Educating Annoying Ignorances

[AndyRock]

Mine are generally tech ignorances that I get annoyed at, but thankfully I have yet to meet someone who is unwilling to learn a new thing or two about computers. It helps that the people I meet regularly think that I know alot about computers. This means that when I tell someone something about computers I need to make sure it's correct, misinformation is a sin in my eyes that does nothing but breed ignorance.

 

[New Troll]

Well my dad thinks that computers hard drive's size determines how good the computer is, its a good thing he asked me to help him buy a new laptop.

I get this a lot too! I find it amusing trying to inform a customer about what they're spending hundreds of dollars on and all they seem to care about is the least expensive piece in the whole unit! I may not know diddly squat about vehicles, but I'm not going to walk onto a dealership and ask for any vehicle as long as it has at least two cup holders. Screw those one cup holder pieces of junk!

 

[GenericAmerican]

I drives me insane when I hear someone say clip instead of magazine. Or that the tube 'magazine' on a shotgun is actually a second barrel. . .

Or that warning shots are a good idea.

Or that aiming for anything other than center mass on a hostile moving target is a viable option with a side-arm when you have just split seconds to take a shot.

Or the idea that a firearm can be reliably used for less-than-lethal applications; instead of something designed for that, say a tazer, or pepper spray.

 

[Thaliur]

I think AMV is supposed to mean "Anime Music Video," though I can't remember where I heard that.

Fair's fair, AMVs were "anime music videos" first - I'd never even heard the term with "animated" before I read your post but I'm presuming that's the current compromise.
Not that AMVs with western series weren't around beforehand, they just didn't go by that name.

Still, since "Anime" is actually just a Japanese short version of the English word "animation", the meaning remains the same, no matter how you interpret the abbreviation (Since "Anime" is itself an abbreviation of "Animation").

 

[brainslurper]

Carrying on with the iPod name theme.
A lot of computer novices call the actual computer itself the "hard drive".

Where are these people so that I can stab them and feast on their corpses?

 

[Trippy Turtle]

I don't mind intensive purposes, in that I remember much mocking of a guy who said that while trying to impress us with his write wordy skills.

Generally, eh, I could care less.

Well this leads me on to mine. It's "I couldn't care less" as in you already care the least you possibly can therefore can't care less. If you could care less you have to care at least a little.

 

[Thaliur]

As an ex-soldier who happens to be a marksman I can hit a fist sized object from 50 meters away or a torso sized object from 300 meters away easy. Or twice smaller objects if they're immobile.

I know that wasn't your point, but you just drew my attention on the phrase "twice smaller". What's that even supposed to mean? Smallness can't be measured. There just isn't a value or unit for it. You might be able to define one by saying that smallness=1/size, as we do with resistivity or conductivity depending on the situation, which would mean that "twice as small" actually means "half as big", but even that would be incorrect, because you actually said "twice smaller". So the object would be smaller than the other one by two iterations. Since I live in a metric country, the basic iteration for length would be a meter. That would result in (since you were comparing to fists) about -1.8 meters (for a large fist). That is not possible, so, as an engineer, I presume the next likely iteration: 1 millimeter. So you can shoot something a little smaller than a fist (keeping with the "large fist" I proposed, about 18mm) if it is not moving.

The same happens all the time. People even say "twice larger" or something like that if they mean "twice as large". Supposing their basic increment in this case was the size of the object, what they actually said was "three times as large".

#2. Shooting a person in the leg is just as likely to kill them as shooting them in the torso. The Femoral artery is a very large artery in your leg. So much as nicking that will cause a person to bleed out in a few minutes. If the bullet hits the bone, it could shatter and send shrapnel throughout the leg. Seriously, shooting a person in the leg is potentially just as deadly.

Now I'm no medic, but from what little I know of first aid external bleeding can usually be stopped pretty quickly and efficiently and people can survive amputated limbs, no such luck with torso injuries. While a leg injury could potentially be deadly so could the common cold, just because something is as possible doesn't mean it is as likely.

I got a pretty good education on emergency medicine, and internal bleeding, no matter in which bodypart, is almost certainly deadly unless the injured person undergoes surgery within a few minutes. It does take a while before someone goes unconscious from a leg wound, though, so even with a badly damaged leg artery, they can still be quite dangerous, despite being doomed to die. I think that's what he was referring to.

What ignorance drives me crazy? "Carbon"

Ignorant people around the world are trained to run in fear every time they hear about "carbon emissions." I'm tired of hearing, "everyone knows carbon is destroying the planet." To illustrate, I give you an actual anecdote of cringe worthy carbon ignorance.

Now I understand that people don't want to destroy the planet and I applaud them for that, but I do wish they would understand what they were talking about before getting passionate.

This also work in the other way. People keep fighting for "organic" food. I never really understand why. So far, no one I know ever proposed using anorganic materials as food. "Organic" means everything that contains carbon, and seemingly no one gets it right.

On a similar note, food producers seriously started selling "gene-free" popcorn in a store nearby. "GENE-FREE"!!! I don't think I want to know what it was made of. Obviously not corn seeds. All plants contain genes, after all.

There does seem to be a much larger variety in American cartoon styles than Japanese manga character styles. Hm.

It bugs the hell out of me when people don't know the difference between "electrician" and "electrical engineer." As an EE major, I can't wire your house up, because I don't know all the complex rules for doing so. I can, however, design all kinds of fancy electronics. These are completely different things, even if their core theory is the same.

Ooooh, yes...
In my first semester of EE, I used some free time on a youth weekend I helped organise to study for an exam. We "only" did DC and digital circuits that semester, and one of the other helpers that time was learning to become an electrician. When I sat there with my 8-transistors-grid, setting up the proper equations (I think it was the internal circuit of an OP-Amp), she started talking to me about light fixtures and such, and said that I can't be very good at my subject if I don't know if the live wire is connected to the threading or the spring in the part that hold the bulb. I still don't know if there is an official rule, but I made myself a pretty sensible one I think. Whenever I put a switch somewhere myself I make sure it cuts the live wire (most switches only work on one of them), and when connecting light fictures I try to connect the live wire to the flat spring part in the middle (so that the threading is still safe in case you forget that the bulb is just broken, but the power still on).

Whenever people have yard sales and either have nothing but garbage or overprice everything. Give the stuff to salvation army and lower the price or don't have a yard-sale. Also people who have a yard-sale every week, throw the stuff away or donate it, I'm pretty sure their is a law about it.

Aaaaaaargh!!! It's! Not! That! Difficult!!!

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

[Polyamory] must be denied because otherwise in no time emancipation would be destroyed because people are allowed to have harems of several women again.

Erm, how? For one: most of the people that I know of that are Poly are women, not men who want a constant "3+some". B: a basic premise of polyamory is that everything is consensual. Three or C: so long as everything is consensual, how are women's rights involved with this? And coming in a very low four, or D, or that little (iv) in brackets they use in footnotes: Wine.

How do alcoholic beverages matter in this case?

 

[Eventidal]

Anti-furry ignorance is one I'd like to destroy. People act like every furry is some messed-up zoophile or something. It's just plain wrong, and statistically most furries aren't even into the "yiff" stuff anyway. The really freaking creepy ones (AKA the only ones that ever show up on TV by some magical media manipulation) and the people who post dirty stuff in completely unnecessary places make us all look bad. Then a bunch of furs come out of nowhere when someone bashes the fandom or makes a joke at its expense (which I usually join in the laughter about, myself...) and they make terrible fools of themselves trying to argue with others.

Whenever I see the whole "kill it with fire" thing because the term "furry" happened to come up, I Ultra-Facepalm. It's just ignorant, and stupid at that. There are quite a few creepy furs out there, but that's nowhere near the majority of us.

 

[ChadSexington]

Atheists who attack organized religion, well, religiously. They talk about how they get religion rammed down their throat, completely unaware that they are doing the exact same thing.

I myself don't believe in god or the after life and all those other religious things but I don't think you should put someone down for being religious. Don't like religion? Don't be religious.

 

[theevilgenius60]

I got two: people using rediculous for ridiculous. Key word ridicule, not diculous again. Also, at work I sell Behr paint. The logo has a huge fucking bear next to it, yet 95% of people ask for "that Brrr paint". Nails down a chalkboard, both of them.

 

[Saulkar]

For me it is the dumb-ass customers I have to deal with at my job. When we receive stock at my store location we are at the mercy of an incompetent warehouse that does not ship items within the ideal shipping date. Sometimes a couple days before its expiration thus during its two day trip it expires thus is no longer viable to sell on arrival or we get bananas that are hard as rock and require several more days of ripening before we can even think about putting them out. (sometimes the bananas are picked too early and are given an accelerated ripening in a humid, hot chamber so that they turn ripe before they are even ready because they are so immature that they will rot before they ripen)

Now why is this important? Because so many damn customers believe that all products are shipped to the store en-bulk straight from the producers and that the people growing this shit are not only local but are employed directly by us and thus it is within our power to get a carambola within the day or cut the pay of the ones producing it. Seriously? A carambola growing in Saskatchewan in January? A fleet of farmers nearby employed by us to provide us year round with tropical fruits? That is not just ignorance, that is blatant stupidity.

Coming back to the aforementioned incompetent warehouse, we cannot control the quality of the shit they ship us and thus we may put out produce that is slightly past its prime and the customers even after having it carefully explained to them assume that the quality of said produce is SOLELY our responsibility, while in large part it is, we cannot control every aspect of its journey to us. Adding onto that many customers blatantly tell us to throw away sub-par products that are still technically good for sale ignoring the fact that others may still want to purchase it since it is in stock or the blatant fact that throwing away such a massive amount of stock whenever it does not suit the customers whimsical expectations would be a financial loss nightmare!

One last thing: Asking us to discount products upon request is not allowed and is grounds for immediate termination for us because if it is good enough to draw your interest then it is good enough to sell at full price. The whole point of the discount is to draw your attention to expired products you would have otherwise overlooked entirely, in a last ditch attempt to sell it before it is tossed.

 

[Saulkar]

Atheists who attack organized religion, well, religiously. They talk about how they get religion rammed down their throat, completely unaware that they are doing the exact same thing.

I myself don't believe in god or the after life and all those other religious things but I don't think you should put someone down for being religious. Don't like religion? Don't be religious.

One reason I immediately and involuntarily cringe whenever someone tells me they are an atheist is because of all of the hyper aggressive militant atheist I encounter online and real life that attack me both on the intellectual and personal level.(I encounter just as many conservative Christian nut jobs as well but none were as aggressive) It does not matter how smart I am, it does not matter how decent of a person I am, I have a different belief or lack of belief from them and thus I am an unsympathetic outsider worthy of nothing but their scorn.

I wish I had met more atheists like you instead of the aforementioned ones because I feel an irrational fear or aggression whenever someone mentions that they are an atheist because I have been conditioned to feel (not believe) that atheism and an atheist's lifestyle surrounding it is their sole pursuit in life and everything else comes second.

The constant, unprovoked preachings I have received from many atheists and intellectuals (that I have now distanced myself from) have left me fairly bitter and with a very skewed understanding of what I do and do not believe right now combined with a desire to avoid actual theological discussion altogether to avoid debates that seem designed to make me solely see the other person's point of view neglecting my own and in turn preventing my own spiritual self discovery.

I am a Deist by the way in case you were wondering.

 

[Byere]

oh gawd.. the stories I could tell.

If you want to talk ignorance, think about this. When I worked at my local Co-op (a chain retail store here in England, I worked in the food/grocery side of the business). I cannot tell you how often I had customers come up to me, demanding that something was wrong and when they wouldn't listen to me when I SHOWED them it was wrong (for example, prices or what items were on a deal), I got a supervisor and then they would still not accept that they were in the wrong... just because "The customer is always right".

That kind of ignorance pisses me off.

 

[ChadSexington]

Atheists who attack organized religion, well, religiously. They talk about how they get religion rammed down their throat, completely unaware that they are doing the exact same thing.

I myself don't believe in god or the after life and all those other religious things but I don't think you should put someone down for being religious. Don't like religion? Don't be religious.

One reason I immediately and involuntarily cringe whenever someone tells me they are an atheist is because of all of the hyper aggressive militant atheist I encounter online and real life that attack me both on the intellectual and personal level.(I encounter just as many conservative Christian nut jobs as well but none were as aggressive) It does not matter how smart I am, it does not matter how decent of a person I am, I have a different belief or lack of belief from them and thus I am an unsympathetic outsider worthy of nothing but their scorn.

I wish I had met more atheists like you instead of the aforementioned ones because I feel an irrational fear or aggression whenever someone mentions that they are an atheist because I have been conditioned to feel (not believe) that atheism and an atheist's lifestyle surrounding it is their sole pursuit in life and everything else comes second.

The constant, unprovoked preachings I have received from many atheists and intellectuals (that I have now distanced myself from) have left me fairly bitter and with a very skewed understanding of what I do and do not believe right now combined with a desire to avoid actual theological discussion altogether to avoid debates that seem designed to make me solely see the other person's point of view neglecting my own and in turn preventing my own spiritual self discovery.

I am a Deist by the way in case you were wondering.

To be honest I was quite forceful of atheism when I was younger, one day I just realized that there was no need. I'm quite glad I had this realization and I'm sorry you've had to endure so much harassment and aggression. It never leads anywhere, all it does is make both sides angry.

The worst thing about being an atheist for me is far from religious oppression, it's people telling me "funny" stories about how they "owned" some religious morons. It's frustrating as hell to think that they've spent so much of their time attacking others for their beliefs and that for them, that's entertaining.

I've never been attacked for my lack of belief, I've had people tell me I need to embrace god and save my soul but all it takes to avoid that is "No thank you." It annoys me to no end that atheists will speak of extremists and the nasty religious people who constantly try to convert others as if they're above that.

 

[StarsintheBlood]

People not acknowledging aesexuality as a legitimate orientation. I know that phonetically, "I'm aesexual" sounds like an incomplete sentence, but even after I explain it they either don't understand or don't believe me. I am admittedly in high school, so I suppose telling hormonal classmates that you feel no sexual attraction to any gender is a silly thing to do...
BUT for god's sake, DO NOT tell me it's impossible, that I'm just confused, that I'm afraid of sex, or that I've just not fully matured yet.
Oh, and if you try to "change my mind" as some kind of sick conquest or accomplishment, I will punch you in the face. Repeatedly.
This is just... I find it extremely irksome.

 

[Zeema]

Faith Healing.

Every now and then, you'll hear a story about parents who have a sick child, but refuse medical treatment because "if they have faith, God will heal their child."

These are the people who you HAVE to sit down and give a reality check to on the existence of deitei, because their stupidity is hurting someone else.

Agreed.

i also highly dislike it when parent's and with there kids and there in a museum. then you see a big sign that say's 'DO NOT TOUCH THIS BOAT'

[Kid touches boat Alarm goes off. Kid runs up to his mum]

then the mum says stuff like 'oh its not your fault, the Alarm is faulty [lie]. don't worry its not your fault.'

it annoys me so much, you gotta let your son know that he did something wrong and he has to receive a punishment for doing the wrong thing.

 

[Syzygy23]

* Bronies - please stop spamming my preferred sites and forums with your multicoloured bullshit. If you like it, fine, but MLP has fuck-all to do with BMW's and are about as welcome on my Facebook wall as Jesus is (i.e not-very).

* People who own cars / bikes and have no idea how to look after them - It's NOT hard!

* People who own cars / bikes and don't insure them - It's the law you twats and it's honest motorists like myself that have to pay for YOUR accidents!

* People who own cars / bikes, don't insure them and think it's acceptable / funny - I've already reported one of these loathesome people to the Police and I'd do it again!

* Using the word "loose" instead of "lose" - you do NOT "loose" your mind / car-keys / virginity, you LOSE it, you thick fuck...sorry...*breathes into a paper bag*

* Cars have "brakes", not "breaks" - Brakes make things stop whilst breaks are what you take when you are tired.

* Religion - Enough said.

Wardy

What, did Jesus get your sister pregnant and refuses to pay child support now or something?

 

[Syzygy23]

Atheists who attack organized religion, well, religiously. They talk about how they get religion rammed down their throat, completely unaware that they are doing the exact same thing.

I myself don't believe in god or the after life and all those other religious things but I don't think you should put someone down for being religious. Don't like religion? Don't be religious.

One reason I immediately and involuntarily cringe whenever someone tells me they are an atheist is because of all of the hyper aggressive militant atheist I encounter online and real life that attack me both on the intellectual and personal level.(I encounter just as many conservative Christian nut jobs as well but none were as aggressive) It does not matter how smart I am, it does not matter how decent of a person I am, I have a different belief or lack of belief from them and thus I am an unsympathetic outsider worthy of nothing but their scorn.

I wish I had met more atheists like you instead of the aforementioned ones because I feel an irrational fear or aggression whenever someone mentions that they are an atheist because I have been conditioned to feel (not believe) that atheism and an atheist's lifestyle surrounding it is their sole pursuit in life and everything else comes second.

The constant, unprovoked preachings I have received from many atheists and intellectuals (that I have now distanced myself from) have left me fairly bitter and with a very skewed understanding of what I do and do not believe right now combined with a desire to avoid actual theological discussion altogether to avoid debates that seem designed to make me solely see the other person's point of view neglecting my own and in turn preventing my own spiritual self discovery.

I am a Deist by the way in case you were wondering.

To be honest I was quite forceful of atheism when I was younger, one day I just realized that there was no need. I'm quite glad I had this realization and I'm sorry you've had to endure so much harassment and aggression. It never leads anywhere, all it does is make both sides angry.

The worst thing about being an atheist for me is far from religious oppression, it's people telling me "funny" stories about how they "owned" some religious morons. It's frustrating as hell to think that they've spent so much of their time attacking others for their beliefs and that for them, that's entertaining.

I've never been attacked for my lack of belief, I've had people tell me I need to embrace god and save my soul but all it takes to avoid that is "No thank you." It annoys me to no end that atheists will speak of extremists and the nasty religious people who constantly try to convert others as if they're above that.

Human beings hate being wrong. The best way to prove you are right is to put people you think are wrong in their place so you can give yourself a mental pat on the back.

I used to be atheist, and was pretty big douche about it. Then I got into an argument with someone WAY smarter than I am, and they made me think long and hard about what I really believed. Now I'm of the religious bent. Except I ask questions about the 2,000+ year old, translated-many-times, written-by-corruptible-humans account of God and His works instead of simply taking the contents at face value.

The way I see it, if a man can design and build a car, or a computer, why can't an entity on a much more lovecraftian scale do the same, only instead of a car it's a universe?

 

[New Troll]

oh gawd.. the stories I could tell.

If you want to talk ignorance, think about this. When I worked at my local Co-op (a chain retail store here in England, I worked in the food/grocery side of the business). I cannot tell you how often I had customers come up to me, demanding that something was wrong and when they wouldn't listen to me when I SHOWED them it was wrong (for example, prices or what items were on a deal), I got a supervisor and then they would still not accept that they were in the wrong... just because "The customer is always right".

That kind of ignorance pisses me off.

Haha, this reminded me of a customer I had last week who really wanted a laptop I had personally marked down, but was trying to talk me down to a lower price. I kept telling them I couldn't go any lower and I was giving the lowest price they'd get from anyone in the store because I'm more concerned with getting rid of the product to make room for new merchandise where-as my managers are more concerned with getting as much out of the customer as they can. They refused to believe me and demanded to talk to a supervisor. They ended up leaving without the laptop they wanted so badly because my manager only would allow me to take 10% off retail price. I had 40% off. Customers shot themselves in their own feet.

And that reminds me of pawn stores. I've been watching Pawn Stars lately and it always amuses me when the customer will find out what an item is worth, yet still demands more. Either be reasonable or move on. And I also love it when they use the term "sentimental!" Like that has any value what-so-ever to anyone else in the world!

 

[Chairman Miaow]

I don't mind intensive purposes, in that I remember much mocking of a guy who said that while trying to impress us with his write wordy skills.

Generally, eh, I could care less.

Was trying to think of something but you just dropped it in my lap. It is "couldn't care less" not "could care less".

This is relevant http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw