Ignorance ...

Illustration by Frank Augugliaro/The New York Times. Photographs by Getty Images

Ah, one subject close to my heart is ignorance and it's unique ability to enable one to be blissfully oblivious to how reality works at any level never ceases to amaze as it comes in all shapes and sizes, something humorously depicted in Mike Judge's Idiocarcy, a film people should watch to see why ignorance's been around since the beginning of time and will never go away as long as humans continue to reside on planet earth. One interesting aspect about this all too common phenomenon is the fact we know people who are willfully ignorant but not stupid so what gives? 

From this perspective, being ignorant's easy. Not taking the time to know while remaining true to one's core beliefs remains effortless as long as something untold doesn't come along to bite you on the ass. To learn more about this ever present human condition, the NyTimes piece titled The Surprising Allure of Ignorance awaits. :)

Aristotle taught that all human beings want to know. Our own experience teaches us that all human beings also want not to know, sometimes fiercely so. This has always been true, but there are certain historical periods when the denial of evident truths seems to be gaining the upper hand, as if some psychological virus were spreading by unknown means, the antidote suddenly powerless. This is one of those periods.

Increasing numbers of people today reject reasoning as a fool’s game that only cloaks the machinations of power. Others think instead that they have a special access to truth that exempts them from questioning, like a draft deferment. Mesmerized crowds follow preposterous prophets, irrational rumors trigger fanatical acts and magical thinking crowds out common sense and expertise. And to top it off we have elite prophets of ignorance, those learned despisers of learning who idealize “the people” and encourage them to resist doubt and build ramparts around their fixed beliefs.

Same as it ever was. - Talking Heads

The world is a recalcitrant place, and there are things about it we would prefer not to recognize. Some are uncomfortable truths about ourselves; those are the hardest to accept. Others are truths about the reality around us that, once revealed, steal from us beliefs and feelings that have somehow made our lives better, easier to live — or at least to seem that way. The experience of disenchantment is as painful as it is common, and it is not surprising that a verse from an otherwise forgotten English poem became a common proverb: Ignorance is bliss.

The contrarian view ...

But I'll tell you what they don't want. They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well informed, well educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that. That doesn't help them.” _ George Carlin

“Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.”

― Martin Luther King Jr.