John the Philosopher aka Mr. California asked me to comment on the following:
“Ignorance rules the unreflecting herd.” 1
Ignorance is defined by the dictionary as: lack of knowledge, education, or awareness.
My first thought is that this falls under the rubric of “Nothing new under the sun”. A Google search on — quotes ignorance of the masses — revealed many similar thoughts. Here are a few that I cherry picked:
“Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.” ~~ Thomas Edison
“It’s much easier not to know things sometimes.” ~~ Stephen Chbosky
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.” ~~ Isaac Asimov
“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” ~~ Sir Winston Churchill
“Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession – their ignorance.” ~~Hendrik Willem van Loon
And I could go on.
My next thought Continue reading “Mr. California Wonders About Ignorance”
