Ignorance vs Knowledge

Ignorance is bliss. Right? But knowledge is power. Well which one is it? In society today, I think that people believe that everything they know to be true is the whole truth and everything else is wrong. When people are presented with a somewhat opposing viewpoint, they often are quick to dismiss it and say that the other viewpoint is wrong when they could both be correct. When someone is presented with information that contradicts what they believe to be true, they will often go look deeper into the information even if there was enough evidence to prove it, without them finding out first hand. 

This nature is evident in Oedipus Rex as Oedipus is equipped with great suspicion that Jocasta may be his birth mother. Instead of accepting this as what it is or denying it completely, Oedipus takes extensive measures to find out for himself. The audience is somewhat critical of Oedipus saying he had it coming or think that he is a flawed character because he was very prideful. However, I think that Oedipus should be praised for taking responsibility for his own actions.

In Fahrenheit 451, the firemen are there to destroy books-- information-- and promote ignorance. This creates a sense of sameness and equality. A quote from the book by Ray Bradbury sums this idea up extremely well, “If you hide your ignorance, no one will hit you and you'll never learn.” Although the people of this society might be equal this is not productive and they will never grow because they won’t be able to learn. They will keep the information they have and stay complacent.

Many people, if they were in Oedipus’s shoes, would’ve been wary that Jocasta is their birth mother, but would’ve been too afraid of the consequences of finding out, so they never would. They also might’ve been too ignorant, although presented with a lot of evidence, to accept the fact that his parents might actually be Laius and Jocasta and not Polybus and Merope. People are too focused on what their perceived truth is and spend more effort to make that their reality than face the facts, consider that they might not know everything, and make an effort to figure out the real truth. I think that they do this because it is more convenient to be ignorant. In this case, ignorance is indeed bliss. If Oedipus were to deny the evidence and the possibility that Jocasta could be his mother, Jocasta would’ve comforted him and assured him that she couldn’t be his mother. This would’ve created a more peaceful ending for Oedipus and Jocasta, although it is completely wrong. If this were to happen, though, Thebes would’ve still suffered from the plague and Oedipus would’ve failed as a ruler. However, Oedipus finds out the truth and suffers the consequences. He saves the city but suffers for it. In my opinion, Oedipus did the right thing but was worse off for it .Oedipus is a character who is “better than the average” but also has “other defects of character” (Meyer 1504). Oedipus is a noble character and this is what caused his downfall.

This is the nature of information and responsibility in the world. If you take responsibility and seek information, it could come at great consequences or you could be rewarded for it. However, if you block out all outside information and coherent reasoning and only believe what you experience to be true and right, you are extremely ignorant, but it will create a very peaceful and convenient world view. Information has the power to make you stronger or weaker depending on how you take it, but ignorance is definitely bliss. Ignorance will create an easy life, but it is not productive nor helpful. An example is if you had a child and you sheltered them from everything negative in the world. Everything you told them was positive and never explained anything harmful. They had no idea about war or crime, all they knew was a world of pleasure. If this perception could be maintained, they would be one of the happiest people on Earth. However, this is unreasonable to think that this could be sustainable and when they are presented with the truth, they might refuse to believe it at first and then are broken when they find out they’ve been living in such ignorance.

In a perfect world, people would carry an open mindset and be attentive to opposing viewpoints. They would consider these viewpoints from an objective standpoint and try to learn from every situation, however this is far from reality. People will be ignorant and they will probably be pretty content, however one who has information needs to make a conscious effort to use that information and do something productive. If people begin to find out information that contradicts their perceived truth and don’t turn it into something positive, they might just end up like Oedipus, broken by the truth and worse off because of it. In the end, ignorance is bliss and knowledge is power so people can pick whichever they desire and that’s just the nature of this duality in society.

Bolt is an actor dog who thinks he's a superhero, when in reality it is just a role. He goes out into the real world and finds out he is just a normal dog but uses this new information and creates something out of it.

Lil Uzi Vert shows that if he was more ignorant about the existence of a specific girl, he thinks he would've been better off.