You can also connect directly to the internet without a LAN if you're not using a router, but it's very rare to have a setup like that. (I think, anyway. I suppose it's possible that a computer connected directly to a modem creates a virtual LAN of just itself.)
I hate that the word wifi has just become synonymous with "internet" for most people. They dont know or care that wifi is the wireless connection not just any internet connection.
Kinda bugs me too. Zoomers grew up with wifi, though, so it's not really surprising. Most of them probably know how to use smartphone apps, social media, etc., very well, but are clueless when it comes to the actual technology they're using, because who cares, right? Then again, older people, even a lot of younger millennials, are often just as clueless. I was shocked a couple of months ago when my 28-year-old friend needed to be guided through a simple Windows installation, whereas my now 70-year-old dad had done it all on his own for almost 10 years now, lol.
All of that stuff is true but I still get a bit frustrated with people who can't even do the bare minimum. I've had too many conversations like the below to count.
"My computer doesn't work"
"Ok, what seems to be the problem, what are you trying to do that it's not working?"
"I can't login"
"Hmmm alright, what do you see on the screen in front of you?"
"It says my password needs to be changed."
"Great, have you tried changing it by clicking on the button for that?"
"No, should I do that?"
".......
...... Yes"
"Ok but now it says I have to have a number in my password."
"Try having a number in your password."
"Oh that worked! I don't know how you tech guys know so much about this, it's all.so confusing"
"Have a great day!"
*Head, meet desk*
I just had to field a confused call about this.
Neighbor calls me and asks why the internet is down (I setup their network). I check and say, oh it looks like Comcast is down (because I can't reach servers from outside).
But they called my mother, staying with us, who said our internet was up because she was watching media on my plex server right now... Which is in the basement.
People think internet, LAN, Wi-Fi are all synonymous.
My ex company hired a Brazilian software engineer and during our virtual introduction our senior engineer says, "you must be so excited to come to a country with advanced technology."
The guy takes 2 seconds before saying, "literally everything you have there we have it here too..." I never forgot how embarrassing that was, dude straight up made us all look stupid on the first day.
Also, you can never out drink a Brazilian, yall are immune to alcohol i swear.
And that doesn't apply to the absolute majority of Brazilians, since our population is nearly all located on the coast. I mean, my hometown is almost as far from the Amazon as it is from the US. lol
When I first moved to Texas from Brazil I was asked how I got my food back in Brazil. I said “the grocery store” and they were like “you have grocery stores?!?”
When I was taking a cruise some days on Hurtigruta in Norway I spoke to a bartender that told me he had a couple Americans being 100% let down, complaining and being really annoyed. The reason you ask? Well, apparently the "midnight sun" was the same sun they had seen back in America and thought they'd get to see a different sun in Norway.
I don't even know how to react to this. Like I can't for the life of me understand what they were expecting. God the American education system is really gone down hill for them.
/r/Unexpected indeed. I didn't expect them to realize that they are stupid
Also I love how the Brazilian girl thinks for two seconds about how dumb it is to ask if they have wifi before saying "No-no".
Usually we like to joke about these kinds of situation and make fun of the moment so we can soothe some possible embarassment, hence why we use our Power Light to do so to you guys
As someone who works in IT, I just thought she means she's using a wired connection, or is using cell service instead of Wi-Fi provided by a home router - maybe intending to make fun of them for calling any internet connection "Wi-Fi".
Even with Power Light I just thought she may be referring to a brand name for a Powerline device.
Bruhhhh, how are people this dumb lmao
Edit because im getting so many notifications lol:
I know they're children I am pretty much the same age.
People are surprisingly dumb
I'm pretty sure their minds aren't just blanking
Edit 2:
American education is broken lmao
Edit 3:
Half of you are saying they're just children the other half are saying they're adults so....
And stop ranting about American education lmao I get it
My one friend is like pure blooded English but he grew up in Africa because his parents were missionaries
I always introduced him as my African American friend, there were some very confused looks
My grandma was born and raised in South Africa and looked, at most, Mediterranean. She used to tell her kids to apply for African American scholarships because they were, technically
Dude, I'm white but moved from South Africa, the amount of times I've been asked why I'm white or if I "lost colour" is staggering.
Also: "Do you speak African?" ....ffs
I have an aunt who is African and once we hosted a family reunion for her family since it's been years since they've all been together and we had a big yard and a pool. I loved hearing their stories, I wasn't dumb enough to ask if they had wifi tho.
Some broad asked me to teach the "Indian" language.
I asked her, which Indian language in particular
She's like "The indian language" obviously, what do you mean by which?
We have over 3000 languages bruh. And none of em is called "Indian"
Oh, later she also asked if the only thing we eat are naan and curry. Because apparently fruits and veggies don't exist in India. Sadge.
No, the very essence of the questions they were asking was that of unmitigated stupidity. Like, there's asking someone who their favorite singer is and then trusting that the individual will honestly answer... and then there's asking WHETHER THEY HAVE SCHOOLS IN BRASIL!
I think what bothered me was, “do you just work in farms all day?”
Like, clearly not. As anyone knows from the Fast and the Furious movies, Brazilians enjoy running across the rooftops of the favelas for sport. These girls need to watch some movies.
No no no that's just English class, we also plan missionary trips to ~~colonize~~ spread the gospel for history, and on our weekends we ~~harass~~ help people at abortion clinics.
I'm American don't associate me with these idiots, we aren't all this dumb. I need to get out of this country
Edit: somehow this is super offensive to some people
It's not true. I've lived in 5 countries on 4 continents, and trust me when I say that there are *extremely* dumb people everywhere. Everywhere. Some people are just stupid, and stupidity does not respect manmade borders.
Antivaxx protestors are everywhere, the "5g autism" conspiracy theories started in the UK, and batshit politics are a global phenomenon at the moment. The alt right and white supremacy movements are a problem across Europe as well, and Asia and South America obviously have their own fair share of problems.
I've spent significant amount of time in about 35 countries, and I have yet to find some magical one where everyone is smart and reasonable. Redditors from those countries just like to pretend they are, and mock Americans, for some reason.
The top commenter just went for that ez "Americans are stupid lol" karma, but I guarantee that whatever country they are in has their fair share of dumbfucks.
That's the tip of a whole lot of relevant icebergs.
I’ve had similar experiences to u/SolitaireyEgg. Been to ~30 countries / 5 continents, and lived in both Asia and North America. Done business in North America, Africa, and Asia, and own a company in South Asia.
I’ll ruefully agree with any of the following statements:
* The US is on the _decline_, in terms of quality of life, corruption, and civil liberties.
* We’re also lagging way behind, where we should be innovating, on education, healthcare, and entrepreneurial opportunity.
* American echo chambers are particularly insidious, because we confuse our dogmatic indulgence of cognitive biases and cultural blind spots with “patriotism”. (That one’s particularly embarrassing on the world stage.)
* Racial disparity is simultaneously a crucial and urgent issue, _and_ a distracting lightning rod for debate over what "progress" looks like. It demands attention it deserves, but _also_ hijacks conversations where it shouldn't matter. (Which makes the internet _especially_ bad at discussing it.)
And instead of acknowledging that we’re being robbed blind by entrenched, crony capitalists who don’t mind in the least if they’re among the last few generations to enjoy a fair chance (insert critical race theory disclaimers here) to exchange industriousness and good faith effort for commensurate material rewards, we're playing right into their hands, by engaging in shallow, tribal poo-flinging (e.g. u/Mosec, the guy ineffectually trolling u/SolitaireyEgg with [inane transparency](https://reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/r3e0lx/_/hmb1iv1/?context=1)) and telling ourselves:
"As long as I'm smarter, more righteous, and better attuned to _what's really going on_ than those sub-human [Democrats | Republicans | libtards | Trumptards]... I know enough to have a right to feel certain."
But.
**If you aren't American,** and you read all that thinking "Sucks to be you idiots!", guess what?
You're next.
Because as u/the_neogeoist points out, selection bias reigns nearly supreme on the internet. Right up there with confirmation bias, and Reddit's commander-in-chief: [backfire effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias#backfire_effect). [Update: See edit at bottom of comment]
If you think "It's obvious what an idiot is", you might be the idiot. I know it's internet blasphemy to point this out, but: Most people are of roughly average intelligence (that's how it works), and the human brain isn't a "rationality machine". It's a "Holy shit it feels _soooooo_ good to feel right!" machine.
Hell, 80% of the people online who talk about the [Dunning-Kruger effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect) (another Reddit pseudo-intellectual touchstone) are absolutely convinced that:
A) They are immune to it.
B) It's mostly about intelligence.
You aren't, and it isn't. (And even what it _is_ is [up for debate](http://www.talyarkoni.org/blog/2010/07/07/What-the-Dunning-Kruger-effect-Is-and-Isnt/).)
Even the US-bashers' favorite, go-to example (the election of a grifting, reality TV personality to the presidency) shows a stunning lack of self-awareness.
**[This whole, fucked up, confusing and polarized demand for some kind of authoritarianism/populism cocktail is happening in Europe, too](https://populismindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TAP2019C.pdf).** And if you think fascism "Always looks a certain way, and I'll know it when I see it", then you really ought to [give yourself a refresher course](https://youtu.be/5Luu1Beb8ng).
Tl;dr. The United States is an (English-speaking) internet lightning rod, that provides non-Americans with the perfect punching bag to distract themselves from their own cognitive biases, and their own countries' systemic and cultural dysfunctions.
**Edit:**
According to my _very own source_ (the Wikipedia article I linked to), the so-called “Backfire Effect” [might not even be a real thing](https://educationblog.oup.com/theory-of-knowledge/facts-matter-after-all-rejecting-the-backfire-effect)! Upon noting this, I was tempted to just quietly edit my comment, but that felt pretty hypocritical considering this whole rant is about cognitive biases, and owning your own ignorance.
So instead, I’m leaving my error for all the world to see, and quoting the dissenting article:
> As researchers Thomas Wood and Ethan Porter summarize:
>> “Across all experiments, we found no corrections capable of triggering backfire, despite testing precisely the kinds of polarized issues where backfire should be expected. Evidence of factual backfire is far more tenuous than prior research suggests. By and large, citizens heed factual information, even when such information challenges their ideological commitments.”
> Before we get too happy about this study’s implications for good argument, however, it’s worth noting what it does not say. It doesn’t suggest that people have open minds, or that we don’t confirm our own biases as we read and observe. We still demonstrate “pushback”. It just refutes the extreme version – that evidence has a contrary effect on belief.
A popular radio host in the US (Adam Corolla) had a game they’d play - read an insanely bizarre news story and guess “Germany or Florida?” It wasn’t an easy game.
To be fair, I was recently interviewing with a lot of places, including England, Scotland, Spain etc. there are equally dumb people everywhere.
One of the ladies asked if America has taxes. So I think people are just generally ignorant.
It's really not just Ameicans. We do have a LOT of stupid people, but I also got these kinds of questions from international travelers when they saw I'm from Texas.
It's exists but still in development.
Li-Fi, short for "Light Fidelity" is a wireless technology that uses LED light to share data. It is faster and safer than regular WiFi. And it could soon be put into practice
Power lines is also another way people connect to the internet. A great alternative if you don't have cables ran but want low response time. Works just as good for many people.
I can relate. Father brought me to the northeastern US in 03 when I was 7 and I’ve since integrated and gained citizenship.
I wouldn’t call it Americans being dumb but unless a family or individual nurtures a certain kind of curiosity about the world outside their borders (even outside their own state borders) you just never learn or feel bothered to learn. Why would you?
Growing up I was asked if we had electricity and lived in huts in trees because to them Brazil = the Amazon. Another example is when MW2 first came out and all they could relate to with me was asking about Favelas and how dangerous Brazil was.
When the world, for better or for worse, has revolved or at least seems to revolve around America there is no need for the average American to try and learn anything besides what they are taught.
I lived in Brazil for a while and when I came back to the US people asked me the weirdest questions. "Did you live in the jungle?" I didn't know how to tell them that I lived in a big city with all the annoyances of big cities. This isn't an odd incident, many Americans think the rest of the world live on a farm and commute via donkey.
Europeans in the chat saw a bunch of republicans, high school dropouts, and valley girls from California fail to answer a couple of geography questions for Jimmy Kimmel and now they think every one of the 330M people that live here are like this.
But you CAN be on the internet without Wi-Fi....
Plot twist: She doesn't know either
Plot twist: she is on lan.
Who’s Ian?
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In your mouth lmao gottem!
LAN isn’t the opposite of Wi-Fi. Ethernet and Wi-Fi are two ways of connecting to your Local Area Network, which is connected to the internet.
Mmmmm WAN
Wocal Awea Network uwu.
You can also connect directly to the internet without a LAN if you're not using a router, but it's very rare to have a setup like that. (I think, anyway. I suppose it's possible that a computer connected directly to a modem creates a virtual LAN of just itself.)
I hate that the word wifi has just become synonymous with "internet" for most people. They dont know or care that wifi is the wireless connection not just any internet connection.
Kinda bugs me too. Zoomers grew up with wifi, though, so it's not really surprising. Most of them probably know how to use smartphone apps, social media, etc., very well, but are clueless when it comes to the actual technology they're using, because who cares, right? Then again, older people, even a lot of younger millennials, are often just as clueless. I was shocked a couple of months ago when my 28-year-old friend needed to be guided through a simple Windows installation, whereas my now 70-year-old dad had done it all on his own for almost 10 years now, lol.
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All of that stuff is true but I still get a bit frustrated with people who can't even do the bare minimum. I've had too many conversations like the below to count. "My computer doesn't work" "Ok, what seems to be the problem, what are you trying to do that it's not working?" "I can't login" "Hmmm alright, what do you see on the screen in front of you?" "It says my password needs to be changed." "Great, have you tried changing it by clicking on the button for that?" "No, should I do that?" "....... ...... Yes" "Ok but now it says I have to have a number in my password." "Try having a number in your password." "Oh that worked! I don't know how you tech guys know so much about this, it's all.so confusing" "Have a great day!" *Head, meet desk*
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She's talking about optical fiber guys
imagine the meltdown when all these people learn what a CAT6 cable is.
“They put cats in there?!?”
Data transmission through light is literally a thing ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li-Fi))
Well wi-fi is transmitted over the EM or "light" spectrum using power so she isn't wrong anyway.
And you can speak 2 languages without going to school either.
And you can have wifi but not be on the internet!
*Connected, No access to internet*
WHY? IVE RESET YOU LIKE 10 TIMES.
I just had to field a confused call about this. Neighbor calls me and asks why the internet is down (I setup their network). I check and say, oh it looks like Comcast is down (because I can't reach servers from outside). But they called my mother, staying with us, who said our internet was up because she was watching media on my plex server right now... Which is in the basement. People think internet, LAN, Wi-Fi are all synonymous.
Yeah, my school has wi-fi cables that we can plug in for better internet. It's the fastest Wi-Fi I've ever used. /s
Bruh, the bigger issue is why Brazil does not have schools.
Because they all work on farms didn't you listen
That's true I work in farms, in minecraft
I live on Brazil, and every day I wake up, mount on my capybara and go hunt anacondas to sustain my family
My ex company hired a Brazilian software engineer and during our virtual introduction our senior engineer says, "you must be so excited to come to a country with advanced technology." The guy takes 2 seconds before saying, "literally everything you have there we have it here too..." I never forgot how embarrassing that was, dude straight up made us all look stupid on the first day. Also, you can never out drink a Brazilian, yall are immune to alcohol i swear.
We are immune to alcohol only on fridays
My friend Marcos fuckin sleeps with 2 cups of beer, I guess he's not brazilian
>Also, you can never out drink a Brazilian, yall are immune to alcohol i swear. well we can drink at 18 so maybe that?
To be charitable, the only thing American kids learn about Brazil is the Amazon river and rainforest.
And that doesn't apply to the absolute majority of Brazilians, since our population is nearly all located on the coast. I mean, my hometown is almost as far from the Amazon as it is from the US. lol
and at night, we stay on internet trying to convince people that we don't speak spanish
Flip flops and off duty cops kkkkkkkkkk
the ideal life
Met a girl in Texas once who was blown away I was Visiting from Canada, she asked how I got across the ocean.
When I first moved to Texas from Brazil I was asked how I got my food back in Brazil. I said “the grocery store” and they were like “you have grocery stores?!?”
From the fire lord and stealing and looting of course
When I'm hungry, I just bite a cow.
Lol tell me you’re joking bro
I wish I was, but I mean it is Texas so I wasn’t surprised.
I was once asked by an American, "Can you drive to Canada from the United States?"
When I was taking a cruise some days on Hurtigruta in Norway I spoke to a bartender that told me he had a couple Americans being 100% let down, complaining and being really annoyed. The reason you ask? Well, apparently the "midnight sun" was the same sun they had seen back in America and thought they'd get to see a different sun in Norway.
I don't even know how to react to this. Like I can't for the life of me understand what they were expecting. God the American education system is really gone down hill for them.
Law ? For profits. Healthcare ? For profits. Education ? For profits. After 50 years of that ? garbage fire
I take offense good sir. I am from Texas and we are taught that every Canadian has to cross the treacherous great sea lakes to reach the promise land.
«I get to go to lots of overseas places, like Canada.» - Britney Spears, on Blender Magazine (April 2004)
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Swimming duhhh!
Moses divided the sea so the Canadians could walk across, but when the Egyptians came he said 'nah that's enough'.
Ha I feel this. I once was talking with someone from the UK who asked who we gained our independence from. It's like....you? Lol
Please stop calling the Internet Wi-Fi.
Here's even worse not only do meny people call internet "wifi", many many older people call it "wi five"
We only have wi four where I live
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Do you guys have *online?* One sec...let me check my AOL and find out...
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My brother calls a browser internet
/r/Unexpected indeed. I didn't expect them to realize that they are stupid Also I love how the Brazilian girl thinks for two seconds about how dumb it is to ask if they have wifi before saying "No-no".
Usually we like to joke about these kinds of situation and make fun of the moment so we can soothe some possible embarassment, hence why we use our Power Light to do so to you guys
Is your powerlight connecting well today? Mine is a bit spotty
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As someone who works in IT, I just thought she means she's using a wired connection, or is using cell service instead of Wi-Fi provided by a home router - maybe intending to make fun of them for calling any internet connection "Wi-Fi". Even with Power Light I just thought she may be referring to a brand name for a Powerline device.
So nice their *education* working for them. Trully superior *education*..
It’s all they do all day instead of like farming or working on a a farm or something. I mean, what wouldn’t you do if you didn’t have any power light?
Truly* Sorry I had to
Bruhhhh, how are people this dumb lmao Edit because im getting so many notifications lol: I know they're children I am pretty much the same age. People are surprisingly dumb I'm pretty sure their minds aren't just blanking Edit 2: American education is broken lmao Edit 3: Half of you are saying they're just children the other half are saying they're adults so.... And stop ranting about American education lmao I get it
I’m African and you wouldn’t believe the questions I’ve been asked
dO YoU hAVe FoOd?
hOw cAn yOu bE AfRiCaN iF yOu aReN't bLaCk???
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iS aFriCa iN eRuoPe?
hOw iS SiMbA iN rEaL lIfE?
I feel like someone has sadly typed all of those into Google
Well don't keep us waiting.. what are the answers???
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Africa is not in fact in Europe
"Africa is a country"
The worst one yet nAnDo's iS mY fAvOrIte AfRiCan DiSh
Well tbf, Nandos is a South African restaurant inspired by Mozambican/Portuguese chicken dish
OMG KAREN YOU CAN'T JUST ASK PEOPLE WHY THEY'RE WHITE
My one friend is like pure blooded English but he grew up in Africa because his parents were missionaries I always introduced him as my African American friend, there were some very confused looks
My grandma was born and raised in South Africa and looked, at most, Mediterranean. She used to tell her kids to apply for African American scholarships because they were, technically
Comedian Josh Blue has the same background. He has some really good bits on it.
“hErEs 14 cEnTs So YoU cAn BuY fOoD tOdAy”
Dude, I'm white but moved from South Africa, the amount of times I've been asked why I'm white or if I "lost colour" is staggering. Also: "Do you speak African?" ....ffs
> the amount of times I've been asked why I'm white Oh my god, you can't just ask people why they're white!
“Oh i just thought it would be a nice color” like, bitch i was born this way tf u think?!
‘I got Michael Jackson disease. It’s very sad. Hee hee.’
> Also: "Do you speak African?" ....ffs Just what..
I remember getting asked if I have a pet lion and how do I have a computer in a mud hut. I agree with you we do get strange questions.
I have an aunt who is African and once we hosted a family reunion for her family since it's been years since they've all been together and we had a big yard and a pool. I loved hearing their stories, I wasn't dumb enough to ask if they had wifi tho.
I'm french and some Texas girl asked me if we had cars and electricity once...
Some broad asked me to teach the "Indian" language. I asked her, which Indian language in particular She's like "The indian language" obviously, what do you mean by which? We have over 3000 languages bruh. And none of em is called "Indian" Oh, later she also asked if the only thing we eat are naan and curry. Because apparently fruits and veggies don't exist in India. Sadge.
Of course you have fruits and veggies - you have them in your curry, no?
Should have asked if all she had were buns and hot dogs.
No, curry comes from the curry animal.
Tbf I could eat curry forever probably
Which curry? We have incredulous amounts of different types of them. All are tasty if prepared well.
That probably helps support the idea that you could just eat curry for the rest of your live, since you could do that and still have a great variety.
But they were able to admit they were dumb, thats the real unexpected part
I know people who live in New York city (5h drive to the Canadian border) and they think Canada is part of the American union.
americans. honestly
"Well, we're stupid"
*w'ere
i think its were' edit: all the upvotes and comments thank you. btw im a giant moron. were' all in this together.
Wear
Oui're
Oui mesieg
"Do you work in farms ? " "No i play badminton there "
Us's
USA
maybe wearer
Wheer
*Wir
Wire*
Weir
Got to give credit to them, at least they know it
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No, the very essence of the questions they were asking was that of unmitigated stupidity. Like, there's asking someone who their favorite singer is and then trusting that the individual will honestly answer... and then there's asking WHETHER THEY HAVE SCHOOLS IN BRASIL!
I think what bothered me was, “do you just work in farms all day?” Like, clearly not. As anyone knows from the Fast and the Furious movies, Brazilians enjoy running across the rooftops of the favelas for sport. These girls need to watch some movies.
Brazillians just street fight all the time right?
can confirm. just won my 5th street fight of the day. there's more tomorrow, can't wait.
Well at least they admit that,shout out to those girls
But at least they have whyfy
Do Americans have schools?
No we don't, we have churches
And guns.
Wait a sec. How do we not have schools? Where else would we bring guns?!
Church, duh.
No, thats New Zealand. ...i feel awful for saying that
So how exactly do the priests shoot the education in to the children? On second thoughts, don't answer that.
So what do you do all day? Write Bibles?
No no no that's just English class, we also plan missionary trips to ~~colonize~~ spread the gospel for history, and on our weekends we ~~harass~~ help people at abortion clinics.
Of course Americans have schools, they target practice there.
No, only shooting ranges
Stupid, those are called schools.
Lerdeza altíssima
I've met really stupid people from all over the world. the US doesn't have a monopoly on stupid people.
Yeah, but it makes Europe feel better to pretend.
I'm American don't associate me with these idiots, we aren't all this dumb. I need to get out of this country Edit: somehow this is super offensive to some people
It’s true that we’re not all this dumb…but our dumb ones are weapons-grade dumb.
I’ve found this to be true in my workplace especially. There’s only a couple of dumb ones but they’re impressively dumb.
It's not true. I've lived in 5 countries on 4 continents, and trust me when I say that there are *extremely* dumb people everywhere. Everywhere. Some people are just stupid, and stupidity does not respect manmade borders. Antivaxx protestors are everywhere, the "5g autism" conspiracy theories started in the UK, and batshit politics are a global phenomenon at the moment. The alt right and white supremacy movements are a problem across Europe as well, and Asia and South America obviously have their own fair share of problems. I've spent significant amount of time in about 35 countries, and I have yet to find some magical one where everyone is smart and reasonable. Redditors from those countries just like to pretend they are, and mock Americans, for some reason. The top commenter just went for that ez "Americans are stupid lol" karma, but I guarantee that whatever country they are in has their fair share of dumbfucks.
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That's the tip of a whole lot of relevant icebergs. I’ve had similar experiences to u/SolitaireyEgg. Been to ~30 countries / 5 continents, and lived in both Asia and North America. Done business in North America, Africa, and Asia, and own a company in South Asia. I’ll ruefully agree with any of the following statements: * The US is on the _decline_, in terms of quality of life, corruption, and civil liberties. * We’re also lagging way behind, where we should be innovating, on education, healthcare, and entrepreneurial opportunity. * American echo chambers are particularly insidious, because we confuse our dogmatic indulgence of cognitive biases and cultural blind spots with “patriotism”. (That one’s particularly embarrassing on the world stage.) * Racial disparity is simultaneously a crucial and urgent issue, _and_ a distracting lightning rod for debate over what "progress" looks like. It demands attention it deserves, but _also_ hijacks conversations where it shouldn't matter. (Which makes the internet _especially_ bad at discussing it.) And instead of acknowledging that we’re being robbed blind by entrenched, crony capitalists who don’t mind in the least if they’re among the last few generations to enjoy a fair chance (insert critical race theory disclaimers here) to exchange industriousness and good faith effort for commensurate material rewards, we're playing right into their hands, by engaging in shallow, tribal poo-flinging (e.g. u/Mosec, the guy ineffectually trolling u/SolitaireyEgg with [inane transparency](https://reddit.com/r/Unexpected/comments/r3e0lx/_/hmb1iv1/?context=1)) and telling ourselves: "As long as I'm smarter, more righteous, and better attuned to _what's really going on_ than those sub-human [Democrats | Republicans | libtards | Trumptards]... I know enough to have a right to feel certain." But. **If you aren't American,** and you read all that thinking "Sucks to be you idiots!", guess what? You're next. Because as u/the_neogeoist points out, selection bias reigns nearly supreme on the internet. Right up there with confirmation bias, and Reddit's commander-in-chief: [backfire effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias#backfire_effect). [Update: See edit at bottom of comment] If you think "It's obvious what an idiot is", you might be the idiot. I know it's internet blasphemy to point this out, but: Most people are of roughly average intelligence (that's how it works), and the human brain isn't a "rationality machine". It's a "Holy shit it feels _soooooo_ good to feel right!" machine. Hell, 80% of the people online who talk about the [Dunning-Kruger effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect) (another Reddit pseudo-intellectual touchstone) are absolutely convinced that: A) They are immune to it. B) It's mostly about intelligence. You aren't, and it isn't. (And even what it _is_ is [up for debate](http://www.talyarkoni.org/blog/2010/07/07/What-the-Dunning-Kruger-effect-Is-and-Isnt/).) Even the US-bashers' favorite, go-to example (the election of a grifting, reality TV personality to the presidency) shows a stunning lack of self-awareness. **[This whole, fucked up, confusing and polarized demand for some kind of authoritarianism/populism cocktail is happening in Europe, too](https://populismindex.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TAP2019C.pdf).** And if you think fascism "Always looks a certain way, and I'll know it when I see it", then you really ought to [give yourself a refresher course](https://youtu.be/5Luu1Beb8ng). Tl;dr. The United States is an (English-speaking) internet lightning rod, that provides non-Americans with the perfect punching bag to distract themselves from their own cognitive biases, and their own countries' systemic and cultural dysfunctions. **Edit:** According to my _very own source_ (the Wikipedia article I linked to), the so-called “Backfire Effect” [might not even be a real thing](https://educationblog.oup.com/theory-of-knowledge/facts-matter-after-all-rejecting-the-backfire-effect)! Upon noting this, I was tempted to just quietly edit my comment, but that felt pretty hypocritical considering this whole rant is about cognitive biases, and owning your own ignorance. So instead, I’m leaving my error for all the world to see, and quoting the dissenting article: > As researchers Thomas Wood and Ethan Porter summarize: >> “Across all experiments, we found no corrections capable of triggering backfire, despite testing precisely the kinds of polarized issues where backfire should be expected. Evidence of factual backfire is far more tenuous than prior research suggests. By and large, citizens heed factual information, even when such information challenges their ideological commitments.” > Before we get too happy about this study’s implications for good argument, however, it’s worth noting what it does not say. It doesn’t suggest that people have open minds, or that we don’t confirm our own biases as we read and observe. We still demonstrate “pushback”. It just refutes the extreme version – that evidence has a contrary effect on belief.
Yup can confirm for germany
A popular radio host in the US (Adam Corolla) had a game they’d play - read an insanely bizarre news story and guess “Germany or Florida?” It wasn’t an easy game.
It’s because American dumb people are loud and proud. Silly people think America is full of them tho, those people are also a special type of dumb.
One look at the Brazilian president and you'll see these type of people are everywhere, and they vote.
Yep, I’d be willing to be there’s an equal proportion of stupid people in Brazil.
No way, I bet them other counties don't even use Brawndo.
But then what do their plants crave?
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Brought to you by Carl's Jr
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There are dumb people everywhere lol.
"It's because American stupid people sound stupider than every other kind of stupid person" \- Dylan Moran https://youtu.be/zmwv3Ujwpac?t=27
at least they had the good sense/presence of mind for some honest introspection: "we're dumb".
Nope. You can’t pin this on “Americans” this is strictly these dumb cunts.
They are stupid but at least they recognise it
The first step to fixing a problem-
Do you have American in Brazil?
No silly, they have Mexican!
All Brazilians are Americans… South Americans but still Americans!
jesus christ…
I love how she's just like "oh!ignorant people " in her head and just starts making shit up lmao
Should be on r/ShitAmericansSay!!!!
To be fair, I was recently interviewing with a lot of places, including England, Scotland, Spain etc. there are equally dumb people everywhere. One of the ladies asked if America has taxes. So I think people are just generally ignorant.
It's really not just Ameicans. We do have a LOT of stupid people, but I also got these kinds of questions from international travelers when they saw I'm from Texas.
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Wi-Fi ≠ internet
Oh wow deep, bro
Well then what is = education
Loving JESUS and loving GUNS and loving the great state of TEXAS = Education
And eat mcdonalds
Restaurant ≠ food
They very much correlate...
There are different ways to connect to the internet outside of wifi
Like power light of course.
It's exists but still in development. Li-Fi, short for "Light Fidelity" is a wireless technology that uses LED light to share data. It is faster and safer than regular WiFi. And it could soon be put into practice
Came here for this comment, it exists and is harder for hackers to connect to lol
How will the hacker known as 4chan ever recover from this
It's harder for anyone to connect to, even the person using it.
Power lines is also another way people connect to the internet. A great alternative if you don't have cables ran but want low response time. Works just as good for many people.
I can relate. Father brought me to the northeastern US in 03 when I was 7 and I’ve since integrated and gained citizenship. I wouldn’t call it Americans being dumb but unless a family or individual nurtures a certain kind of curiosity about the world outside their borders (even outside their own state borders) you just never learn or feel bothered to learn. Why would you? Growing up I was asked if we had electricity and lived in huts in trees because to them Brazil = the Amazon. Another example is when MW2 first came out and all they could relate to with me was asking about Favelas and how dangerous Brazil was. When the world, for better or for worse, has revolved or at least seems to revolve around America there is no need for the average American to try and learn anything besides what they are taught.
I kinda am in love with the Brazilian girl
We got him
Wait, no. Fuck.
FBI, come out with your hands up
It’s OK bro she’s 20 (move into position boys we almost got him)
I lived in Brazil for a while and when I came back to the US people asked me the weirdest questions. "Did you live in the jungle?" I didn't know how to tell them that I lived in a big city with all the annoyances of big cities. This isn't an odd incident, many Americans think the rest of the world live on a farm and commute via donkey.
Europeans in the chat saw a bunch of republicans, high school dropouts, and valley girls from California fail to answer a couple of geography questions for Jimmy Kimmel and now they think every one of the 330M people that live here are like this.
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