This article is classified "Real"
Ignorance is a massive problem, in any civilization. It is well known that
nobody can know everything [1], but life instantly becomes much easier for
everyone if the majority of people gain basic knowledge at an early age.
People will overcome ignorance in areas, by educating themselves (or by
being educated) in the areas in which they lack knowledge. Unfortunately,
sometimes this task of educating people is undertaken by someone who
possesses the same level of ignorance in the topic as the intended pupil.
As a result of this form of "education", the pupil will gain no new
knowledge, but will believe a new fiction that is forced upon him or her.
He or she may go on to teach this to someone else. This is the stuff of
rumour and misunderstanding that also plagues our civilization, and indeed,
can even spread ignorance.
Ignorance can always be defined in terms of reality, and very basically,
much of what is regarded as "real" can be traced back to the beliefs of the
people who originally observed it, even back to the invention of language.
For example, what we would accurately call a "tree", we could also call a
"frog". In the English language this would be incorrect, but if we decided
to invent and use our own language, and decided that a tree is called a
frog, then we would be totally correct in our observation. Anyone who
subsequently arrives, and calls the same tree a "tree" could then be
regarded as totally ignorant of your own new little language.
Ignorance can only be cured by information, but can never be totally cured,
because of the increasingly vast quantity of information that is continually
becoming available.
Some peoples' attitude to ignorance is an instant dismissal of the subject,
also known as the "Don't Know, Don't Care" reaction. These people have been
isolated as examples of those who are most likely to have substituted the
quest for knowledge with the well recognised art of bluffing. Is this bad?
Oh, I don't know.
[1] Even though it has always been claimed that such an intellectually
endowed entity does exist, nobody has ever been able to locate it.