We keep on looking at people and laughing at what they do stating ‘Have they no common sense?’ The truth is that common sense isn’t that common and it is becoming less so as time goes on.
You see common sense isn’t something we all have like a reflex that kicks in when it is needed. It is a way of thinking that is learnt. You learn as you go through life and the more experience you gain the more you can extrapolate and work out what is going on before you do something stupid. That is all common sense is, looking at a situation and working out what can go wrong, then not doing it.
A good example is if you don’t handle guns then all you see is what happens in the movies. Guns are deadly, have 200 rounds of ammunition and kill when they hit their target, missing bullets just disappear. When used in Russian Roulette you have a one in six chance of being shot. Wait, what about semi automatics? They never get a mention. To load a semi automatic means that the first shot is real. Common sense we all say but not if you are scared to touch them and know nothing about them. Always make sure you use a Glock and let the other guy go first. One bullet only. Most of us don’t know how to handle guns but every kid and burglar does unless they are locked away.
In this H&S conscious world we live in we are all protected from learning by mistakes. We get shown a few films where all the risks are practically insignificant so that we shrug and think they are not worth bothering about. We hear about how people are falling like flies because a neighbour three doors down smokes at the weekend. People are now starting to get over their fear and manipulation and see through the words of the rightous. Still scared to call them out but we are now starting to ignore the hysteria and this also means the real warning signs. Some signs are there for a reason. But now, the state has keep their sheep in cotton wool so long that nothing happens to them. Warning signs are just part of the furniture now. We do not feel fear from signs but we do when someone is telling us we should over things that are insignificant.
So when you look at someone and think ‘No common sense’ then remember they are simply educated by the state to have no common sense. The state does not want thinkers and anyone who does not follow the rules deserves what they get. This lack of education is something not restricted to the sheeple. We all do things that show we have not thought out the implications because we are ignorant of how things work. Every one of us has made basic mistakes based on our ignorance and there is no shame in it. Where the ignorance comes from is when you point it out they ignore facts and still make stupid assumption. Taking the initial learning steps is an epiphany to every one. Those that then reconsider and reject their new found experiences and knowledge are the stupid ones.
So when we are feeling all smug looking at others with no common sense we should remember that in some areas we are a bit short of that rare product. We should also consider that in our threads and posts when we talk about something and then finish off with a quick ‘Process as normal’. What exactly does that mean? Can we explain in more detail. Not all of us are experts or have any experience whatsoever in these areas.
Making assumptions is deadly. And we all know the saying ‘Never assume as it makes an ASS out of U and ME. Use your common sense and explain what it all means. By the time they find out that ‘Process as normal’ is complicated it may be too late and they won’t be in the position to learn.
The more we learn the more we can work out but we will never be in the position of knowing everything. We require those that know each subject to make sure we learn the mistakes from words rather than find them out the hard way. We need to help each other and maybe, just maybe, whilst we are doing that we will open someones eyes up to the real world. It could be the epiphany that takes them over the edge. You never know that could be your future friend. Surely that is worth a few minutes of your time.
So remember that ‘Common Sense isn’t that common’ and it isn’t their fault they think that way. We need to educate who we can when we can.
I teach at a local agriculteral college, 15 to 25 year olds, and as far as ‘common sense’ is concerned it must be in the 20 to 30 per cent only, I am sorry but it has deteriated something terrible since I was at school. We teach but trying to get through to the modern generation is bloody hard.
I concur with kiddsy above.
My two own sons are prime examples of the above.
No matter how hard you try its like talking to a different species.
I persist as they are mine, how you keep going kiddsy is beyond me…
My two boys have the nicknames half a job Josh eldest at 17 nearly 18
and C.b.a. Jake…at 15 That says it all.
My eldest is hard work, he seems to not take it in, “bimbo” is another reference I sometimes use for him…
My youngest, c.b.a. Jake needs “prodding” constantly…
Well some youngsters i am trying to help said they wanted back up comms systems and I asked what type and they replied well using COMMON SENSE they want the simplest system that does the job, so common sense is out there if we look for it.
OH and I have had this conversation many times, i dont know if it is “Elf & Safety”, the “nanny state” or the type of (inbred) person you see breeding these days, but we seem to have ended up with a society with a huge proportion of “thickos” who just cant see “the consequences of their actions” who if you spoke to them would SCREAM the reply “WHATS IT TO YOU?”.i have given up trying to help others, they either do the opposite of what i say or completely ignore my advise, so i dont bother any more, sooner or later their inconsiderate actions with injure, main or kill themselves and those around them. i no longer concern my self with others stupidity and have as little as possible to do with the general public, SHEEPLE is a good name for them as they follow the flock and do not think for themselves.
I too have had this conversation dozens of times, government after government especially since Maggie, have systematically been removing the need for ‘common sense’ ! How many of us have picked up a bag of peanuts and read the allergy warning ‘may contain nuts’ and laughed ? I know i have, but i am willing to bet that some people have picked a bag up and half way through eating read the warning and been shocked by it, even discussing with their just as dumb friends that they never knew that there could be nuts in the bag of peanuts, i mean what about if they had been allergic; oh the horror.
But by creating a world where people are sheeple, you create a world easy to control. Yes guns are deadly, and we all feel for the parents of the latest whacko(s), but has anyone else noticed that this massacre like so many others took place in a state that had highly restrictive gun control ? It is rare to hear of a maniac killing dozens of people in a state or country where lots of people carry guns habitually and can shoot back.
How to control the people, first disarm them, how to disarm them, make them stupid and then convince them it’s for their own good.
Mind how you go.
First time, on this site. Very informative. I also concur with the comments above. Today’s youth seem ignorant as well as arrogant in their attitude towards life. Fortunately, nature has a way of cleansing and when the SHTF. Those without any common sense will suffer first, because “they’ll forget to duck”.
Just a few observations.
There is ‘formal education’. You go to school for a few years and, hopefully, finish this with a grasp of the 3R’s as a very minimum qualification and the ability to communicate with the rest of the world and to be able to work out a few rudimentary sums. Plus you must have picked up on a few subjects that interest you and you can follow these up at your own pace and to your own degree, if you have the desire.
Then there is ‘non formal education’. This happens for the rest of your life on a daily basis, possibly. You are a human being and, therefore, you make mistakes and, hopefully, learn from these quickly, if you are a bit bright, or not as the case may be. But you do learn from them, eventually. Nobody is perfect.
When I was growing up most mothers stayed at home. So, in the years prior to going to school, you had a lot of interaction between parent and child and the mother could help the child develop, plus you had the interaction of other children and mothers in a local group where you lived. Also we were all much more physically active as children and had to provide our own entertainment a lot of the time and use our imaginations.
Sadly all this has changed and we seem to have a situation where life has been dumbed down to the point where even rudimentary items have become hard work and the ‘common sense’ that our parents instilled into us, because they were concerned and interested in us, does not seem to be there any more. Quite why, or how, this has happened I am not sure – but it has.
iaaems, They go to school to get the 3R,s, but due to the fact most of them can’t be bovvered! the standard of the average, and I mean AVERAGE student is now so poor my job at college is so hard you would not believe it. Half of the work handed in needs an interpreter so I can read it, and of course EVERY one is dyslexic, no one has been just plain lazy at school, and of course if a student is diagnosed as ‘dyslexic’ it means the college gets extra funding, weird that innit? so as you can see schools and colleges are full of ‘slow achievers’ and it’s up to the likes of me to try to pick up the pieces (Bloody hard work) ee by gum when I was at school and lazy and larking about, I soon found my backside stinging from the odd slipper, Happy days lol
Kiddsy, the fact that your ‘students’ are not bothered would seem to stem from the parent/s – an observation that may or may not be accurate, although I feel that I am not too far from the mark. Children need to be stimulated to be inquisitive and to learn – not just shoved in front of the telly to keep them quiet. If the main structure of their life, before they get to you, has been screen entertainment and everything else handed to them on a plate then your work, and everybody elses, becomes that much harder. Common sense has to be taught too, so if the parents of your ‘students’ have not bothered with much it begs the question ‘did their parents bother much?’. So this might just go back more than one generation. If it has then the problem is bigger than I thought.
As for the increase in dyslexia it must be something they are putting in the burgers.