Jim Grisanzio

“There is what is sometimes called intentional ignorance. You intentionally don’t understand and don’t perceive what is threatening to the doctrinal systems to which you’re committed. It’s a common human failing and virtually the definition of the intellectual and educated classes. [...] The core concept is that you have more democracy to the extent that individuals have a greater role in determining their own fate, meaning their own lives, the social decisions and political decisions of larger entities and so on. To the extent this increases you have more democracy. Does the United States support democracy? Of course not. I mean it it’s so transparent you have to be utterly brainwashed not to see it.” — Noam Chomsky

I think a lot about this Chomsky quote. It took me a long time to understand that intentional ignorance is “virtually the definition of the intellectual and educated classes” as Chomsky has said for years. It’s anti intuitive and requires a significant mind shift but I think I finally get it. So, the more education you have the more you are taught to think, right? The more you then have the ability to question, right? And the more open minded you become, right? No. Not quite. You may become skilled at exploring and functioning within the system in which you were taught but can you also question the system itself? Think more about this question before you answer and you realize how disturbing the answer is. Very smart people who control vast resources at every level of society can be as closed minded as the most ignorant among us. To me this is what makes things like propaganda so dangerous because it’s delivered by educated intellectuals who don’t have clue one that they themselves are the propagandists and they enjoy significant support from the population. Scary.