Not much of a stretch really. Watch people cock their pilot chute and pull and pull and pull on it till you swear they'll pull the hackey off. Then without checking to see if it's cocked, they look at the window to see if the mark is there.
They know it needs to be cocked but haven't a clue how it actually works.
That's just one example.
I think most would understand how a pilot chute works and if they didn't they would be wiling to learn. My point was more about the not caring remark. Just because one may not know something, doesn't mean they care less.