Hey, everybody. Welcome back. This is Food for
Thought. Thoughts if it were you by Neogentrics.
Now, there are a lot of things I would love to
talk about. There's a lot of things I would love
to cover. But before I can go into those topics,
I feel like I need to cover something first.
And, you know, it's something that people are
either aware of. Or they're not aware of. And
it's sad that if you're not aware of it, you
know, that's one thing. It just means you haven't
been taught. The other half of that is you've
been told, beware of it, but you don't know when
it hits you. So let's flip that over a second
for those who know, but then insistently do it.
You know. I don't know. I honestly don't know
what to tell you. And this thing is, we know
it as, well, how do I put this? People describe
it as stupidity in action. Some say that you're
being moronic. Some ask you if you have a brain
on your head, and if you do, do you know how
to use it? And yes, while these idioms are...
as they say, harsh, it brings up one small fact.
Today's topic is on ignorance. The state or fact
of being ignorant, the lack of knowledge, education,
and or awareness of certain things, okay? How
do I, you know, much like a lot of people, Racism
is an issue. I will cover racism at a later time.
But what I'm saying is, the whole thing with
racial issues, feminist issues, or any of those
things in the first place is ignorance. Whether
that group is right or wrong right now isn't
the problem. It's the ignorance of the people
who... randomly join these groups without looking
into them finding out what they're about how
they got started you know the whole black rights
matter campaign for example you know a lot of
people say that they're just you know there there's
no reason for it it's people who are plaguing
against racism even though they think racism
is dead you know first off those accusations
are ignorant because you don't know anything
about the black rights group second There's another
photon of ignorance in that group, in what I
just said also, is that you think racism is dead.
I hate to say this, but it's not. It's still
very much there, very much alive, very much as
deadly as it has always been. The problem that
I'm addressing here basically is ignorance in
itself. It's definitely an issue. And from a
lot of different things, you know, I've put up
many polls online and I had to ask, you know,
is ignorance a problem nowadays? Here's a couple
of the replies, okay? Ignorance is definitely
an issue. I think there is more ignorance in
America than there are in any other place in
the world when it comes to education and especially
war. The way we function and what life is revolved
around has no morals or sense. Likewise in other
countries, but other countries I feel aren't
as bad. Most people do not consider other opinions
or look at issues from other sides' points of
view. And this is a larger issue because not
everyone is 100 % right there. It needs to be
some type of consideration. I like that comment.
Another one was, there are so many different
kinds of ignorance in the world today and it
is really hindering us as a people. You know,
for one, people are generally ignorant, meaning
that they aren't aware or just don't know. Secondly,
there is a willful amount of ignorance. And thirdly,
one of the most common is willful ignorance,
when people just don't want to know. So, with
a couple of these responses... First things first,
let me tell you how the poll went. When I asked,
is ignorance a problem today in the world, 95
% of the people said yes and only 5 % said no.
I only got one actual reply for the no, but it's
not relevant. Each one of these addressed the
same issue that, yes, ignorance is an issue today.
One of the biggest ones that seems to be a topic
thing here. is willful ignorance. People are
being ignorant of their own accord. And yes,
that is a big issue. The other side is people
just not knowing or just doing without thinking.
And as much as I hate to say it, black people
are notorious for this. People look at them as
ignorant. They look at them as stupid. And the
sad thing is, they're not doing anything about
it. The only time it seems like they are is when
they're fighting for their own rights, or at
least they think they are, with the Black Rights
Matter movements. We shouldn't even need these
movements, is what I'm basically saying. Now,
don't get me confused. If you're all for the
movements, and you have a legit reason, then
that's fine. The movements have their purposes,
and I, you know, what's the word I was looking
for here? Commend them for their efforts. Say
Martin Luther King. It is February after all.
But that doesn't mean it's necessary. You see
what I'm saying? So we're going to take a short
break right here. And then we'll come back with
our discussion. Just something to think about.
And we're back. So, a lot of different things
that happened. A lot of different topics, you
know. A lot of different people have a lot of
different issues, okay? I don't have any opinions
towards different ethnic groups. Like I said
before, I really don't care to talk about the
LGBT community. I really don't care to talk about
the feminist community. It doesn't have any concern
to me, okay? It's not that I don't know anything
about them. I just don't see a reason in talking
about them. It's not relevant. Now, if someone
was to request that on here, I would definitely
talk about whatever I could, but I would only
give information from what I know and looked
up. I wouldn't give you guys stuff I don't know.
This is an example of what I'm talking about.
To talk about something you don't know about
is ignorant. Because now you're just putting
yourself out there as a basic target. It's like
putting a bullseye on your chest that says, just
come and shoot me. A lot of people have a lot
of issues related to different communities and
whatnot. Scrolling through online, I found a
person who had posted on a site saying that he
was friends with somebody in which they always
disagree on pretty much everything. And one day
while he was talking to another friend, his friend
that he always seems to disagree with, told him
that, you know, how he, you know, how he didn't
like the LGBT community or whatever. And he basically
always has something negative to say. Well, the
boy basically gave him his piece and left it
alone. Okay. Well, you're like, well, this doesn't
seem like a big deal and it's probably not related
to this topic. Now, here's where this gets interesting.
Okay. Later on that night, while the boy was
talking to someone else, his friend, you know,
Mr. Negative or whatever you want to call him,
told him that while he was scrolling on TV, he
happened to land on the channel where two guys
were having intercourse and immediately changed
the channel. And he told him basically how disgusted
he was from what he saw. Now, the boy replies
back, he said, And I quote, I told him my piece
about the LGBT community and told him never to
talk to me about this ever again or come near
him. However, despite this, the guy, even when
he got home and went to bed, still had the thought
of what his friend told him on his mind. He had
to think about it. Why was he grossed out by
something that almost everybody does in their
lifetime, have an intimate relationship with
someone else? You know, why was it more disturbing?
Was it because it was man on man? And then it
hit him. You know, the conclusion basically was
that he switched channels and was immediately
disturbed by the image in front of him. It wasn't
because it was gross. Not so much that it was
gross. It was because he was ignorant. And it's
not in the sense that, you know, he didn't know
anything about LGBT. That's not necessarily,
that wasn't necessarily the issue here. Okay.
Let me give a little insight on that. The word
gay is somehow still used as a negative term
even here in the 21st century. And when men are
feeling threatened or like their masculinity
is being basically questioned, they are called
gay or lashed out by calling someone else gay
in response. It's a connotation meaning, how
do I put it? It's connotation. Meaning is not
respectful because ignorant people use the word
in a bad way. Same thing with black people as
well. Sure, it dates back to times of slavery,
but the ignorance was there. A lot of people
do this. We all deserve a life, to live life
in a way where we want to, and if people want
to be ignorant, then fine. But that's their choice.
But should they, you know, also be chastised
for that ignorance as well is another question.
Now, where I'm going with this is basically this,
okay? We all face hardships, stereotypes, oppressions
in some way. Everybody does. So does the other
guy. Yet, despite that, you know, It continues
to do the same thing to other people. We do the
same thing to other people. We have to find a
way to end that cycle. Accepting those people
around us without judgment, regardless of the
reason. Change the way the world has been for
a thousand years, because in all honesty, we
could do a hell of a lot better. Yet people choose
not to. It's one thing to be ignorant and want
to learn. It's another thing to... Be ignorant,
know you're ignorant, and then want to stay that
way. By definition of the word, you know, it's,
how do I put this? It's not fair to other people
to go about judging other people for the way
they do things when you yourself don't have a
clue at what's even going on. You know, I think
it's fair to say that not everyone can be clever.
Okay, I should point out. You know, I'm not arrogantly
saying that, you know, I'm a genius or whatever.
However, it is just unforgivable in my eyes if
someone goes through life with their eyes shut
and doesn't make a conscious effort to learn
about the world around them. Ignorance is about
disability in oneself. Think about it like that.
Let's use another example here. Ignorances about
disability, in my opinion, considering my story
personally, is the worst. It doesn't take no
longer than 10 minutes to gain some kind of enlightenment
by reading a few articles or hearing what people
have to say. You cannot just pretend disabled
people do not exist, but unfortunately about
half of society does. It's wrong. Now, like I
said earlier, Not all ignorant people are bad.
A lot of ignorance stems from a lack of awareness.
How do I put this? This can be basically attributed
to many things, including hardly any disabled
faces in the mainstream media, no education in
place to teach people about disability. You know,
in all honesty, if I wasn't slightly disabled,
I would also be probably blissfully ignorant
of everyone else. Not out of spider -laceness,
but just because I wouldn't have had known any
different or, you know, no one would have told
me anything. Yeah. So there's that. Moving forward
with everything that I'm saying, you know, if
this lack of knowledge is a result of years of
dumbing down of high school curriculums and families
that don't talk to their children about the past,
for one, there's another more pernicious kind
of ignorance we basically confront today, okay?
It is the product of years of ideology. ideological
and political polarization and the deliberate
effort by the most fanatic, intolerable parties
in that conflict to manufacture more ignorance
by lying about many aspects of our history and
even recent past. I mean, I recall being stunned
some years back when I read the majority of Americans
told pollisters that Saddam Hussein was behind
September 11th's terrorist attacks. Okay, now
I knew better, but this is what they were telling
people. And it struck me as propaganda, feats
surpassed by the worst authorized regimens of
the past, many of which had to resort to labor
camps and firing squads to force their people
to believe some untruth without comparable success.
Now, no doubt the internet and cable television
have allowed various political and corporate
interests to spread disinformation on a scale
that was not even possible before, but to have
it believed... requires a badly educated population
accustomed to verifying things they are told.
Where else on earth would a president who rescued
big banks from bankruptcies with taxpayers' money
and allowed the rest of us to lose $12 trillion
in investments, retirements, and home values
would be called a socialist? I mean, think about
that. In the past, if someone knew nothing and
talked nonsense, nobody paid attention to them.
No more. No more of that. Now, such people are
courted, flattered by conversationalistic...
politicians ideologues or as real americans you
know defending their country against big governments
and educated liberal elites when the liberal
elites that are educated are the ones who actually
created the country and helps it run the press
interviews them and reports their opinions seriously
without even pointing out the imbeciles of what
you know for what they believe you know the hucksters
who manipulate them for the powerful financial
interests know that they, you know, can be made
to believe anything, you know, become the, because
to the ignorant and, you know, the pagoded lies
always sound better than the truth. You know,
a couple of examples about this would be, you
know, Christians are persecuted in this country.
Uh, they're persecuted. They're persecuted in
this country. Uh, the government is coming to
get your guns. Uh, Obama is a Muslim. Global
warning is a hoax. The president is forcing open
homosexuality on the military. Schools push a
wide -wing agenda. Social Security is an entitlement,
no different from welfare. Obama hates white
people, though life on Earth is 10 ,000 years
old and so is the universe and so on and so on
and so on. Now, hearing me say these things,
some of them may or may not be true. I don't
care. But just listening to them coming one after
the other, it sounds like basically BS is all
it is. You know, it's sad how many people out
there believe this crap. They don't go look it
up, and they just take whatever they hear by
ear. The sad thing is this. You know, I find
more go -getters. and people who find out more
information and want to learn about the future
in the gaming community than I do in real life.
If I was to bring up a game like Final Fantasy
XIV and I said one little thing out of line like,
oh yeah, you know, Blue Mage is not supposed
to be a DPS. It's supposed to be a tank because
it's more powerful as a tank. I would be crucified.
Reason is... The people know their stuff. They
look at it. They read it. They study it. They
have forums about it. They bait the companies
for more lore. Why is it that the gaming community
is more well informed about their stuff and yet
people don't have a clue about what's going on
around them? One could easily list many more
such commonplace delusions believed by Americans.
They are kept in circulation by hundreds of right
-wing political and religious media outlets whose
function is to fabricate an alternate reality
for their viewers and their listeners. How do
I put this? Sidney Hook said it once, Stupidity
is sometimes the greatest of historical forces.
No doubt. No doubt in my mind. that she's 100
% right with that. You know, it's like, how do
I put this? No one's an idiot, but it feels like
every day you go outside, the people you're walking
with, it's like you might as well be wearing
a shirt that says, I'm walking with stupid. You
know, what we have in this country is the rebellion
of dull minds against the intellect. That's why
they love politicians who rail against teachers,
indoctrinating children against their parents'
values, and resent the ones who show ability
to think seriously and independently. Despite
their bravado, these fools can always be counted
on to vote against the self -interest and that.
As far as I'm concerned is why millions are being
spent to keep my fellow citizens ignorant. Okay?
It was bad enough that they removed God from
the churches, for whatever reason they did that,
but the fact that punishing your kids now has
become illegal and you can call up CPS and the
kid can call CPS or the police on you if you
attempt to, I'm not saying that I condone whippings
and punishment of your children. What I'm saying
is the fact that you can't even instill morals
or teach your kids like you should without being
thrown in jail is wrong. that in itself is also
ignorant. You know? And they promote it. Ignorance
is a problem. We can fix it. We just have to
choose to. You know, as Leo Tolstoy said, yet
in our world, everybody thinks of changing humanity
and that nobody thinks of changing themselves.
Yes, we can change the world. We can improve
our country. But who's going to improve? You!
Think about that. Think about that. And with
that, that brings another podcast to a close.
Thank you guys for listening and even sticking
around for this rant, which is what it feels
like more of than a podcast this one time around.
But I digress. If there's any other topics you'd
wish to hear, or things that you want... I have
comments or concerns about, feel free to send
me a message here on anchor .fm forward slash
neogentrics or on my Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram
page. Enjoy the rest of your day and be blessed.