Have you ever stopped to consider how all of the cliches we use come into being? I know that I typically do not. Yet, they roll off our tongues quickly and easily, sounding wise and sage in some cases, and lending humor to others. I believe it would be safe to say that a majority of these cliches come into being because there is truth at their core. This is not to say that everyone who uses them, does so correctly, and therefore is speaking a truth. In fact, I have heard on occasion the random cliche used inappropriately and it achieved quite the opposite of the desired effect, making the user look less than verbally nimble. So at the risk of appearing verbally inept, I would like to look a little closer at a cliche that has been circling around inside my head looking for a landing strip somewhere in the region of my brain devoted to understanding politics and where our country is headed.
"Ignorance is bliss." I have no idea who said it but they were pretty much dead on. Think about it, if you tell a five-year old child that our economy is tanking. They will not even bat an eye, even though what we are doing or not doing economically, will drastically affect them in adulthood. They do not care though, because they do not understand the implications of this statement, and it does not affect them personally, right now. I remember somewhere around the age of sixteen or seventeen, it suddenly seemed that the world had become much darker and more sinister than I once thought. As I grow older it just seems to get even more dark and more foreboding. At first I honestly just believed that it was because things were changing for the worse, and to some extent that is true, however, the bigger change probably had more to do with myself than the world around me. I was learning more, and understanding the bigger picture of what was/is going on around me. Therefore, the implications, the magnitude of all that is wrong with this world have become monsters that I can no longer ignore and must deal with everyday.
There are two ways to deal with this reality. You can acknowledge it and prepare yourself and those around you for the inevitable, making valiant efforts all the while to change what you can, to improve the situation and avert certain doom. The alternative, and what so many people choose all to hastily to do, involves burying your head in a hole in the proverbial sand and hoping that it all turns out alright. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines ignorance as "the state or fact of being ignorant : lack of knowledge, education, or awareness." Those who choose the latter are by choice ignorant.
Which leads me to the question that has been bothering me so much lately: Why are people so content to be ignorant? Not just about politics and specifically U.S. politics, but life in general. Why are people content to remain in the dark about cultures, races, religions, etc. that are opposite or different from what/who they are? Are we afraid to discover the TRUTH? Are we afraid to discover that there is a TRUTH? Are we afraid to hold our politicians and the political system accountable? Do we just not care? The fact of the situation is this, being ingorant is not going to save us. In fact if anything, it will only hasten the occurence of the undesirable. People only get involved when they are forced to face facts and when life gets uncomforable for them (i.e. 9/11, the current economic state, Hurricane Katrina, WW I, WW II, the Civil War). There are a small number who do get involved and instigate change and make policy, and those who burry their heads raise them long enough to complain about the way things are but go back to their blissful darkness as quickly as they can. Why? Because as long as it does not immediately affect them, they are content to remain blissfully ignorant.
"Ignorance is bliss." I have no idea who said it but they were pretty much dead on. Think about it, if you tell a five-year old child that our economy is tanking. They will not even bat an eye, even though what we are doing or not doing economically, will drastically affect them in adulthood. They do not care though, because they do not understand the implications of this statement, and it does not affect them personally, right now. I remember somewhere around the age of sixteen or seventeen, it suddenly seemed that the world had become much darker and more sinister than I once thought. As I grow older it just seems to get even more dark and more foreboding. At first I honestly just believed that it was because things were changing for the worse, and to some extent that is true, however, the bigger change probably had more to do with myself than the world around me. I was learning more, and understanding the bigger picture of what was/is going on around me. Therefore, the implications, the magnitude of all that is wrong with this world have become monsters that I can no longer ignore and must deal with everyday.
There are two ways to deal with this reality. You can acknowledge it and prepare yourself and those around you for the inevitable, making valiant efforts all the while to change what you can, to improve the situation and avert certain doom. The alternative, and what so many people choose all to hastily to do, involves burying your head in a hole in the proverbial sand and hoping that it all turns out alright. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary defines ignorance as "the state or fact of being ignorant : lack of knowledge, education, or awareness." Those who choose the latter are by choice ignorant.
Which leads me to the question that has been bothering me so much lately: Why are people so content to be ignorant? Not just about politics and specifically U.S. politics, but life in general. Why are people content to remain in the dark about cultures, races, religions, etc. that are opposite or different from what/who they are? Are we afraid to discover the TRUTH? Are we afraid to discover that there is a TRUTH? Are we afraid to hold our politicians and the political system accountable? Do we just not care? The fact of the situation is this, being ingorant is not going to save us. In fact if anything, it will only hasten the occurence of the undesirable. People only get involved when they are forced to face facts and when life gets uncomforable for them (i.e. 9/11, the current economic state, Hurricane Katrina, WW I, WW II, the Civil War). There are a small number who do get involved and instigate change and make policy, and those who burry their heads raise them long enough to complain about the way things are but go back to their blissful darkness as quickly as they can. Why? Because as long as it does not immediately affect them, they are content to remain blissfully ignorant.
I think you have a very valid point in what you are saying. While ignorance is bliss, I believe that the act of staying ignorant should be defined as stupidity, and I am like you; I have no clue why people choose to stay ignorant and want people to make their decisions for them. I personally have always been strong minded and I want to question everything. I am actually writing about the Civil War for my research paper this semester. Through my research on the subject I have found that the North was ignorant to the fact that slavery is what supported the South economically (right or wrong) and you could not just simply tell them that they could not use slaves anymore. It would be like taking a fisher mans boat away from him and still expect him to survive.
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