I have been thinking about ignorance lately. There is just so damn much of it. If ignorance is bliss there are a lot of people living in "...the merry old land of Oz." But that is a low quality ignorance - the kind that breeds unfounded fear, prejudice, intolerance, superstition, a dopey Homer Simpson-like delirium of pseudo happiness, and just about anything with the prefix 'anti'. Then there is high quality ignorance - the kind that "prepares the mind for learning". It is knowing that you don't know and desiring to fill the gap. Examples of people who tend to exhibit a penchant for high quality ingnorance: scientists, teachers, writers, artists in general, small children. As for low quality ignorance we have only to look to: Fox News, politicians, clerics, economists and teenagers.
My friend over at Whatifandwhynot prompted me to think about advice. I have certainly given and received my share of advice. For my part the good advice mostly fell by the wayside. The bad advice? It stuck like a sucker fish on the belly of a whale. As for the advice I've given, it was doled out in buckets full of ignorant rubbish. I was one of those annoying people with the hubris (just for you a) to think not only do I know all I need know, I also know all you need to know...think jackass and you'll be right. But I have reformed. These days I try to keep my own counsel, letting people learn their own lessons in their own ways. As for the ignorance, I mostly hover between low and high quality, probably a kind of mediocre ignorance. I know that I don't know and am very confused by what I know. So any advice from me should come with an alert level 'blue' - suspect, possibly dangerous and certainly subversive.
That said I leave you with this bit of timeless advice from Sydney Friedman, "Ladies and Gentlemen take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice."
That's all I have for now.
My friend over at Whatifandwhynot prompted me to think about advice. I have certainly given and received my share of advice. For my part the good advice mostly fell by the wayside. The bad advice? It stuck like a sucker fish on the belly of a whale. As for the advice I've given, it was doled out in buckets full of ignorant rubbish. I was one of those annoying people with the hubris (just for you a) to think not only do I know all I need know, I also know all you need to know...think jackass and you'll be right. But I have reformed. These days I try to keep my own counsel, letting people learn their own lessons in their own ways. As for the ignorance, I mostly hover between low and high quality, probably a kind of mediocre ignorance. I know that I don't know and am very confused by what I know. So any advice from me should come with an alert level 'blue' - suspect, possibly dangerous and certainly subversive.
That said I leave you with this bit of timeless advice from Sydney Friedman, "Ladies and Gentlemen take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice."
That's all I have for now.
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