This is going to be a long post folks so get comfy! Having your head in the sand like an Ostrich from time to time is actually okay, but if you do it all the time... it's a problem.It's a problem for you but it also becomes a problem for those around you. Ignorance may be Bliss... but it can also be a disaster...
This is a very difficult subject for me to write about because I am not trying to say that Ignorance is about being unintelligent. Many smart, clever educated people can be completely Ignorant. And I am not writing this to name call. I am writing this because a certain type of Ignorance seems to be increasing in numbers in this country and it's effecting us as a Nation. Maybe it's just that it's getting more media attention in our society... either way.. we have to get a handle on it.
There are too many examples of how bad it is in this country, so I am going to focus on just one a little further on in this post. But for now, what does the dictionary say...
Ignorance:The condition of being ignorant: the lack of knowledge in general, or in relation to a particular subject: the state of being uneducated or uninformed.
But in my mind there are two "levels" of ignorance.
One of them is a choice.
The first is a lack of information available to you. This is the innocent side of ignorance, the side that you can't point fingers and say well you should know better. Well if no one ever explained it, how could you know? This kind of ignorance is acceptable because it's not the fault of the ignorant person.
The second type in my opinion is more like a form of Apathy... it's about not giving a damn even when the facts are right in front of you... and that's the kind of ignorance that does the most damage and the type I take issue with.
Because with that type of ignorance there is always an attitude... there's always some sort of a chip on someones shoulder and a type of unwillingness to learn regardless of the benefits to be gained.
The world has exploded with informational resources... it's everywhere... you can't get away from it unless you actively shut yourself off from it. And as a society... we are completely stressed out from it.
We need to shut down, turn off and tune out... just for our own mental health because it's too much to absorb. Life was simple before the information age hit us full throttle. So I understand and agree with every person who needs to bury their head from time to time. I do it myself.
But when people are actively ignorant because they are self absorbed or callous or arrogant and wear it as a badge of honor... their ignorance effects us all
In some cases ignorance can even be deadly. Ignorance can spread like a sort of virus and an example of this, is the West Virginia town being filmed for the show "Food Revolution" with Jamie Oliver.
If you are not familiar with the program, Jamie Oliver is a British Chef who was horrified with the food British children were being served at school and made it his life mission to bring about change there. And boy did he ever!!! He got an entire country to see the light giving the children there a proper start in leading healthier and longer lives.
Jamie decided to come to America to get the ball rolling here as well since we are so obese as a nation. He selected the town that had the worst health problems in America. He went to the schools there and was again horrified at what they were feeding kids. I was horrified too. One of the scariest parts about the situation there was that the food was actually meeting guidelines for the school district. In effect these school were just ignorantly following the rules.
Go ahead and Bang your head on your desk with me now...
Now the kids are the innocents in all this of course. But the adults.... they should be ashamed. It's ignorance... but it's that active ignorance with attitude that gets me so angry. This is why I went to such lengths to explain what I believe the difference is.
If you are ignorant because the information isn't available to you... you get a free pass...
But if you are ignorant because you choose to shut out information.... then you deserve what you get. Problem solved.... sort of...
If you are ignorant by choice... that's fine. But when you impose your ignorance on children... I am sorry but it's practically a form of abuse and should be punishable somehow.
Ignorance may be Bliss... but not if it's putting your life and the life of those around you in harms way.
This is just one tiny example of ignorance, there are countless others and I will cite others in the future.
The main idea I am trying to express in this post is that what you do and how you live effects others. Ignorance is a problem in this country and it's my hope to simply encourage people to take their head out of the sand more often then not...
The world is big and scary and we all need to hide sometimes,
but if you keep your head buried... you're just missing out. Peace...
