Common Sense

Working in as public of a position as I do with customers from literally every walk of life coming through (At some point in time everybody has to go to either the bank or the post office, or they take a vacation and come by the building in the middle of all 3 major tourist attractions in the city) I see a lot.

The problem isn't that nobody has common sense. The problem is, those who DO have it pretty much go unnoticed. I got bored one day and counted he number of people that came in the door and compared it to the number of people who either asked me a stupid question or were just plain morons. (That's right, research at work. Shut up.)

Turns out about 1/15 displayed signs of idiocy. I figure, combine that with the fact that everyone's allowed a stupid moment from time to time, and I'd say 1/20 have no common sense. Like I said before, the problem is that the ones who do just go about their business and you don't notice them.
 
That may be even a little high. Look at the number of stupid drivers on the road.

Again, the poor ones are the ones who stand out, but how many more do you see that just do whatever they're doing and are forgotten 10 feet down the road?
 
Common Sense is for all intents and purposes, alive, the point we need to clarify, is weather or not it is applied. There are people who have no grasp on it of course we have all meet them, pittied them, Stomped angerily upon thier skulls hoping to remove thier stain upon humanitys memory from existence. I would say that often people are just so caught up in them selves or thier problems that they refuse to pay attention to the reality around them. I would say 5% is a good rough estimate, but it's probably a little high.
 
I'll be the first one to admit that I don't always employ common sense. Some things can be so obvious they smack me in the face and I randomly stick my foot in my mouth. For that reason, I agree with Rhysis and the point that the majority of the time people are wrapped up in their own problems and life that they don't always pay attention to what's going on around them. However, I don't agree that lack of common sense makes you an utter moron. I would consider myself at least reasonably intelligent (with a good vocabulary) and just because I don't always employ common sense doesn't mean that I don't have any whatsoever. So, it's kind of a Catch 22. A genius can be stupid and an idiot can sometimes be the smartest person in the bunch. Whether or not common sense is common depends on the point of view and can be viewed as a rhetorical question.
 
What we call 'common sense' can be, as briefly outlined by IR, viewed in different ways due to varying perceptions of what common sense is and what it comprises. When dealing with some situations when moderating on Com I often wonder why some people cannot apply some common sense to the predicaments or disputes that they come across in their day to day lives. However, the perception of what common sense comprises of, as mentioned, is different from those trying to mediate a situation. That can lead to misunderstandings and accusations flying back and forth over flaming and/or personal attacks.

Those who are often accused of not having common sense are those who do not face the facts and twist reality to how they want to view certain things. They could also be viewed as being irrational and stupid.

However, common sense in itself could be said to be 'common' despite the theory of 5-7% of people not having common sense. Sure enough you have those who either see the world in an irrational sense or in a different way in regards to common sense, but what common sense is always going to be a matter of perception for all of us.
 
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