Log In | Register
.........I have been posting here for almost a year now. And one of the things I have seen more than any other is the claim of ignorance cast upon the American people. I have real trouble giving credibility to a poll of 500 or 1500 or whatever number not in the millions of people equating to America's ignorance. I learned something along the twisted path of my life about ignorance. There are two types of ignorance, 1) Willful ignorance 2) Ignorance born of ignoring things that are not worth a persons time. But I also have seen time and again the tendency of some to equate #2 to actual "total ignorance." Some folks think that not interested is the same as ignorance. Another bad habit is equating ignorance of the second kind with a persons overall intelligence level. A bigger blunder cannot be made IMSHO. Not knowing a fact or being versed on an issue does not equate to ignorance of either type in many cases. It is usually simply a case of those things have no impact upon ones life so they are not relevant to that life. Some folks make the mistake of thinking that what they believe to be important should therefore be important to all. This is rarely the case in real life.
Case in point. I have a friend named Doughboy. This man could not tell you who the last President was, who is President now, let alone who the might be running Florida, where he resides. But he could take your vehicle apart down to the frame right there in his driveway, and put it back together again in 2 days. Now, not knowing who is President does not make him ignorant nor stupid. He just doesn't care. And he is not likely too in his lifetime. "But it should be important to him," someone from the back row screams. I can tell you what he would say because he said it to me; "What has the government got to do with me?" "I work, I pay my taxes they leave me alone, I leave them alone." Ignorant? No, just not interested.
Here is another point. I know next to nothing about tampons. Does that make me ignorant? Well sure, on the subject of tampons. Does that make me wholly ignorant? I think not.
Willful ignorance is a whole nother ball game. That one is employed by folks for whom the truth is just to much to bear. They will erect a wall of ignorance around themselves, and if you want to beat your head against that puppy I would suggest a helmet.
Americans as a whole are slow to react. We are a busy people, jobs, families we do not have the time nor the patience to devote to a lot of research. The media has known this for quite a while. So we get pieces of news, parts of stories. But we are not by any stretch of the imagination stupid or ignorant. We know bull@!$%# when we hear it or see it. And while that bite in the ass may not come right away, I promise it will come. Because when we do decide to act, buddy we don't play.
Ok enough of that. Let me see if I can find some funny to round out a Friday.....................
"Never lend your car to anyone whom you have given birth." Erma Bombeck
"Never be afraid of being deafeningly obvious. It is always news to somebody." P.J. Kavanagh
"The income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government." Barry Goldwater
"If they chased every man or woman out of this town who has shacked up with somebody else or got drunk, there wouldn't be any government left in Washington." Barry Goldwater
"Suburbia: Where they tear down the trees and Name streets after them."
"The more you complain, The longer God lets you live" (Cannot tell you how strongly that applies to me)
"Forget about World Peace- Visualize using your turn signal!"
"Your kid may be an honor student, but you're still an idiot"
"We have enough damn youth, How about a fountain of smart?"
"Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?"
"If excessive smoking actually plays a role in the production of lung cancer, it seems to be a minor one." National Cancer Institute,1954
"If hypocrisy were gold, the Capitol would be Fort Knox." Sen. John McCain
"If God had wanted us to vote, he would have given us candidates." Jay Leno (That one is for the GOP 2012)
"What is the best government? That which teaches us to govern ourselves." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Elvis is in fact a republican." John Kasich R-Ohio House budget chief in,1995
The above were taken from Uncle John's Absolutely Absorbing Bathroom Reader copyright 1999.
