Is your average Joe, more ignorant and more stupid than he has ever been?

Question

Is your average Joe, more ignorant and more stupid than he has ever been?

Answer 1

there's enough information out there to suggest we are all well informed, but there ar a huge amount of bone heads out there, I always seem to have one or more as neighbours, so from what I can see the average joe is an utter schmoe as you suggest and getting worse by the years, someone please take my bone headed neighbours away!!!

Answer 2

no...the average Joe is NOT MORE ignorant and stupid, there have always been ignorant and stupid people, it's just that there are now MORE OF THEM than ever

Answer 3

I say the answer has to be yes, because at the rate at which the human race is accelerating, how can the "average Joe" even keep up when they spend most of their time slaving for someone else just trying to survive.

Answer 4

No.

The idea that everyone USED to be smarter than people now is a myth.

Some time ago, I saw an article about the results of a quiz given as a poll of Americans. It amazed me to see how many things a majority (sometimes large majority) got wrong -- things most people would get right today.

For people who've never seen the writing of ordinary people before, this site can be quite a shock.

But over 20 years ago, I was a Teaching Assistant in college -- and even among college students, the writing was pretty bad. Not all, but at least 1/3 couldn't string together a coherent sentence to save their lives.

Since most of what we read and hear of people past are the more articulate and educated, it gives a false idea about people of the time in general.

And what's taken to be common knowledge has changed. There's a lot most people get now, that few knew then. Just as there were things commonly known then, that few get now.

Actually, average intelligence has been going up, as malnurishment has decreased.

And there's a big hunk of the population that starts reading at a much younger age than used to generally be the case. (Thank you, Sesame Street!)

When I was a child, it was common to learn to read at 4 or 5; now it's common to know one's alphabet and be able to pick out simple words, and even read entire "Read it by myself" type books younger than that.

Answer 5

i would say so, the younger generation seem to have great difficulty in even speaking properly. they are leaving state education on the cusp of retardation, so much so that i had to leave the uk for the sake of my children.

Answer 6

First be aware of the difference between the two words. Ignorance is not knowing but having the ability to learn. Stupidity is not having the ability to comprehend and retain. Opposites ! Ok ? Define avg. "JOE" .......... Plz........... Also you might inc. a timeframe !

Answer 7

Definitely, and worsening by the day.

But I suppose it's relative and geographical. Whilst your av Joe in somewhere like the UK is deteriorating fast, in other areas he may well be excelling.

Answer 8

Yes Joe Shmoe.  The reality is that in the US people are cogs in the corporate materialist wheel.  They have no concept of what true happiness is they are too busy trying to consume as much as they can.  Toward no end.  There is no point to American materialism and yet everyone is on the bandwagon.  People actually think it is intelligent to wear the slogan "he who dies with the most toys wins."  Pretty lame compared to Chinese Quotations I know but this is America land of the stupid.  Home of the Brainwashed.

Answer 9

yes, if youre average nowadays, its synonymous to ignorant...and if youre ignorant...more likely to be doing stupid things....

Answer 10

I don't know but I don't judge no body.

Answer 11

Yes. your average joe nowadays cant think for himself.

Answer 12

Depends on how you define the ignorant part but I would say "Yes" without hesitation.

Never before has it been so easy for an average Joe to survive in the world than it is today.  Joe doesn't have to know much of anything to have a job, food and shelter.  With basic needs met, most people aren't bothered to be concerned about science, politics, social matters, etc.  

100 years ago, average Joe's had more knowledge about these things because they felt that their livelihoods depended on their understanding of the world around them - they weren't able to coast through life like they can today.