes: Amazing how stupid some people are.

alg-grizzly-bear-jpg.jpg
 
Yes, people are damn stupid.
Get used to it and move on. It will never change unless we stop all the "protect the dumbest" initiatives. Idiocy FTW.
 
As long as we're dumping on 'Stupid People'...

There's a peculiar condition in the human brain where self delude ourselves and forget all the dumb stuff we do. Ego or Id, I don't know...

But I do know that people love to watch 'Jay Walking' with Jay Leno because it points out how dumb 'others' are and makes us feel superior. Never crosses many folks minds that 'those' people are really 'us'. We ALL say and do dumb stuff from time to time. And that's funny.

Game shows crack me up. Ever notice shows like Password give the answer to the viewer. Why would they do that? Because it isn't funny if the viewer thinks THEY are dumb. It's only funny if the OTHER person is dumb.

Anyway, the guy in the OP isn't dumb for thinking there aren't many cameras on the air side of security. He'd be right. This entire thread devolving into how dumb people are is an offshoot of the OP's incorrect supposition that there's some reason you'd be less likely to be caught for purse snatching on one side of metal detectors than the other.
 
Captain said:
...But I do know that people love to watch 'Jay Walking' with Jay Leno because it points out how dumb 'others' are and makes us feel superior. Never crosses many folks minds that 'those' people are really 'us'. We ALL say and do dumb stuff from time to time. And that's funny...
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I have a feeling that most of the people who were shown giving wrong answers were well aware that if they gave the right answer, they wouldn't get on TV.
 
I'm willing to bet the guy in the OP smoked a lot of pot before graduating to more debilitating and addictive drugs. Sounds more like desperation and stupor than stupidity, but I suppose one doesn't come without the other.
 
I'm sure we could point you to a few threads on PoA.... :rofl::D
 
Captain said:
As long as we're dumping on 'Stupid People'...

There's a peculiar condition in the human brain where self delude ourselves and forget all the dumb stuff we do. Ego or Id, I don't know...
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Good points you made. There are some obvious examples though of people who are actually stupid though.

I live in a rural area and many of the people around here just aren't real bright because this county's school systems suck and always have. This even by Missouri standards. Missouri is 47th in the nation and the local schools are in the bottom quartile of the state's bottom of the barrel ranking. The results can be pretty scary.

Anyway, I was at the weekly county commissioners meeting recently and one of the "good ol' boy commissioners" asked me what I thought was so neat about flying.

I responded that one of the cool things...just one...is that you get to see a bunch of things that you'd otherwise never know was there. For example, there is a Stonehenge replica in the northern part of our county, I flew over it one day, saw it and had a real WTF moment. I circled around a few times, got some photos and mentally marked the spot so I could find it again.

He looked at me and asked...

"What's a Stonehenge?"

I'm very seldom left speechless but I was that morning.
 
timwinters said:
Good points you made. There are some obvious examples though of people who are actually stupid though.

I live in a rural area and many of the people around here just aren't real bright because this county's school systems suck and always have. This even by Missouri standards. Missouri is 47th in the nation and the local schools are in the bottom quartile of the state's bottom of the barrel ranking. The results can be pretty scary.

Anyway, I was at the weekly county commissioners meeting recently and one of the "good ol' boy commissioners" asked me what I thought was so neat about flying.

I responded that one of the cool things...just one...is that you get to see a bunch of things that you'd otherwise never know was there. For example, there is a Stonehenge replica in the northern part of our county, I flew over it one day, saw it and had a real WTF moment. I circled around a few times, got some photos and mentally marked the spot so I could find it again.

He looked at me and asked...

"What's a Stonehenge?"

I'm very seldom left speechless but I was that morning.
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:needpics:
 
N801BH said:
Yup.....
Dumb as a box of rocks.....:goofy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
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We were up on Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park and several of us pulled over near a large meadow to watch a herd of elk. They were probably 200 yards away.

Another car parks and a woman starts running up toward the elk with one of those disposable Kodak cameras so she can get a closer picture. She clearly was getting noticed by a big bull elk. Someone yells "Lady they WILL charge you!" But she kept running until she was about 50 yards from the elk. She snapped some pictures and strolled back.

Most of the rest of us were pulling for the elk and saying to ourselves "oh please oh please oh please" hoping the elk would remove this Darwin Award candidate from the gene pool. No such luck.
 
nddons said:
Another car parks and a woman starts running up toward the elk with one of those disposable Kodak cameras so she can get a closer picture. She clearly was getting noticed by a big bull elk. Someone yells "Lady they WILL charge you!" But she kept running until she was about 50 yards from the elk. She snapped some pictures and strolled back.
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It gets even better when people start to do that with bears or bison in Yellowstone.
 
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