So, I’m wandering along the Dope, and come across the lobster thread . Shortly thereafter, I decide that sometimes, ignorance is best.
I know how lobsters are cooked. I know they’re boiled alive. I don’t want to think about it. I don’t want to see it. I will have a lobster though, extra butter, please!
Am I completely hypocritical? I know we’re here to fight ignorance and all, but there really are some things I’d rather be ignorant about. Lobster cooking is WAY up there on my list, right next to crayfish catching, leeches and veal production.
What would you rather remain ignorant about? Anything?
Having an illness that will kill me in six months to a year. I would rather not know that I’m dying.
Disclaimer: No, I’m not dying.
And yeah, I also get sad knowing that lobsters are boiled alive. So are crabs, right? I think those were the animals I saw being cooked on the Food Channel recently.
The phrase “Ignorance is bliss…” actually makes much more sense when you have the entire quote, WhyNot:
“Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.”
You were happier eating lobster when you didn’t know how they were cooked.
I disagree about ignorance being good even when it saves you from pain. Asa dedicated omnivore I like to be aware that some of the things I eat were living animals, and lived and died to be my food. I would not eat whale, dolphin, ape or monkey meat because those animals have advanced brains that are likely able to self identify and conceptualise there own being. If I am upset about how a Lobster is cooked, it shows I have an unresolved feeling towards that food animal, as such I would prefer to try and resolve that feeling instead of being ignorant of it.
A friend of mine was dumped recently. She was so distraught she was howling in tears. A few weeks later she found out that her ex had also been cheating on her for months and months.
That was something she said she would rather not have known. It adds insult to injury and adds nothing to the grand scheme of things. Her current situation is the same, but that added bit of info is even more hurtful.
I recall a short story I read some years back. It involved a little boy with psychic abilities so accurate that he was given his own syndicated radio show. He would sit there in the studio, chatting with the host, talking about second-grade type things, when all of a sudden he’d just start spouting predictions. No trance, no demonic voices – just a seven year-old kid talking about what was going to happen tomorrow, next week, next year in a calm and composed manner. One day he diverted from his usual routine. He announced that the next day the world would awaken to the dawning of a new age of peace and serenity. Starting tomorrow, he said, there will be no more wars, no strife, no poverty, and no suffering. Once they were off the air, the host asked him to elaborate. The little boy replied, “oh, I just didn’t want everybody to be scared. You see, the world is going to blow up tomorrow.”
Still not convinced…
If you’r dumped, you often feel that it was your own fault, or that you made the problems. Knowing your dumper was two timing you is incredably hurtful, but it puts your doubts about your own actions to rest.
If you know the world is going to end, then you can put things straight between God and yourself, or between yourself and those you care about. You could marry your fiancee immediately, you could have sex for the first and or last time, you could forget about the diet or going to work for that one day …
I’d rather not know details of my partner’s sexual history. I don’t want to know how many women he’s slept with or what they look like, etc. That sort of information serves no purpose. We both know we’re healthy, so it’s not like I need a detailed history. It’s the type of thing that would keep me awake at night.
Same goes for exes and if they cheated or something. What’s done is done, and I don’t need information that’s going to hurt me after the fact.
Knowledge is overrated.
For instance, I know that the Sun revolves around the Earth. I’d be happier off not knowing this fact. It doesn’t affect me in anyway. So the Sun moves in big circles around us. Big whoop-dee-doo.
Seriously, I prefer to be ignorant when its something that I can’t do anything about.
Because the more you know, the more problems you’ll see.
And if its a problem you can’t fix, it’ll drive you nuts.
