Why do end users have to be stupid?

I could list endless examples, but one from 5 minutes ago. This person has asked me the same question and got the same answer about 100 times (I'm not exaggerating).

They wouldnt be end users if they werent so stupid....


But then ive met some pretty stupid technicions too...

we'd have no jobs if they could do it all themselves

If they weren't stupid they'd be developers, not users

I am so glad that I don't have to deal with end users ...but some of the programmers I have encountered have been terrible. They are supposed to know their stuff yet need their hand held through everything.

The worst ones are those that can't even follow typed instructions that explain every single step they need to do. I mean, how hard is that to do. These are not stupid people either, just that their IQ seems to drop by about 100 when without 3 metres of a computer.

I think they just don't bother even trying to think they can do it. Perhaps it's a mental block thing? Technofear?

And they can't claim it's a lack of "computer experience" if they can't follow instructions. For a while I tutored a basic computer science at Uni and I encountered a guy who had not used a computer EVER (was from a village in some Pacific Island), yet he seemed to be able to follow instructions and needed less help than others in the class who had grown up around technology ...I guess some people are just stupid when it comes to some stuff.