Stupid vs Ignorant

The term ‘stupid’ is tossed about frequently, usually as an epithet or angry sputter. Truth is different.  Stupid is mismatching facts and arriving at a conclusion that is simply wrong or skewed or unsupported by the facts. All the building blocks of a logical answer are present but the debater gets his conclusion wrong. This is an error in logic, smarts, ability to put things together logically. In short stupidity is alive in the moment.

Another way the wrong conclusion is arrived at is through ignorance. The individual simply doesn't have the facts or connected reasoning available to build a proper conclusion. Bits of knowledge are missing. Facts are not at hand. Missing pieces of the argument or discussion make for strange conclusions.

Clearly the two circumstances are different. Stupid or ignorant. Both are somewhat an insult but ignorance can be fixed. Stupid may not be reparable. The larger insult, therefore, is stupid.

Regardless of the presence of free public education, a great deal of ignorance is present in the land. Unfortunately, some ignorance is culturally perpetuated. Prejudice is one form of cultural ignorance – anti black, Hispanic, immigrant and gay are examples of cultural prejudice. Another is over reliance on biblical teachings that then are adopted as culturally true historical facts. Biblical teachings are also used to displace science. Thus logical conclusions are starved of harder facts that distort truth as some people view it.

I would place biblical culture in the ignorance column. The Bible teaches wisdom. It offers a view of world history before records were widely maintained. The Bible is a grand allegory written to explain life on this planet at a time when the term planet was itself undefined. Allegory as explanation came to be accepted as fact. There is value in that, and beauty. And there is wonder as well at the creativity of man’s mind to come up with answers for the unanswerable.

Later research and scientific methods helped prove some of the assumptions in the Bible, but not all. The Earth is not 6000 years old. Dinosaurs existed prior to mankind by millions of years. Evolution of flora and fauna slowly yielded magic. It is there for all to see. Not all believe, however. That is chosen ignorance. But it is not stupid.

Why raise this issue? Simply because I overheard someone say someone was stupid because he didn't believe as he did. Disagreement over the meaning of a public discussion does not necessarily mean one of the participants is stupid. It seems to me that accusation is a pejorative that is at the least unfair, and at the worst, a prejudiced conclusion.

Ignorance can be fixed through education and thoughtful discussion. For example, ignorance causes litter. The litterer does not know that litter harms flora and fauna which carries downstream consequences – plastic packaging material strangles birds, affects food chain functioning, clogs up water ways and streams with dead bird carcasses. The ‘downstream’ effects are broad and ever widening. Decaying bird corpses can affect micro organisms in the streams and the fish that feed on them.

We are ignoring for the moment the blight that litter causes on the landscape. Or the putrid aromas caused in the air we breathe due to rotting matter. Although aesthetics are an important consideration, their scientific cause and effect is more important.

Teaching a litterer the results of his lazy habit will hopefully switch on his awareness of the harm he is doing. This may lead to a change in behavior. We can hope such is the case. If successful we can proclaim victory over ignorance.

Stupid is another issue entirely. When presented with all of the necessary facts and reasoning, a person can still come to a conclusion that simply is wrong. Fixing stupid is a greater task. Changing the heart and the mind is necessary to redirect the stupid toward a healthier result. The heart is needed in this calculation because often stupid turns to hate and emotion. Turning from hate is much more complicated. There is a motivation deep inside to feel badly about something – the core of stupid.

Ignorance is much more malleable and fixable. It takes time and goodwill to change stupid. And that assumes goodwill is reachable.

One wonders if that is possible.

July 23, 2014