One of the things that attracted me to this site was the strapline to the Board name - Fighting Ignorance Since 1973. Having been a member of 10 or a dozen different online discussion boards over the last 10 years, I often wonder just what counts as ignorance? As a linguist and English teacher, I often find myself chuckling at posts which, in an attempt to appear extremely erudite and intelligent, actually end up reinforcing the very point(s) they are meant to be refuting!!
My question is, therefore, just what amounts to ‘ignorance’ in the eyes of the members here?
Odd. I would think an average linguist would know how to find a dictionary and locate the definition of “ignorance” pretty quickly. As you don’t even appear to know the definition of hubris, though, I’m not holding my breath.
Hi Rach. I was asking since, even in the short time I’ve been here, some of the posts I’ve read have claimed to be challenging what DataX calls “Belief in something that isn’t true?”, only to end up reinforcing the very way of thinking that they are claiming to be challenging. Doesn’t this indicate ignorance, in itself?
At the same time, to take DataX’s definition again, how does one know that what one person believes isn’t true? Is it because there is quantifiable and falsifiable evidence to dismiss the belief, or is it simply because one doesn’t doesn’t believe it oneself?
There wouldn’t be much point in having a fight against ignorance if ignorance didn’t show up for the battle, would there? The idea of this board isn’t that we all sit around and brag about how much we already know. It’s that we gather together to learn things we didn’t know before. If you want to achieve knowledge you have to start from ignorance.
To me, ignorance simply means a lack of knowledge or understanding.
In the context of the SD strapline, it probably refers to things that are commonly misunderstood as being facts. This makes the Straight Dope the US equivalent of QI in the UK.
However, I don’t see the SDMB as being about fighting ignorance.
Most people are fundamentally ignorant of most things, if you consider the entire spectrum of human knowledge. I would imagine that as the knowledge base of humanity increases, even the smartest and best informed people are becoming, relatively speaking, more ignorant all the time - that’s the price we pay for progress and specialisation. But there is still scope for us to undertake a process of learning, an attempt at understanding what learning is, and the value it holds solely for its own sake.
So, stick around, help educate someone who isn’t quite as knowledgeable as yourself on the particular topics you are proficient in. See a post, answer them honestly and effectively to the best you can; if you can share your experience and help someone understand something they currently don’t, then job done - ignorance fought.
Now, maybe you don’t know quite so much about constitutional law, or the science of evolution, or the history of the Visigoths, or the minutiae of architectural detailing, or how to program a Raspberry Pi, or the writings of Thomas Paine, or how to bake the perfect pumpkin pie; whatever. Maybe others on this board can help you learn more about those things; it’s a collaborative process.
Remember, in many instances the ignorance being fought can be your own.
Anyway, I don’t define “ignorance” as a “belief in things that aren’t true” ( :rolleyes: ) . That’s just silly and needlessly provocative. I might “believe” that my new business will succeed, only to have it fail in 3 years… was I “ignorant” in my belief? I might believe that my child will be successful as an adult, only to have her be killed by a drunk driver… was I ignorant in my belief as I was raising her?
To be honest, we’re all lacking in knowledge that other people consider critical. So I don’t think that you could define a simple “lack of information” as being ignorant. (There is a common core of knowledge that you need to function in today’s society, but I think it’s smaller than most people assume.)
IMHO, “ignorance” is best defined as an attitude towards learning and mental self-improvement. And, imho, an ignorant attitude is not just about disliking to read or other habits that don’t reinforce learning, but ignorance is also defined as having a mental worldview in which one is so heavily invested that evidence to the contrary is fought and, eventually, ignored.
And that last… well, all of us do that at one time or another, about one subject or another.
In the context of Cecil and the Straight Dope I think it means fighting against people who are misinformed and insist on spreading bullshit even when the facts are readily available. You could call that aggressive ignorance. You can’t eliminate ignorance itself unless everybody knows everything, but you can push back against urban legends and myths and that kind of stupidity.
Yeah, they inevitably wake me when they come stampeding down the hall at 6 AM, but I try to convince them I’m still asleep.
I suppose “You cannot wake a man who is pretending to be asleep, except by climbing on top of him and prying his eyes open, all while shrieking ‘DaddyDaddyDaddyDaddy!’ with maniacal glee” is a tad long for a fortune cookie.
And how, exactly, would we keep it out? There’s banning for offensiveness, but banning someone for being wrong would be pointless and counterproductive.
Welcome to the teeming millions, described in our ad sales blurb as: " . . . thousands of the smartest, hippest people on the planet, plus a few total dipsticks." That’s probably the most accurate way to describe us. The fighting ignorance thing is aspirational.
Now, has anyone explained about the cat pictures? Or given you the list of topics guaranteed to bring out the dipsticks?
