Ignorance

“It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of your own ignorance.” ~Thomas Sowell

Like millions of people, I am immensely ignorant. But at least, I am aware of it… and it keeps my ego in check.

Human Knowledge is currently so incredibly vast that it is mind-boggling. When you think of it, it is a little bit like trying to visualize the universe. It is so huge that it is almost impossible to grasp its extent.

In the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci (1452 –1519) could have claimed to be a polymath, a “Universal Man”, but today it would be an impossible assertion.
In the 21st century, no one can pretend to be well informed about everything. You might be a nuclear scientist, but you probably could not to fix a car or bake a soufflé dish.

Being Ignorant does not necessarily mean being uneducated. It can mean lacking information about a certain subject. For instance, many learned senior citizens are still afraid or disinclined to use a computer. This does not make them ignoramuses.

“The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer

Stem Cell therapy (a life-saving procedure) is a good example of such a predicament. Without knowing much about this subject, some people are adamantly opposed to it. If you are ignorant about a certain procedure, learn about it before fighting it and preventing others from benefiting from it.

Ignorance often goes hand in hand with intolerance. European Jews were persecuted for centuries because of the ridiculous (and widely debunked) Blood libel accusation.

“Blood libel is an accusation that Jews kidnapped and murdered the children of Christians in order to use their blood as part of their religious rituals during Jewish holidays.”

It also took a long time and some memorable publicity stunts for Antoine-Augustin Parmentier to entice starving French people to eat potatoes

In 1748 the French Parliament had actually forbidden the cultivation of the potato (on the grounds that it was thought to cause leprosy among other things), and this law remained on the books in Parmentier’s time, until 1772.”

Ignorance

is not a maladie honteuse”. It is a disease that is highly treatable. If you are open-minded and willing to apply yourself, it is a condition that can be easily cured.

Alain

PS: Only ignorant stooges will believe that our club has been hacked by Russian operatives.