Right to ignorance

The joys of being free not to adopt any view

I was born a free man. My father and my mother did not owe anything to anyone, and did not belong to any organization. Nor were they owned by anyone. They were people of no rank. And they raised me to be the same.

To this day, as I look back, I see that I never belonged to any organization. Not even for a minute. Not even for a split second. Nor was I ever involved in any ideology. I too am a true man of no rank. I do not possess any standing in the society — I merely work for a living, same as my parents did. And when all is said and done, and when all my bills are paid, I do not owe anything to anyone nor can anyone make claims that they own me. Not even the tiniest part of myself.

How did I manage to pull that stunt?

To be honest, I must say that life is often not easy if we do not join some organized strata of the society. But I always felt strong disdain toward becoming a card carrying member of any group, any club, any clique, any organization. I was always only interested in being left alone. No need to get involved in any activities. I feel no hunger for attending any events nor do I crave mingling during social functions of any kind.

So, what is my secret, you ask? Well, I’d say that my secret is that I was lucky enough to be born and raised in a progressive, secular society. Such societies thrive on letting people pursue their own interests. And my interests have always been focused on solitude.

Now, by solitude, I don’t mean loneliness. I am happily married with two grown children. I lead a perfectly regular, boring middle class life, I work, I play music in my band, I pursue many hobbies with my friends. But I’m happy that I have the freedom to say no to anyone who proposes I join any movement, any organization. I strongly prefer to be left alone. I like to pick and choose what I want to spend my time on, and I don’t need anyone’s input nor do I need anyone’s advice. I’ve always been like that, ever since I can remember.

Bottom line, my freedom, as I described it here, is strongly dependent on my right to be ignorant. I value ignorance because it allows me to abstain from incurring errors. Any time I tried not to be ignorant but to instead step up and take some view, take some side in the debate, I ended up regretting it. Then I realized that by not taking any views, not taking any sides, I am blissfully spared from incurring any regrettable errors.

Why is ignorance so precious?

Today we find (if we’re paying attention) that being in the position to claim ignorance is becoming a bit of a luxury. Our world is getting increasingly polarized, and it is now expected of every citizen to take a position, and to openly and triumphantly unfurl some banner. The first time I’ve noticed that was more than 20 years ago when the US president at that time announced to the world: “Either you are with us, or you are against us!”

You see, I intensely dislike such extreme polarization. Which is why I am happy so long as I can plead ignorance. I am trying to be a realist, and as a realist I am forced to admit that I honestly know very little about anything. Not being privy to so many burning questions that plague our day to day lives, I am in no position to reasonably take any sides. So, I choose to sit on a fence. I think it’s the only honest thing to do.

To me, being in a privileged position to say “I don’t know” and not be accused of any trespassing or treason, is a true blessing. Going through life with that level of integrity enables us to retain our strength and our health, to sleep soundly, to not get upset about other people’s folly, and to stop judging others. Which, at least from my personal experience, brings such pleasant, calming peace of mind. And nothing beats peace of mind. Once you experience it, you know there can be no greater value.

Are we in danger of losing our right to ignorance?

I sometimes fear that we may be in danger of losing our privileged right to ignorance. What if we, each and every citizen, get to the point where we must, absolutely must, know everything that the incessant propaganda machinery insists we must know? Will we end up in the same terrible situations as many of our predecessors were finding themselves in? All those poor people who suffered from the Medieval Inquisition because they pleaded ignorance, all those poor people suffering under Stalin’s and Mao’s regime because they did not have the right to say “I don’t know”?

Let’s hope it never gets to that. But how do we know we’re safe from losing our right to ignorance? How can we be sure? And what do we have to do to preserve our right to not take any sides?

Recent events on the world political scene precipitated a lot of roll calling, where a lot of people are now tossing accusations of the type “those who remain silent are complicit in the crimes perpetrated against innocent victims”. It’s just a new iteration of the scary old “either you are with us, or you are against us” threat. There are a lot of bullies who appear hell bent on taking away or freedoms, our right to remain ignorant and undecided.

Let’s try to overcome this imminent danger. Let’s remain on the fence. Let’s not feed the bullies. I for one am absolutely not interested in becoming anyone’s foot soldier. Nor am I interested in becoming a fodder for the cannons. Like I said, I was born a free man, and I intend to remain a free man. I hope no one will ever be able to sue me and to sentence me for being like that.