Virtuous ignorance

Running into walls of stupid

A few months ago, I was in Europe, visiting family and celebrating my mother-in-law’s 90^th birthday.
I also went to see my sister. Yes, the one who does not like to be called a mass-murderer.
But I behaved. We spent two days together and we did not have a single fight. It was a lonely feeling, but that’s how it is. We avoided politics, but it was still part of the atmosphere. I met other friends and relatives, and again, I had to behave, I had to handle them, carefully dance around subjects that would prove upsetting to them to talk about.
I am sure you know what I mean and I am sure you know how draining it can be. Still, I had some heated conversations. Since we came home, I had several more. I found them all very educational. Let me share some of the exchanges I had with:

The forester, the lecturer, the draftsman, the artist, the Linux-guy and the gardener.
I picked these six for the similarities in the dynamics of our conversations and to illustrate the wisdom of the Carl Jung quote above. It is not about them, but about the political dynamics they represent. Some were outright spectacular:

• The lecturer turned to me and asked: “Do you realize, that the vaccines saved 300 million lives?”
  I was stunned, but I had a vow not to get into an argument, so I answered: “If you say so.”

• The draftsman told me that Putin wants to not only recreate the old Soviet union, but to conquer the whole of Europe. “How do you know that?” I asked. He heard Putin saying it.
  He is also 100% convinced that I am brainwashed.  

• The forester, when I pointed out some proven lies of the government and the MSM and said that they shouldn’t be trusted, got all worked up and shouted: “If you can’t trust the government, then WHO CAN YOU TRUST?!?!?”

• The artist kept returning to the same point, that we both grew up in countries under the control of the Russians, while I kept pointing out that we were oppressed by the communists whose primary victims were the Russians themselves. She just bypassed the argument and asked: “If you love Putin so much, why don’t you move to Russia?”

• The Gardener was born in a 100% Hungarian village in Rumania. He grew up in a clearly oppressed minority. One could expect that he can understand the plight of such minorities.
  Yet, when I made the point that in this Ukrainian situation, the Russians of Donbas were the oppressed minority deprived of their language rights and the Russians just went to their aid as it is their right under the UN charter; he got very visibly angry and started shouting: NO, we will not talk about this because you cannot understand what it means to live in a minority. He told me to shut up, because I couldn’t possibly understand his lived experience.

• The Linux guy was actually funny in his honesty, when I suggested to consider to read “The science delusion” (which is, btw, not a political book) or at least watch the half an hour speech of the author about it. “I won’t” he said. “Why?” I asked. “Because I don’t want to be you” he said, going on to explain that I am the product of my influences, and he is not interested in the influences that (in his mind) created me.

I could have asked the lecturer about his sources, but I know that there is no such thing. He probably read it in the tabloids or the Main stream media (same thing). Second or third hand interpretation of speculative propaganda.            

The draftsman was simply lying, which does not exclude the possibility that he actually believes his own lie. It is also entirely possible, that he was watching some state propaganda channel, where some experts were explaining their speculative phantasies while in the background, he saw a stock footage showing Putin with his mouth moving. If he really didn’t pay attention, he could have easily concluded that he heard Putin talking. In either case, something this preposterous cannot be argued with. After such proclamation, there is nothing left to talk about and that was his point: to end the conversation with a trump-card.

The forester is simply afraid of uncertainty. He can get very angry and very loud, saying the most insane things that are clearly designed to convince himself about the righteousness of his own beliefs, not others.
He also said that he does not care what the truth is and whether I might be right. This is his side, and he wants his side to win. You know, the my country, right or wrong argument.

The artist was very genuinely upset with our conversation, so when we were leaving, I hugged her and said that we love her, and in the future, we can avoid sensitive subjects. She said “You don’t understand how upsetting it is for me to know that there are people who think like you”

The Linux guy is probably the smartest of the bunch, but in a way the least interested. He is a very busy geek with some hobbies that also keep him busy enough. While we were talking, his girlfriend was on the phone fact-checking our conversation. When I mentioned Ruppert Sheldrake, or Aseem Malhotra, she just jumped on the fact-chokers’ website to find some ‘dirt’ on them, triumphantly showing him the results.
The message in the attitude was “You see? They are on the other side! We don’t have to listen to them, we don’t have to think! Of course, Zork is saying stupid things, since he is listening to the damned!”

When the gardener told me that I should shut up because I am too stupid to understand his life experience, I should have just stood up and left, but I do not like making scenes. Still, it had a rather chilling effect on our relationship.

The quote attributed to Jung has two implied points that need to be discussed.
What Jung actually said was this:

“Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!” (source)

Point one is that a judgement is a deferral to the consensus view.
Point two, which I am making here, is that a judgement and the decisions that led to it, are moral acts.

Our morality and self-image, as expressed through our judgements, are the most important part of our identities. Thinking is not just difficult, but dangerous as well. Thinking may make you change your mind, leading to a different identity. There is safety in ignorance. There is safety in the herd.
The Linux guy understands that perfectly. The rest know it instinctively.           

A conversation is a form of thinking. A few years ago, I was having a conversation with the lecturer and his wife, mostly the later. As the conversation was breaking down, I switched to the Socratic approach of asking simple questions to find common ground. When (I think both) realized where I am going with the questions, the lecturer jumped up and shouted to her: “Don’t answer!! Can’t you see that it’s a trap?”
That is not a conversation.

The reason I decided to write this post was the striking similarity in my interlocutors’ attitude.
Like religious fanatics, they all are:

• Judgmental with virtue signaling and moral posturing

• Highly emotional

• Poorly informed

• Actively refusing to consider any information, any source contrary to their position

• Rigidly uncompromising and defensive of their position

Every one of these people would categorically refuse not only to consider, but even to look at any original source, official statistics, actual scientific paper or book that would put into question their firmly held beliefs.
And they are clearly proud of their ignorance. They would never listen to what Putin have to say, or consider the opinion of an actual scientist who is contradicting the officially declared dogma.

Every God needs a devil. For these people, who see themselves on the side of the Angels, I must look like the spawn of Satan. Maybe even worse: Lucifer, the light-bringer, testing their faith, and the tenets of dogma, the received knowledge.

We cannot find a common ground if we are living on different planes. One cannot argue with faith, only with an open mind. Ignorance is bliss indeed, but it may very well destroy us. Judgements do not make the world a better place.

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