I would say most people don't understand how banking works in general.
True, though they understand it well enough to use it, which is most certainly not true for ripple.
What they know is they don't like ATM fees or foreign transaction fees, etc. I see Ripple having more potential as an institutional tool rather than a consumer facing product.
Alright then, since I'm not a bank or in the business of providing banking services, why do I ever (in fact frequently) hear about ripple. Again the targeting of the message and the message itself seems misdirected and confused.