This is a serious question, even though I admit to being a bit bored today and feeling somewhat philosophical.
When people say we are here to fight ignorance does this mean that ignorant people will hopefully visit this site and participate?
I qualify as ignorant, comming here is stepping way out of my comfort zone but I have to say it has been a good experience. I get my ass handed to me now and then but I never take it personnal, I look at it as a no nonsense correction and try to make adjustments. I have gotten much better at researching things before I speak, better but not yet perfect. Usually I decide it would be too much trouble to cite and just not post anything.
Here is the gray area that I struggle with. Suppose I have an area of interest that I simply can't find any good cites for and I feel strongly that this is an area worthy of a good discussion but I lack the ability to put this in a discussable format without rambling for 10 paragraphs. Would it be permissable here to seek out a sponsor of sorts who we might correspond with on an issue and this person might help myself or others with refining the topic before being presented.
You dont have to ramble for 10 paragraphs to get a discussion going. Just say something like, “I have some opinions about topic X, but I feel like I still need to read more about it. How do you feel about topic X, and what soures of information have informed you?”
You can have a discussion without it being a debate. That’s what IMHO is for.
Some will, but not all people are that interested in having their ignorance dispelled. Some of the ignorance fighting is done not directly on this board, but through the ripple effect of correct information (as often formulated here) being spread by those who read the Dope.
Fighting ignorance as a slogan is great. I do believe most of the ignorant here continue on their merry ignorant way after their visit. I did say “most”.
Things I post seem to piss people off, or they just think I am a dumbass, or annoying, or a troll, or mean person. I’m more of a lurker these days but I still like reading the board. Most of the people on here are much more experienced or educated than me, so its full of very useful information, but not really a good place for me personally to socially interact or get really involved with.
It’s at least a searchable asset, like Wikipedia. Knowledge, when it is where it can be found, “combats ignorance” in a passive manner. Every library is an asset in the war against ignorance; a weapons depot, one might say.
Meanwhile, of course, we spend a lot of time combating ignorance right here among ourselves, enlightening each other and helping each other get past things we’d thought were true.
On an individual basis, this is the best service the SDMB provides. I can up and say something that I thought was true, and five people will say, “Whoa! Didn’t you know? That isn’t true at all!” I learn from it, and the overall amount of ignorance in the world is diminished by that increment.
I am woefully ignorant about so many things and oh how I wish I weren’t. Which is why I’m here, really, to have the ignorance barnacles scraped from the hull of my mind. To have that “I heart ignorance” tat lased from my mental lower back. To have the plaque of ignorance waterpik’d from the teeth of my psyche.
I would say just post what you’re thinking about posting and hope for good results. There’s bound to be some snarking, and some smugness, and some self-righteous BS, but there’s just as likely going to be some helpful comments mixed in as well.
It’s from the slogan of the Straight Dope, the decades-old column. The SDMB can use it as it falls under the same umbrella, but it can also allow frivolity outside GQ.
It’s also “ignorance,” not “the ignorant.” Albert Einstein could’ve came on here and learned about the mating habits of narwhals, or something.
Being ignorant of something means you don’t know it. Being an idiot means that you don’t know it, and are unwilling and/or unable to correct this.
