Field Note: In Defense of Ignorance

There’s that old saying, “ignorance is bliss.” I don’t think that’s quite right anymore. These days, it feels more like ignorance is protection.

We live in a time where it’s possible to learn about almost everything. Social media throws everything at us, good, bad, unbelievable, and horrible. We have access to a nonstop feed of what the world has to offer. But the more I think about it, the more I start to wonder if that kind of knowledge is really helping us.

Humans were never meant to be omniscient. We weren’t built to know what’s going on in every corner of the world at all times. And I don’t think it’s doing us any favors. Seeing the best of the world can hurt. You watch someone climb Mount Everest, and instead of feeling inspired, you just feel like you’ll never have the money or the time to do something like that yourself. It reminds you of what you’ll probably never get to experience.

But seeing the worst of the world doesn’t help either. Maybe it’s a war, maybe it’s footage of something tragic, and you think, “At least I’m not living through that.” But it still makes you feel heavy. It still sticks with you. You’re sad for them, and now you carry a sadness you can’t do anything with.

So what’s the point? What good does all this knowledge do for us on an individual level? Is there really a reason someone in Uruguay needs to know that a thousand people died in Yemen? In theory, sure, maybe they could contact their representative, try to make a difference. But that’s wishful thinking. In reality, they probably won’t. Most people won’t. What actually happens is they get a little more sad, a little more jaded, and that’s it.

Maybe ignorance isn’t bliss. But maybe it’s still something valuable. Something like armor. Maybe not knowing keeps us from carrying the weight of things we were never meant to carry in the first place.