The most extraordinary case of ignorance you have witnessed

[Assassin Xaero]

A few of us were having a religious debate once and some guy I used to work with said "without the bible, how would world leaders know right from wrong?"

The Tea Party. 'Nuff said.

Have they actually even done anything yet, or are they just disgracing the name of the revolutionaries?

 

[Purplecoyote]

A woman on a Belgian tv quiz saying the Menin Gate was in Brugge. You see, the Menin Gate is a large memorial gate in Ypres,Belgium, with the names of the British soldiers and commonwealth who died in WO1 and were never found (let me tell you it's a HUGE gate, like enormous). Every single day at eight pm they sound The Last Post. Ypres is kind of the centre of information about WO1 in Belgium, and every single child who has gone to a Belgian school has been there at least five times.

So you really have to be an unbelievable idiot to not know it, and when there was a collective silence after she answered it she just giggled going "oh,am I wrong or something?"

 

[Stoic raptor]

It seems we have some people here who are confusing ignorance with stupidity.

As for examples, I will use myself. I didn't know what March Madness was until I was 13 years old. I am now 15 years old.

 

[alleghory415]

Off the top of my head, the first thing that comes to mind is this...

I had a friend Ashleigh who despite her overly bubbly demeanor was a bit of an airhead. She had recently taken a trip to Alaska and came back with a pair of earrings shaped like the tradition Inuit design of salmon. She sat down next to me and I looked over at her and said in my usual smarmy way: "Nice salmon earrings, Ash..."

to which she replied, very enthusiastically...

"Dummie, these aren't SALMON, they're fish!"

I haven't let her live that down yet and to this day I still laugh when I think about it. Definately not the best I've seen in this thread but it still has a special place in my heart

 

[Chamale]

I was only allowed 2 rebuttals, I used up my 2 before he finished his last. I literally meant I couldn't rebuttal. Reading comprehension woohoo.

In Alberta Debate, you're not allowed to introduce any new contentions after the opponent's last rebuttal. Couldn't you have called him out on that, or does your region have different rules?

 

[Klitch]

In my high school English class everyone was chatting as the teacher was done with her lesson for the day. So one of those random moments of complete silence that seem to pop up in rooms full of conversation happened and one girl unexpectedly broke the silence with the query:

"What's a dildo?"

The room burst into laughter and the teacher frowned and said "When you find out what that is, you'll realize how totally inappropriate that question is." Without doubt the funniest moment of ignorance I've ever seen.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

Well, I hate to bring this up again, and I don't agree with the stereotype that All Americans are stupid, but this is just so worth watching:

It's hilarious, in a bang-my-head-against-the-wall-til-brain-damage-occurs sort of way.

 

[bak00777]

This case of ignorance happens nearly every day.

People using ignorant without knowing what it meant. I eventually got so fed up I asked "Dude,do you even know what ignorant means?" He replied saying "Well,I dunno. What does it mean?" I replied after facepalming "You're being kind of ignorant right now by not knowing the definition of ignorant." He then asked "So what does ignorant mean?" I facepalmed again and walked away.

oh god, i think nearly 60% of my high school didnt know what ignorant meant. They use it as a synonym for rude. I once almost got my ass kicked for pointing that out to someone. He said "Stop being so ig'nant(yes thats right he left out the -nor-)!" So i replied "Actually you are ignorant in the definition of ignorant..." I think it confused him.

 

[Vash the Stampede']

Ok, so I'm sitting in the physics lounge at my university and I'm just talking to my friend who was on his tutoring hour. This big chick walks in and asks if he can help her with her astronomy homework. He starts talking to her about the issues she was having and he says "ok, tell me what the heliocentric theory is?".

---With a straight face she replies "water"

So he says "ok, lets try the other one, what is the geocentric theory?"

---Once again she plainly replies with the word "dirt"

I literally wanted to fall out of my seat laughing and my friend's face looked like he wanted to shoot himself right then and there lol.

 

[RatheMcGrath]

It's either "religious" people who comment on Science despite not knowing anything about it or "scientific" people who comment on religion without knowing anything about it. Toss up between the two. Both are annoying.

 

[HellspawnCandy]

I was only allowed 2 rebuttals, I used up my 2 before he finished his last. I literally meant I couldn't rebuttal. Reading comprehension woohoo.

In Alberta Debate, you're not allowed to introduce any new contentions after the opponent's last rebuttal. Couldn't you have called him out on that, or does your region have different rules?

Well this wasn't really a debate. It was basically a final exam for debate class. Nothing too big.

 

[MasterChief892039]

I've met multiple Christians that didn't know Jesus was Jewish, and presumably had never actually read the Bible.

Also one time back in a highschool science class, the teacher informed us that potassium explodes in water, so a girl raised her hand and asked, "Does that mean bananas would explode if you put them in a glass of water?"

 

[WorldCritic]

I know I can think of a better one, but the one that comes to mind was when I was in high school and hanging out with some friends. One of them was doing some math homework and he asked me what the difference between addition and multiplication was. I explained it to him and then he screamed at me that I was a liar because 2+2 and 2*2 both equal 4.

 

[Zachary Unkle]

This case of ignorance happens nearly every day.

People using ignorant without knowing what it meant. I eventually got so fed up I asked "Dude,do you even know what ignorant means?" He replied saying "Well,I dunno. What does it mean?" I replied after facepalming "You're being kind of ignorant right now by not knowing the definition of ignorant." He then asked "So what does ignorant mean?" I facepalmed again and walked away.

oh god, i think nearly 60% of my high school didnt know what ignorant meant. They use it as a synonym for rude. I once almost got my ass kicked for pointing that out to someone. He said "Stop being so ig'nant(yes thats right he left out the -nor-)!" So i replied "Actually you are ignorant in the definition of ignorant..." I think it confused him.

Hooray for confusing stupid people! *High fives through the internet*
High fives aside,pretty much everyone I know who uses the word ignorant on a daily basis doesn't know the definition of it. And as all us paranoid New Jerseyans say "It's Chris Christie's fault."

 

[voetballeeuw]

Well, I hate to bring this up again, and I don't agree with the stereotype that All Americans are stupid, but this is just so worth watching:

Wow. I'm not sure whether to burst out into laughter or isolate myself from society. Damn.

OT: In my freshman History class, we had been reviewing the map of Europe. So the next day, the teacher would tell us the name of a country and ask as where it is. He ended up asking a student where Germany was, but she didn't know. Granted, it's plausible that she didn't know where Germany was before, but we had been studying Europe for a while now.

 

[uc.asc]

It seems we have some people here who are confusing ignorance with stupidity.

As for examples, I will use myself. I didn't know what March Madness was until I was 13 years old. I am now 15 years old.

I don't know what march madness is. I'm 24.

 

[Kadoodle]

There were kids in my art class that didn't know which two colors make orange. This was freshman year, high school.


I reckon that in kindergarten these were the kids who ran around naked instead of learning their colors.

 

[Chamale]

I've met multiple Christians that didn't know Jesus was Jewish, and presumably had never actually read the Bible.

Also one time back in a highschool science class, the teacher informed us that potassium explodes in water, so a girl raised her hand and asked, "Does that mean bananas would explode if you put them in a glass of water?"

I've been looking at potassium as a radiation source for some experiments, and someone said: Friend: "Does that mean bananas are radioactive?"
Me: "Yes, they are"

SUBVERSION:
Friend: "Oh, OK, I guess something can be slightly radioactive but not dangerous."

Well this wasn't really a debate. It was basically a final exam for debate class. Nothing too big.

You have a debate class? That sounds awesome. But I think your opponent should have been failed for introducing a new point after your final rebuttal.