Tag: ignorance

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Mr. California Wonders About Ignorance

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”

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She’s Alive… Beautiful… Finite… Hurting… Worth Dying for

I wish I had hope. It seems to me that greed and ignorance always win out over time.

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Bigotry – Confront or Ignore?

What does one do when confronted with bigotry/ignorance?  I have a black friend that when he talks about bigots prefers to refer to them as ignorant people.  I think he is right.  Bigotry is frequently due to ignorance.  I do know that this is not always the case, but I prefer to think that most folks just need a little education.  I also believe that it is not a good thing to let such attitudes go unchallenged.  To do so is to perpetuate the ignorance.

Several years ago I took a job in the Deep South.  I had previously been living in the Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas triangle.  There were several things that shocked or bothered me when I first moved south.  One of the primary ones was the use of the “N” word.  Continue reading “Bigotry – Confront or Ignore?”

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Gee Whiz…what do you say to this?

As they say, “A rose is a rose, not matter what you call it.”

This picture tells you all you need to know about the ignorance that is the Tea Party… especially at the grass roots level.  The Tea Party is not really a “grass roots” movement.  It is fed and led and by several cynical, greedy individuals working in the background.