harry potter - How blind are wizards to Muggle technology?

After reading a few other questions where people were talking about how dangerous knowledge of Muggle weaponry would be on the world of wizardry. It made me think: how could they not know about it?

In the films Arthur Weasley asks Harry what the function of a rubber duck is - something trivially easy to find out, but he makes it sound like some big mystery.

We know the Ministry - a kind of pseudo-branch of British government - has a Muggle research division, and that Hogwarts has a Muggle studies class. How incompetent are these people? I understand that technology vulnerable to EM has been reasoned to not work near magic in other questions here, but even free newspapers available all around London would give a wealth of knowledge they seem to lack.

I have also read in passing people's theories of wizards distancing Muggle-borns from their roots. But I'd think any Muggle-born given initiation starting at 10 years of age could explain at least a rubber duck.

EDIT: To clarify, A lot of people are telling me they don't care. Though as an extension of my question I would ask why? Are we to assume they're just isolationist? Xenophobic? Racist towards Muggles?

Comments

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