So I was in a meeting at work when the news about O'Connor broke.

[milestogo]

I don't want to give a way too much but, these people SHOULD KNOW who is on the Supreme Court and should have known that this justice retired 17 years ago. And then people started talking about how "there's going to be an opening" and "Biden's going to shift the court" and "this couldn't have happened at a worse time". I just kept quiet.

I was stunned. I haven't even heard her name in years. How could anyone think she was still on the Court?

[flying_wahini]

1. Because they are stupid?

Probably haven’t read a real newspaper for years, online or otherwise.

[LuvLoogie]

2. You should have noted openly that O'Connor was no longer on the court.

You really wouldn't have to say anything else. Hold a mirror up to their oblivious stupidity.

[Ninga]

3. Proverbial palm face at the willful ignorance

of supposed adult voting age Americans. It’s stunning ignorance. Yet opinions.

[patphil]

4. Bush replaced her with Samuel Alito, another candidate for worst SC Justice of all time.

[yardwork]

5. It's very discouraging and worrisome.

I feel as if I was more aware in high school of current events and how are government works than many supposedly educated adults are now.

I'm sorry to sound like a curmudgeon but our democracy is in a fragile state and people need to wake up.

That must have been startling and depressing for you to witness.

[IA8IT]

6. and they vote...........face palm............rescind their citizenship

[3catwoman3]

14. And they reproduce.

[Coventina]

7. Well, I cannot stand on my high horse, for some reason I thought she was already dead!!

[TSExile]

10. So did I!!

[milestogo]

12. I think she retired to take care of her husband, who was in poor health.

But generally speaking, these justices work too long. I don't think most people want to work up until the day they die.

[TSExile]

13. Yes!! Term limits!!

If term limits had been established YEARS ago, maybe we wouldn't be in the mess we're in right now with SCOTUS.

[japple]

18. Yes, I did too. n/t

[gratuitous]

8. Maybe Alito can replace her as an ex-justice?

But I'd take Slappy, Boof or Aunt Lydia as well.

[jcgoldie]

9. Maybe Alito can replace her an an ex-living human being

Oh wait maybe he already is...

[IrishAfricanAmerican]

11. Sounds like mission accomplished MSM to me.

[GuppyGal]

15. LOLLLLL

[Lonestarblue]

16. I don't know whether it's lack of interest or just addiction to Fox and other right-wing media, but the level

of historical ignorance in this country is pretty astonishing. I understand that working people do not necessarily have a lot of time for news, but one would think that knowing the current members of the Supreme Court might be helpful.

[Sky Jewels]

21. Frankly I think that "Americans work and don't have time to keep up with stuff"

is a bullshit excuse used to let Americans off the hook. People in other countries also work but are able to keep up with the news of the world. And many of them know far more about US politics and history and current events than the average American! It doesn't take much time of effort to skim a few headlines online or even flip through an actual newspaper.

[cab67]

17. Don't be surprised.

I teach highly intelligent college students. I've stopped being surprised at what they don't know.

I've met students who appear to believe a President can fire Supreme Court justices at will; who were unaware that WW2 was fought in both Europe and the Pacific; and who found it hard to believe that bats and whales are mammals.

I gave a quiz a while back that asked students some questions about pictures of various animals. The token mammal on this quiz was usually a human, and I often used pictures of celebrities who'd recently died - and that year, I used just-deceased George Harrison. One student wrote on their quiz, "Wasn't he in some band?"

As a grad student many years ago, I helped grade a midterm on which the professor showed a picture of the earth with a big wedge cut out. The point was to have students identify the various layers of the earth - crust, mantle, inner and outer core. A sizable number identified the crust as the atmosphere. One of the other TA's asked a student why they'd done that. The student pointed to South America and asked, "Isn't that a cloud?"

And don't get me started on unintentionally funny misspellings.

[milestogo]

19. I remember the night John Lennon was shot.

I told my roommate and she said "Wasn't he one of the Beatles or something?"

[live love laugh]

20. People. Are. Stupid.

AF

[nilram]

22. Did they figure it out later?