The Dangers of Ignorance

There are many things in this world that make us feel unsafe. Many people tend to fear instances of war-like violence, safety in a neighborhood or community, or the stranger standing next to them. For some people it takes very little to make them feel unsafe, for some it takes quite a bit. This shows the weak side of humans, it shows that we let things or topics get to us and tends to show a certain doubt in our own security. Whatever this may be depends on an individual’s personality and their own self-awareness.

Just what am I getting at? That these false senses of security, no matter the problem, tend to form the weakness as stated above. This is very bad and can spell the end of our species. The main weakness that I am concerned with the most is ignorance, the thought that we must think one way and accept only one truth. The problem is that we don’t know what that truth really is. There are too many unanswered questions and no man or woman can answer them. Since we do not like to be wrong or don’t like the fact that we do not want to look like we can’t answer those questions, we tend to make others think that we know the answers, this is evidence of our ignorance.

Unfortunately, ignorance isn’t that simple; ignorance has many disguises and hides in the places you wouldn’t like to find it. It’s apart of us all, it’s our nature. The main three areas in which it gets me the most are religion, the entertainment industry, along with my experience at my old job of just over a year at Kentucky Fried Chicken.

These areas tend to be overlooked, not including my work experience, and for some reason we like to overlook them. In my opinion that we are afraid of tending to this weakness because we are afraid of the consequences, whatever they may be.

For some people, church is a necessity for them to feel better, which I don’t have a problem with. A lot of people need that and the church is a good place for it. Before I really get into it, understand that I’m not against the church in the form of what it preaches. I myself am a Christian and have strong belief in my faith. It’s the people that say faith is dependent on going to church that frightens me the most. Some people think that by going to church they are saved, WRONG! It’s having faith in Jesus as Savior and God as the Creator of all things, this is what it takes to be a Christian. Not by going to church and having “faith”. After all, the bible talks about the church being the body, not a building where people gather to pay a pastor so he can give them lessons for that Sunday. I still read the Bible and keep myself indulged in the Word and live my life by it. But not by a pastor who could possibly be teaching a false lesson. This sadly gives people a reason to think that their belief is the only truth and they will stand by it, even if they can’t justify it.

What I’m getting at now, is that people of certain faith tend to believe that their faith is the only one that’s correct. The Truth is what a Christian believes in, but what is the Truth? We can only know the small pieces of the equation. However, when you take a Lutheran and a Baptist and have them describe their belief system, you will notice that there are huge differences and if you try to question them or mention of a possibility, they will ignore you and tell you that you are wrong for thinking of another possibility. This narrow-minded way limits God. We don’t really know what God has in store for us but some seem to think they know. If you ask some one what hell is they will tell you it’s where “unbelievers” go and live eternity in fire and brimstone answering to the Devil himself, Satan. Is hell really this nature? I would rather think that the planet we live on is hell and that we are trying to get away from it, in turn this life is a test to let God know we are truly ready for heaven.

Hopefully this gives you some insight on my ideas and thoughts on how religion can make us ignorant make and us think on a narrow-minded scale. My next target deals with the entertainment industry, preferably music and video/computer games. Those two hit home the most.

Now, on the subject of music, I’m not keeping it on just the music that I like, but all forms of music from rock to rap. People listen to music because it makes them feel good or because they just like it. I feel you must have a reason to like it and saying that you like the beat is not a good enough answer. To truly like the music there must be something about the artist that you connect with. Some people listen to some artists and never understand what they are singing about, mostly this happens due to the fact that they are just listening to the beat and not the lyrics themselves. This I feel is sad because your favorite artist could stand for something that you are totally against. If someone was asked what their favorite artist was, and if this was the case, the person asking the question might accuse the other person of being a hypocrite and they wouldn’t know why.

Now let me give an example of what I’m talking about. On the last day of my senior trip in high school we we’re all watching MTV. One of the bands that was on was Mudvayne, a new metal band at the time. Everyone around me was trying to figure them out when I was sitting there singing along. The next question to be asked offended me. Someone asked how I could be singing along and understand what the band was singing. My simple reply was that I listen to what they are saying. I even explained what the song was about. Evidently my fellow classmates didn’t realize that metal bands’ lyrics contain meaningful messages and not satanic worship. It truly offended me and they didn’t seem to know or care why. It’s this form of ignorance that troubles me of my fellow youth or generation. I know there are exceptions because I take myself as one. I try to understand what the artist is saying since this is the way that they express themselves.

As for gaming, this really angers me on how most people think that video games are for kids. I’m not trying to be biased, even though I may come off with that feeling, so excuse if I come off as biased. Gaming is not strictly for kids, games have gotten so complex that a six year old could not complete a game like Final Fantasy X in the normal time it would take some one of the age of seventeen. It can’t be done unless they were super intelligent for their age. Games use mass quantities of our brains and challenges them to think on higher levels than most think. My mom was watching me play an RTS (Real Time Strategy) game and she couldn’t believe the strategies I was coming up with to crush my enemy. She stood gazed as I had my armies surrounding my opponent’s base as I sent in a decoy army before sending in the rest of my troops. To say that games use only our reflexes would be an understatement as they use those too. Gamers are for more intelligent than most think. And I’m not saying that just because.

There is one minor detail that really makes me upset, the theory that violent games make kids violent. This is totally untrue because it all starts with the parents, kids get their mannerisms from their parents. To say that a game like Doom caused the shootings in Littleton, Colorado was an ignorant slash at the gaming community. These two kids didn’t kill their fellow students because they played Doom but because of all their built up emotions and how their fellow students considered them outcasts. Why should gamers, like others and myself, be considered dangerous and most likely to commit violent crimes just because we play games that contain blood and gore? If this was a true theory I should be carrying a life sentence by now.

I’d get into it a bit more but I would find myself getting frustrated at the world more than I already am in my present state. So I shall carry onto my next complaint, why I hate working at a fast food restaurant like good old KFC.

I worked at KFC for just over a year, in many ways it was fun but yet in many ways it was hell. Some of the people that I worked with didn’t have a clue with what they were doing and didn’t care that they were there except for that fact that they were getting a paycheck for being there. Now when you have been doing the job for three months you get very well skilled at it and develop speed, when new people join the “team” it gets frustrating because they cant catch up. When you are a cook and you have all the fryers filled with chicken and have more waiting and are yelled at for not doing anything and then point out what you have done this makes people foolish for their ways. I was so efficient as a cook that my fellow employees asked me why I didn’t have any chicken cooking or wasn’t getting any ready. This is what I said to them, “I have both fryers in use with a another rack of chicken ready to go, plus you have still have two full trays in the warmers, cool off.” I still got yelled at for their ignorance. That explains the employees but what about customers?

Customers are the worst when it comes to ignorance. Not only are they ignorant but they are stupid. I was once asked how much the colonial strips are, apparently someone doesn’t know how to spell colonel. I wanted to correct them but it was too funny. Another time that frustrated me was when I was working drive-thru, someone asked what kind of BBQ wings we had, I told them honey and spicy only to get a reply of them wanting BBQ. This went on for about five minutes; I had customers waiting so they got spicy. They came back later asking why I gave them spicy when they didn’t order spicy but BBQ. I told them that we had spicy and honey but they didn’t seem to understand the idea between the two and insisted on having BBQ. I was astonished that simple reasoning was impossible to this guy I couldn’t believe it. It was the saddest thing I had ever come across while working at KFC. I just couldn’t believe it. This is why I will never work at a fast food restaurant ever again.

Ignorance, a weakness that has affected us all, we hate to be wrong and not know the answers to another’s questions. Ignorance is our demise as a species and if we don’t realize it and start to open our minds, we are doomed. We have to accept other ways and open our minds to the possibilities of life.

As stated on the last few pages, there are many types of ignorance that falls into many topics and scales. It can be huge and it can be small. I may have gone overboard with the last topic, but I just had to get it out. I leave you with this one question. Does ignorance make you feel unsafe?

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