The Ignorance Epidemic
The Ignorance Epidemic
It’s been around forever, and we have yet to find a cure – not even close.
In the eighteenth century Voltaire and his buddies had it all worked out. They were
unhappy with the direction religion was leading Europe and they decided that
universal education would solve all their problems: people could reason their way to
morality and right thinking and all the problems would go away. Some years later
Allan Bloom lamented that education had become little more than job training.
But that’s in the West. Think of what it’s like in the Southeastern desserts, sub-
Sahara Africa and the hinterlands of China and India.
Once we just chalked it all up to stupidity, and it can be very difficult at times to tell
the difference between stupidity and ignorance, but the difference is great. And that’
s why it’s so discouraging to see how ignorance hangs in there. People who are
not stupid and have the capacity to think and be knowledgeable don’t and aren’t.
Why not? They don’t want to bother. They just don’t care enough to do what they
have to do to throw off their ignorance – as long as they are comfortable enough.
The barriers to equality lie deep within this invasive disease. So how did the elites
of the world throw it off? It wasn’t easy. It took lots of effort from family and teachers
who had found the healing elixir: motivation.
Alas. We have now discovered the healing elixir for the healing elixir – the
knowledge antidote. Actually we have known about it before most of us fully
understood ignorance; it’s quite simple. It is mindless entertainment – not just any
old entertainment: mindless entertainment that replaces thinking. But settling into it
just doesn’t come; we have to be trained to it, and the training comes from
succeeding generations similarly trained. The watchword is not don’t think, it is
concentrate on triviality – on mindless entertainment, because it feels so good.
Once we tasked our schools to try and teach students what they didn’t learn at
home, but we have found that casting seeds on rocky ground yields little chance of
successful harvest, and through generation after generation of mindless
entertainment the ground has become rockier and rockier. Rights they shout, we
have our rights, our rights to not challenge ourselves; give us mindless
entertainment! And our politicians, smelling an issue that gains them votes, listen
and respond: respect their culture! Which of course is mindless
entertainment.
That’s not the whole picture however, since we are not stupid – only happily
ignorant. So lip service must be given to other: knowledge! We (the government)
must GIVE them knowledge. And then give them jobs, give them comfort, give them
anything they think they need, but most of all mindless entertainment.
That’s not how we built the magnificent edifice upon which our lives rest. We built it
through hard work and sacrifice. And more than a little strife. That, after all, is what
it takes. We knew that once. We must have, or we wouldn’t have arrived where we
are now. Perhaps we have forgotten. Perhaps life that is too easy and full of
mindless entertainment that makes thinking unnecessary has sopped up the juices
that once challenged us to strive for ourselves. In a culture that loves conspiracy
theories perhaps we can find a conspiracy here. Let’s see, the devil made me do
it? No, that no longer works. The government is doing it to us? That’s closer, but
the government seems to be doing a pretty good job of spreading ignorance among
its ranks as well. Although one could make a fair argument that Lyndon Johnson’s
War On Poverty made great strides in that direction. It is more insidious than that; it’
s based on the torpor of excess and expectation of it continuing forever and ever.
Striving, except for the nerds, ain’t cool, and as long as the nerds do it and create
jobs, and we tax them enough to take care of the rest of us, why should the rest of
us bother? Still haven’t captured it? Surely it goes a lot deeper and that is the
beauty of a government “of the people.” No one tells us what to do; we are
independent! But maybe the torpor of ease spreads among us without centralized
direction. May I go so far as to suggest that the mindless entertainment culture has
over the decades changed the way we think about the way we should live?
Cheating certainly isn’t new, but perhaps the tolerance of it is, isn’t it? One of our
most popular television series has been about a mafia family. Children shown in
entertainment are undisciplined and unrestrained, and celebrated for being so. The
under culture raps about killing cops and impregnating hos. Sex is a game.
Families are passé. I could go on – and of course I do, ad nauseum – but that’s
enough. The pillars upon which all this rests: declining values, discipline, respect
and basic values are built, I would argue, upon rising – or at least continuing –
apathy toward ignorance, protected by hypocrisy. We defend our ignorance by
denying it.
Ignorance. How can I point to ignorance when so many attend college and pass
the multiple choice examinations with high scores to do so? Allan Bloom gave a
pretty good explanation of that: our colleges have become trade schools for an
advanced technology culture. Graduates are trained – some better than others – to
pursue careers within that culture – some better than others. How can I see these
people are ignorant? They have more knowledge than anyone has ever had before
– well, theoretically anyway – and some more than others. So ignorance might not
be the right word; then what is? Many, I might point out, have begun to lament the
decreasing ability of our educated to demonstrate critical thinking – despite
knowledge they might have, and our young are supremely knowledgeable, very
narrowly, about their entertainment culture. Knowledge is by necessity selective –
and so is ignorance. Recall the definition of propaganda: selective knowledge.
Disease is also selective – it rarely attacks the entire body, but specific organs
within the body. Propaganda is much less effective when delivered into knowledge
than it is when delivered into ignorance. I therefore claim the right to use the
concept of ignorance as an epidemic to explain what is happening to us –
specifically ignorance of how it is affecting us – and what is not happening that
should be – throughout the nation and the world, why it is happening, and what
needs to be done to deal intelligently with it – on a longer term basis than to the next
election.
I contend that in our increasingly complex world most lack knowledge of details
needed to deal with these issues – understandably; there is way too much to know.
But there are also too many who do not make an effort to find out about them either;
heaven knows there is enough information disseminated to make it possible. But it
is necessarily selective information, so grabbing the first that comes along doesn’t
do it, and a bit of comparing and thinking is in order, thinking that is rapidly
becoming our weak suit, partly because of lack of background knowledge and partly
because of lack of interest/motivation. Mindless entertainment also contributes
because it is a substitute for thinking that leaves recipients – supposed participants
– vulnerable to propaganda which is heavily embedded in the mindless
entertainment. Let’s call it what it is: the dumbing down of America by forcing it into
the mold of lowest common denominator led by a mindless entertainment
culture.
There is more, of course, dealing with diversity, political correctness, feel
goodism, entitlement and others, but that gets into another dimension, and my point
has been made.
It’s been around forever, and we have yet to find a cure – not even close.
In the eighteenth century Voltaire and his buddies had it all worked out. They were
unhappy with the direction religion was leading Europe and they decided that
universal education would solve all their problems: people could reason their way to
morality and right thinking and all the problems would go away. Some years later
Allan Bloom lamented that education had become little more than job training.
But that’s in the West. Think of what it’s like in the Southeastern desserts, sub-
Sahara Africa and the hinterlands of China and India.
Once we just chalked it all up to stupidity, and it can be very difficult at times to tell
the difference between stupidity and ignorance, but the difference is great. And that’
s why it’s so discouraging to see how ignorance hangs in there. People who are
not stupid and have the capacity to think and be knowledgeable don’t and aren’t.
Why not? They don’t want to bother. They just don’t care enough to do what they
have to do to throw off their ignorance – as long as they are comfortable enough.
The barriers to equality lie deep within this invasive disease. So how did the elites
of the world throw it off? It wasn’t easy. It took lots of effort from family and teachers
who had found the healing elixir: motivation.
Alas. We have now discovered the healing elixir for the healing elixir – the
knowledge antidote. Actually we have known about it before most of us fully
understood ignorance; it’s quite simple. It is mindless entertainment – not just any
old entertainment: mindless entertainment that replaces thinking. But settling into it
just doesn’t come; we have to be trained to it, and the training comes from
succeeding generations similarly trained. The watchword is not don’t think, it is
concentrate on triviality – on mindless entertainment, because it feels so good.
Once we tasked our schools to try and teach students what they didn’t learn at
home, but we have found that casting seeds on rocky ground yields little chance of
successful harvest, and through generation after generation of mindless
entertainment the ground has become rockier and rockier. Rights they shout, we
have our rights, our rights to not challenge ourselves; give us mindless
entertainment! And our politicians, smelling an issue that gains them votes, listen
and respond: respect their culture! Which of course is mindless
entertainment.
That’s not the whole picture however, since we are not stupid – only happily
ignorant. So lip service must be given to other: knowledge! We (the government)
must GIVE them knowledge. And then give them jobs, give them comfort, give them
anything they think they need, but most of all mindless entertainment.
That’s not how we built the magnificent edifice upon which our lives rest. We built it
through hard work and sacrifice. And more than a little strife. That, after all, is what
it takes. We knew that once. We must have, or we wouldn’t have arrived where we
are now. Perhaps we have forgotten. Perhaps life that is too easy and full of
mindless entertainment that makes thinking unnecessary has sopped up the juices
that once challenged us to strive for ourselves. In a culture that loves conspiracy
theories perhaps we can find a conspiracy here. Let’s see, the devil made me do
it? No, that no longer works. The government is doing it to us? That’s closer, but
the government seems to be doing a pretty good job of spreading ignorance among
its ranks as well. Although one could make a fair argument that Lyndon Johnson’s
War On Poverty made great strides in that direction. It is more insidious than that; it’
s based on the torpor of excess and expectation of it continuing forever and ever.
Striving, except for the nerds, ain’t cool, and as long as the nerds do it and create
jobs, and we tax them enough to take care of the rest of us, why should the rest of
us bother? Still haven’t captured it? Surely it goes a lot deeper and that is the
beauty of a government “of the people.” No one tells us what to do; we are
independent! But maybe the torpor of ease spreads among us without centralized
direction. May I go so far as to suggest that the mindless entertainment culture has
over the decades changed the way we think about the way we should live?
Cheating certainly isn’t new, but perhaps the tolerance of it is, isn’t it? One of our
most popular television series has been about a mafia family. Children shown in
entertainment are undisciplined and unrestrained, and celebrated for being so. The
under culture raps about killing cops and impregnating hos. Sex is a game.
Families are passé. I could go on – and of course I do, ad nauseum – but that’s
enough. The pillars upon which all this rests: declining values, discipline, respect
and basic values are built, I would argue, upon rising – or at least continuing –
apathy toward ignorance, protected by hypocrisy. We defend our ignorance by
denying it.
Ignorance. How can I point to ignorance when so many attend college and pass
the multiple choice examinations with high scores to do so? Allan Bloom gave a
pretty good explanation of that: our colleges have become trade schools for an
advanced technology culture. Graduates are trained – some better than others – to
pursue careers within that culture – some better than others. How can I see these
people are ignorant? They have more knowledge than anyone has ever had before
– well, theoretically anyway – and some more than others. So ignorance might not
be the right word; then what is? Many, I might point out, have begun to lament the
decreasing ability of our educated to demonstrate critical thinking – despite
knowledge they might have, and our young are supremely knowledgeable, very
narrowly, about their entertainment culture. Knowledge is by necessity selective –
and so is ignorance. Recall the definition of propaganda: selective knowledge.
Disease is also selective – it rarely attacks the entire body, but specific organs
within the body. Propaganda is much less effective when delivered into knowledge
than it is when delivered into ignorance. I therefore claim the right to use the
concept of ignorance as an epidemic to explain what is happening to us –
specifically ignorance of how it is affecting us – and what is not happening that
should be – throughout the nation and the world, why it is happening, and what
needs to be done to deal intelligently with it – on a longer term basis than to the next
election.
I contend that in our increasingly complex world most lack knowledge of details
needed to deal with these issues – understandably; there is way too much to know.
But there are also too many who do not make an effort to find out about them either;
heaven knows there is enough information disseminated to make it possible. But it
is necessarily selective information, so grabbing the first that comes along doesn’t
do it, and a bit of comparing and thinking is in order, thinking that is rapidly
becoming our weak suit, partly because of lack of background knowledge and partly
because of lack of interest/motivation. Mindless entertainment also contributes
because it is a substitute for thinking that leaves recipients – supposed participants
– vulnerable to propaganda which is heavily embedded in the mindless
entertainment. Let’s call it what it is: the dumbing down of America by forcing it into
the mold of lowest common denominator led by a mindless entertainment
culture.
There is more, of course, dealing with diversity, political correctness, feel
goodism, entitlement and others, but that gets into another dimension, and my point
has been made.