Sunday 1 November 2015

There's no excuse for ignorance

We live in an age where information is widely available for free.

We live in the digital age - information is transferred every second. Internet is accessible on various platforms and access is widening worldwide every day.

Books have filled up libraries for centuries and they're now available as eBooks for purchase and even for free.

But people still want to defend ignorance by saying 'I don't know any better.'

And people still try and defend ignorant behaviour by saying 'it's ignorance'. Well we can see that it is ignorance, but that doesn't make it ok.

Ignorance is not ok. There's no excuse for ignorance. Ignorance is one of those things that should have died out as the digital age was growing. Information is so widely available that ignorance about particular cultures, people, topics etc. doesn't make any sense. I don't expect anyone to know the metabolic pathway, but seriously some things you shouldn't be ignorant about. If you continue to be, I guess all of this is down to wilful ignorance (continuing to ignore anything that contradicts your reality). That still isn't ok.

What's even more worrying is that there's people who are so happy to admit that they are ignorant. Being truthful is a wonderful trait at times but admitting ignorance is like admitting you don't care enough to read or learn and you're excusing yourself for not knowing.

Why pride on ignorance? The root of racism, prejudice, sexism, all other inequalities or oppressions of people, can be attributed exclusively or partially to ignorance.

Nevertheless, it is good to admit to your weaknesses or shortcomings, but what exactly are you going to do about it?