From the "Well, this is embarrassing" department...

Roxxsmom

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Maybe the old adage is correct an there really ain't no cure for stupid...

https://www.npr.org/2018/11/30/672401957/new-mexico-id-temporarily-rejected-as-foreign-by-d-c-clerk

A New Mexico man applying for a marriage license in Washington, D.C., this month had his state driver's license rejected as a form of identification because a clerk and her supervisor believed New Mexico was a foreign country.

Gavin Clarkson, a Las Cruces, N.M., resident, said he was at the District of Columbia Marriage Bureau on Nov. 20 applying for a license to wed his then-fiancée when their nuptial plans hit a brief snag. The clerk told him he would need an international passport on the apparent belief that he wasn't a U.S. citizen.

"She thought New Mexico was a foreign country," he said of the clerk as quoted by the Las Cruces Sun-News. "All the couples behind us waiting in line were laughing."

The emphasis in the above sentence is mine. I can see how one person could be this ignorant, but her supervisor was this dumb too? What are the odds? Wait, don't answer that question.


The other thing that gets me is the amazing self confidence of these people in their ignorance. People screw up, and even smart people can have amazing gaps in their knowledge, but one would think that, upon making such a mistake and asking for a passport and being told, "No, I'm from the STATE of New Mexico," the person would save face by saying, "Oh, my mistake, sir. I misheard you." Instead, these idiots double down. Years ago, a friend from another country commented that many Americans seem to suffer from self-esteem poisoning, in that they are proudly confident in their ignorance.

Clarkson and his now-spouse, Marina, a naturalized citizen from Argentina, said the whole encounter lasted about 20 minutes and ultimately they were married with a good story to tell about the process.

Clarkson's citizenship was not the only thing questioned by the clerk. Marina Clarkson speaks fluent English, but with a slight accent. However, the clerk complimented Gavin, not Marina, for his command of the language. That left Marina wondering: "Why are you complimenting him on his English?"
 

MaeZe

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:roll:

I know I shouldn't laugh at people with mental deficiencies but how did these people get their jobs?
 

Introversion

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It’s sad to see such ignorance in grown-ass adults.
 

frimble3

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This was in Washington, DC! Surely the talent pool of people looking for a job in the nation's capitol would be a little deeper?
 

Snitchcat

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This was in Washington, DC! Surely the talent pool of people looking for a job in the nation's capitol would be a little deeper?

Probably is a little deeper, but I doubt any of the little deeper crowd were applying for those particular positions at the time they were open.
 

Coddiwomple

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As a native New Mexican, I can tell you no one who’s ever lived there is surprised at this.

My sister used to have to write U.S.A. in large block letters across anything sent through the mail from her college in New York, or it would come back to her with "postage due - international" :Shrug:
 

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I used to work in an office. In a lull of our work, someone posed the question, what was the most significant thing you'd seen in your life?

I said the moon landings.

A colleague asked, "What was that?"
 

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...The other thing that gets me is the amazing self confidence of these people in their ignorance.

Aka - classic Dunning-Kruger effect. It really is a thing.

People like this seriously do not have the capacity to admit or even realize that there are things they don’t know.
 
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Introversion

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I used to work in an office. In a lull of our work, someone posed the question, what was the most significant thing you'd seen in your life?

I said the moon landings.

A colleague asked, "What was that?"

LOL! Also, eesh.

I’m often surprised at how incurious some people are. The frackin’ Internet puts the world’s libraries at the fingertips of anyone with a modern phone, but I guess they can’t break away from porn / cat photos / celebrity gossip / whatever for even a minute? You’d think your co-worker would’ve encountered a reference to Apollo missions through films, if nothing else??
 

Myrealana

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As a native New Mexican, I can tell you no one who’s ever lived there is surprised at this.

My sister used to have to write U.S.A. in large block letters across anything sent through the mail from her college in New York, or it would come back to her with "postage due - international" :Shrug:

My husband is from New Mexico. I can't count how many people asked me if we had a green card marriage, or who compliment him on how good his English is. He's been asked if he has any "New Mexico money" on him. (He humors them and pulls out a US dollar, causing much confusion.)
 

amergina

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There's a reason that New Mexico license plates have USA on them.

Lots and lots of people don't realize New Mexico is a state in this union.
 

Coddiwomple

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He humors them and pulls out a US dollar, causing much confusion.

I love this so much!

I would get people asking if I'd ever seen snow. It made me wonder if they imagined the Rocky Mountains stopping abruptly at the border between Colorado and New Mexico. Like in a sheer cliff face or something.
 

talktidy

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LOL! Also, eesh.

I’m often surprised at how incurious some people are. The frackin’ Internet puts the world’s libraries at the fingertips of anyone with a modern phone, but I guess they can’t break away from porn / cat photos / celebrity gossip / whatever for even a minute? You’d think your co-worker would’ve encountered a reference to Apollo missions through films, if nothing else??

It was a head meet desk moment for me. The penny dropped eventually and she was a little shamefaced, but not much. She is the very opposite of nerdy, completely uninterested in anything in that vein.
 

Alpha Echo

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LOL! Also, eesh.

I’m often surprised at how incurious some people are. The frackin’ Internet puts the world’s libraries at the fingertips of anyone with a modern phone, but I guess they can’t break away from porn / cat photos / celebrity gossip / whatever for even a minute? You’d think your co-worker would’ve encountered a reference to Apollo missions through films, if nothing else??

This is so true, and I'm reminded of my 14-year old. She'll be doing homework and ask my husband or me a question, any question. "Do you know anything about the War of 1812?" for example. Or "Who was King George?" And we're like - Google it. Why do we have to tell you every single time to Google it? Why isn't that your first instinct? You've grown up with Google. You barely know what Encyclopedias are. And why do you think we know all the answers to things because we don't! LOL

Use your resources, girl!
 

neandermagnon

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Why didn't they google check it? I agree re Dunning-Kruger effect. From a UK perspective, the exact details of what is or isn't considered part of the UK is very complicated. (Yes channel islands I'm looking at you!) Then there's knowing which countries are in the EU/EEA and which aren't... that gets complicated too so google's great. Knowing that it's complicated makes you google check things before telling customers that you need them to send in documents xyz because an address is outside the UK or EU/EEA when it's not and looking like a total numpty.

Let's take these people's logic further though... New York is in the UK! It's the county town of Yorkshire! New Hampshire's a county in the south of England. New England is definitely in the UK, because England! All you people from those places, you thought you were American but really you're British! And New Orleans? You're French. New Jersey... British people gonna have to google check to see if you're British or not, but we think you probably are!
 

neandermagnon

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This is so true, and I'm reminded of my 14-year old. She'll be doing homework and ask my husband or me a question, any question. "Do you know anything about the War of 1812?" for example. Or "Who was King George?" And we're like - Google it. Why do we have to tell you every single time to Google it? Why isn't that your first instinct? You've grown up with Google. You barely know what Encyclopedias are. And why do you think we know all the answers to things because we don't! LOL

Use your resources, girl!

They're resorceful when they're not supposed to be... I went to check on my 8 year old doing her maths homework... "hey Cortana, what's 7 times 9?"
 

Myrealana

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This is so true, and I'm reminded of my 14-year old. She'll be doing homework and ask my husband or me a question, any question. "Do you know anything about the War of 1812?" for example. Or "Who was King George?" And we're like - Google it. Why do we have to tell you every single time to Google it? Why isn't that your first instinct? You've grown up with Google. You barely know what Encyclopedias are. And why do you think we know all the answers to things because we don't! LOL
My children are always doing this.

"How many teaspoons in a tablespoon?"
"Who was president after Lincoln?"
"Did King James really hunt witches?"

I answer "It's a shame you don't have half a dozen devices within arms reach with access to the sum total of all human knowledge."
 

Roxxsmom

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Hawaii is another state that many people think is a foreign country. I have a close friend who grew up there, and he remembers tourists asking if they "take US money" in stores etc.

You'd think the fact that they could fly there and disembark without showing a passport would clue them in that they were traveling within the US.

As per the young people not using google thing mentioned up thread, I know exactly what you mean. I teach at a college, and the number of students who e-mail me with questions about the study guide is only exceeded by the number who leave the answers to these questions completely blank on exams (or don't answer the question asked). They moan that the answer isn't in their books or notes (it usually is, actually), and not a one of them thinks to google "parts of the nephron" or "functions of the midbrain" or "energy flow through an ecosystem" etc.

I've long thought that the more information we place at peoples' fingertips, the less they value it. I also am coming to the conclusion that having more information readily available leads to greater intellectual laziness, and (possibly) greater confusion in the same way that having "too many" choices seems to paralyze some people.
 
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Roxxsmom

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I used to work in an office. In a lull of our work, someone posed the question, what was the most significant thing you'd seen in your life?

I said the moon landings.

A colleague asked, "What was that?"

Wow. It's not like there haven't been numerous TV shows, movies, and even conspiracy theories about the
Apollo program in the intervening years or anything.

I really do think the proliferation of information and diversions on the web has led too many people to narrow their focus, rather than broaden it.

Remember when we were kids, and we'd be bored somewhere and we'd have to pick up a dusty old magazine or book we weren't that interested in and read, or at least flip through it? Sometimes I discovered something interesting in spite of myself. Smart phones have rendered that practice all but obsolete.
 

ElaineA

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I love this so much!

I would get people asking if I'd ever seen snow. It made me wonder if they imagined the Rocky Mountains stopping abruptly at the border between Colorado and New Mexico. Like in a sheer cliff face or something.

Pfft. Don't they know it ends at the wall?
 

frimble3

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Wow. It's not like there haven't been numerous TV shows, movies, and even conspiracy theories about the
Apollo program in the intervening years or anything.

I really do think the proliferation of information and diversions on the web has led too many people to narrow their focus, rather than broaden it.

Remember when we were kids, and we'd be bored somewhere and we'd have to pick up a dusty old magazine or book we weren't that interested in and read, or at least flip through it? Sometimes I discovered something interesting in spite of myself. Smart phones have rendered that practice all but obsolete.

I was born in 1960 - my dad bought me a set of Collier's encyclopedia for the occasion, and built bookshelves to hold it. That shaped my life. It's almost 60 years out of date, of course, but it was perfect for just browsing through, looking at whatever turned up next.
 

Ari Meermans

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I was born in 1960 - my dad bought me a set of Collier's encyclopedia for the occasion, and built bookshelves to hold it. That shaped my life. It's almost 60 years out of date, of course, but it was perfect for just browsing through, looking at whatever turned up next.

That brings back memories. In the 50s Mom bought a volume of the Funk & Wagnalls encyclopedia at the supermarket each week. As far as I know, I was the only one in the house who ever cracked the spines—and I eventually wore their covers off.