The world in Ignorance!

While looking for a social issue to highlight in this article I was in a bit of a muddle! After going through several enraging issues, I decided to strike at one of the root causes of most of the existing and upcoming social matters which is Ignorance! Not only does it lead to many of the social issues but it is one of the most under-identified social problems itself.

So what is Ignorance?

It literally means a lack of knowledge or information. While being ignorant is a state of being unaware. But ignorance doesn’t simply mean the lack of knowledge or your education but the refusal to learn and upgrade yourself.

In our everyday lives, we are ignorant about a lot of things ranging from being unaware of our own households and work environments to being oblivious about our social surroundings.

In this age where information about the world is accessible in a click of our fingers, Ignorance is not an excuse, it’s a Choice! Being blindly led by beliefs and ego is a prime cause of ignorance. Stuck in their own understanding, ignorant people are often problematic for the well-being of society.

Ignorance is bliss when it comes to challenging social issues. The fewer, people know about important and complex social issues the better. The more urgent the matter, the lesser people wanna address it and become well-informed citizens. In my opinion, there are a couple of causes that lead to this Ignorance-

1. Actually being aware of the issue makes an individual somewhere feel responsible for taking action for the same. To avoid bearing this responsibility people choose the easy road of Ignorance.

2. Another reason why individuals choose to be ignorant is due to the Fear to know and grow. Ignorance shields the fear of knowing the reality of events. But by ignoring the problem with ignorance these days, we are giving it even more power.

The above stated are some of the many reasons why people ignore the gravity of social issues such as economy, energy consumption, sustainability, environment.

Just learning the magnitude of such issues will require the individuals to take responsibility and act conservatively. For example, Climate change should be the biggest concern of mankind considering if it is not controlled we might not have a planet to live in. Meanwhile, people heedlessly use the very limited resources causing irreparable damage to the climate.

The ubiquity of Ignorance causes problems like racism and gender discrimination. Ignorance of each other’s rights. Ignorance of one’s duties. Ignorance of science that could solve world problems. Ignorance of the fact that a single mother gave birth to all of us only a few thousand generations ago! Such ignorance gives birth to many of the social issues. Let us take a few examples-

1. Sexual assault/Domestic violence- Ignorance of our one’s own duties and denial of the victim’s rights is the ultimate cause of horrific problems such as Sexual assault and domestic violence. Assaulter’s awareness of the victim’s rights and his/her own duties can put an end to such atrocious crimes.

2. Racism/Gender Discrimination- We were all created as equals. Anyone is creating differences, does so by ignoring the laws of the creator, by ignoring the uniqueness of each other, and most importantly by ignoring the basic human rights of a person.

3. Environmental degradation- We must respect and cherish what and all that is given by mother nature. But the exceeding human wants, ignore the extent to which the environment can be used and ends up degrading it.

The above stated are some of the endless social issues springing from the pool of ignorance.

Now let us take a basic example of when we visit a doctor for a headache: Does he directly give you an aspirin or does he asks you for your medical history? Most doctors will attack at the root of the headache instead of simply giving you the tablet after hearing about your headache.

It is something similar with resolving the social issues. If we do not understand what causes these issues we will never be able to put it to right.

To be able to gain success at the forefront of solving such issues we must attack at its base too. The base of such issues is the Ignorance of basic duties, responsibility, and science by the people. Once each of us is fully aware of the same there will be no differences. And once we wipe out this disparity in the society, solving the social issue will be like pushing an open door!