Ignorance as Disability--yes, or no?
Apr. 1st, 2008 12:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillI was poking around the Web this morning and came across an amusing post (presumably inspired by April Fool's Day): Top 10 Creationist Discoveries of All Time.
And this kind of got my thoughts running along these lines, inspired by, but not really a response to the post in question:
1) obviously we don't make fun of disabled people; that's just a) wrong and b) deeply uncool.
2)So we don't make fun of mentally disabled people either. Wrong and uncool; we're all on the same page here, I'm pretty sure.
3) This would logically mean that we shouldn't make fun of stupid people--but sometimes I do. Or at least, I make fun of people who I call stupid because they have nutbar ideas that they insist on spreading.
4) But having nutbar ideas doesn't necessarily mean someone is stupid (can't learn--arguably a genuine disability that one shouldn't make fun of). It may just mean that someone is ignorant (doesn't know better, but could learn better under the right circumstances.)
5) But sometimes ignorance isn't the ignorant person's fault. Perhaps the ignorant person has never had the opportunity to learn. Perhaps the ignorant person was even deliberately taught the nutbar ideas as a gullible child and carefully innoculated against any appeals to rationality and logic and evidence that might have made it possible for the ignorant person to learn.
If the ignorant person's ignorance was deliberately created and maintained by others, is the ignorant person the innocent victim of a disability? Is making fun of the ignorant person wrong and cruel, the way making fun of somebody in a wheelchair is wrong and cruel?
I'm having a hard time deciding.
And this kind of got my thoughts running along these lines, inspired by, but not really a response to the post in question:
1) obviously we don't make fun of disabled people; that's just a) wrong and b) deeply uncool.
2)So we don't make fun of mentally disabled people either. Wrong and uncool; we're all on the same page here, I'm pretty sure.
3) This would logically mean that we shouldn't make fun of stupid people--but sometimes I do. Or at least, I make fun of people who I call stupid because they have nutbar ideas that they insist on spreading.
4) But having nutbar ideas doesn't necessarily mean someone is stupid (can't learn--arguably a genuine disability that one shouldn't make fun of). It may just mean that someone is ignorant (doesn't know better, but could learn better under the right circumstances.)
5) But sometimes ignorance isn't the ignorant person's fault. Perhaps the ignorant person has never had the opportunity to learn. Perhaps the ignorant person was even deliberately taught the nutbar ideas as a gullible child and carefully innoculated against any appeals to rationality and logic and evidence that might have made it possible for the ignorant person to learn.
If the ignorant person's ignorance was deliberately created and maintained by others, is the ignorant person the innocent victim of a disability? Is making fun of the ignorant person wrong and cruel, the way making fun of somebody in a wheelchair is wrong and cruel?
I'm having a hard time deciding.
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no subject
Date: 2008-04-02 12:35 am (UTC)Can we expect everyone to escape that tar baby? Well, no. Like any illness, it has a certain mortality rate. And it's a highly sensitive subject to study in any organized fashion. Certainly an interesting question, though.
As for what to do about folks in that situation? Frankly I think the Rabbi had a good idea: Try to correct their ignorance - once. If they get all upset and defensive and don't wanna talk about it? Walk away, and don't come back.
no subject
Date: 2008-04-02 03:41 pm (UTC)Does that mean that a) it is intrinsically hard to think for oneself or b) there is something about this memeset makes any false idea harder to shake or c) there is something about this memeset that makes this memeset harder to shake, but doesn't affect other false ideas?
The Rabbi's idea about dealing with such people sounds good to me, as long as these people aren't trying to force some bad policy on me based on their ignorance. They can believe the Earth is flat all day long but when they try to ban globes from the classroom, I feel like I have to combat that ignorance.