It's not that confusing for anybody that paid the least bit of attention in school. I didn't know all the nuances of it, but I was well aware that English (as well as most other Western languages) uses the Latin alphabet and Arabic numerals since like 8th grade.

Seriously, the whole bit is just showing how ignorant these people are and how easy it is to frighten them. Like the "ban dihydrogen monoxide" petitions, but for racist chucklefucks.

I don't think the article is calling people dumb. It only states objective facts, and I think it was pretty good at NOT suggesting people are dumb. Ignorant perhaps, but it does stick to the facts (and some fluff to pad the page.)

Eh, you don't need to know the entire history and reasoning behind numbers, just that the numbers we use are called Arabic numerals, which most people don't. The history is confusing, the fact that they are called Arabic numerals is not. It's just what they are.