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Is Willful Ignorance What Does Us In? [1]

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Date: 2022-10-21

We have a choice

ESSAY-WILL WILLFUL IGNORANCE BE OUR UNDOING?

This morning I was walking around the park with our dog Hunter and I ran in to a nice gentleman who also has two dogs. We got in to talking about our dog’s health and then our own. He has has had three joint replacements, multiple arterial stints and awaiting a hip replacement. I talked to him about some things I did to avoid any procedures so far. He seemed upset that his doctor didn’t know more and advise him better. I gave him my doctor’s name, but frankly doctors are there to treat illness. Our wellness is ultimately our responsibility in my opinion. I didn’t say this to him directly but maybe he walked away with something more to work with that can benefit him going forward.

Later I went to the grocery store; outside there was a lady getting signatures on a petition to stop the California Governor from restricting new oil production in our state. Her pitch message was that he wants to stop all oil production in the state and raise gas prices to $10 a gallon. I stopped, heard her out and told her I’d research it. When I came out I went right to my car and read a summary bill she had mentioned to make her point. The restrictions are only on oil companies not putting refineries and drilling near residential areas. No closer than 3200 feet. That’s it. Over time, by 2035 gas production in California is to be eliminated but that is not part of this bill. I went back and had to wait to talk to her because of people in line signing the petition. I got up to her table and said, “Ok I read a summary of the bill”. I then explained that what she was telling people wasn’t accurate and listed the actual measures to be taken. Also, I explained the Governor doesn’t make law, the state legislators who are elected do.

She thanked me which I interpreted as time to move on, I was bad for business. He had a lot of signatures and will fill up all her forms I suspect.

I am continually surprised by how little people know about basic things that impact their day to day lives. Because we live in a time when information on any subject is readily available, if not ubiquitous via the internet and almost effortless to access. It actually seems that people are less informed now than before we had this technology. I have to dismiss the argument that there is too much information available and it is more difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. Admittedly it does take a small bit of effort sometimes to discern that which is designed to misinform in effort to mold opinion towards an agenda versus a neutral source that generally seeks to inform. For me it is rather obvious, but then I really want to have accurate information and put in the effort to dig deeper. What is it that differentiates people like me who seek out factually substantiated data and are able to separate it from that which is manufactured to mislead, corrupt discourse and influence public opinion?

1. I am intellectually curious. I really like to get to the bottom of things and want to know as much am about as many subjects as possible. This is a personality trait, I don’t think I cultivated it.

2. I am not prone to join groups or maintain tribal affiliations. I joined a fraternity in college and that lasted two weeks. I do understand that many people are not this way and enjoy what group memberships provide. The challenge is when they adopt group consensus over their own independent thinking.

3. I use my common sense. if someone says something or I read it, I sort of know intuitively if it’s not accurate. Is this a skill that can be developed?



I have given considerable thought to this over the years and researched the phenomenon of propaganda and why it is successful. There is a library full of information on this subject that can be derived from neuroscience, sociology, biology and psychology. Why understand this, what’s the benefit? Well for one, It is an essential to understand how we process information, form beliefs and use these to construct our sense of self.



If you follow me or have read my book and essays I am alternately fascinated and wary of what an uninformed public means for humanity in the nuclear age with climate change bearing down on us.

We simply cannot avoid what is coming if we don’t understand what’s causing it, and willful ignorance may be the ultimate cause of great suffering for our planet and its inhabitants.

I don’t use ignorance as a pejorative, rather it is a state of mind that is precipitated by a choice to not know more. So there is a way to avoid the worst of it and in part it would require organizations and purveyors of misinformation to be responsible by turning their megaphone towards facts and solutions. Since we can’t count on this happening it now falls to human beings to change their habit of passive participation, to consciously intervene in allowing themselves to absorb falsities because of the dopamine hit they receive when information coincides with what they and their tribe believe to be true. We have an out, the resources are available. It requires making a choice to no longer accept our own ignorance



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