We can and we must do better

"An unexamined life is not worth living." -- Socrates, motherfucker

Wonder is one the greatest capacities of a human being. In infancy it is ubiquitous. Everything is novel. Everything must be understood. Wonder wanes as one gets older. A new drive becomes constant near the beginning of adolescence: ignorance. One doesn't want to know about the Holocaust; one doesn't want to know how to solve inverse functions; one doesn't want to learn about Shakespeare; one just wants to suck and gorge on every instantly gratifying consumable one can get one's hands on. Wonder doesn't disappear completely; there is always some interest that provokes one to ask questions, even if it's as banal as, "I wonder what's on." For some, there is a resurgence of wonder once they complete high school. The complexities of life begin to open up, and many unknown unknowns become apparent.

I was talking with a friend on MSN the other night. She was comparing our thought processes. She said I'm 'all about knowing facts' (single quotes designate near 100% accuracy, but not quite), while she liked 'to figure stuff out for [her]self.' Before I had a chance to interject and defend that her assessment wasn't entirely accurate, she added that doesn't 'want to know all the facts and reasons.'

The other day I also chanced upon a clip of a radio talk show, with comedian Jim Gaffigan as a guest. Apparently Gaffigan had made some jokes about religion on the air and a Christian woman called in to express her disdain. The quote of interest here is, "You don't talk about religion or politics."

Reflecting on both of these statements I became very disheartened. How could a person WILLFULLY CHOOOSE to be ignorant? I'm familiar with the phrase ignorance is bliss, but do people really follow it? It would seem so. What's even more discouraging is that the friend I'm referring to attends post-secondary education. I just can't wrap my head around it. I want to grab them and shake them and yell, "What is wrong with you!" When you forfeit wonder you forfeit knowledge, reason. When you willfully surrender those things, you surrender what distinguishes you from all other life on this planet. When you choose to be ignorant...you reduce yourself to an animal, one who consumes to preserve oneself and nothing more. I'm not talking about particular cases (although choosing to be ignorant in isolated incidences can hardly be deemed admirable, either), I'm talking about large scale things. You don't talk about religion or politics? What the fuck! Should I volunteer myself to be an inmate of the Bamboo Gulag, too? The rage I get when I think that someone could be so complacent in their sheepish stupor.....

The powers that be have done a magnificent job if they have convinced people that choosing to be ignorant is a desirable option. How do you beat that? How do you convince someone to stop swallowing what they're being fed? It just seems so futile. How do you spark wonder in people who have willfully given it up?

How do you convince someone to be human?

P.S. Related viewing: "Network". This film touches on some of the ideas I talked about, and apart from being a great film, its message is still extremely relevant and accurate.