Your argument makes another leap--I was talking about those who, and this is key, take an interest in a topic and choose not to pursue it due to low persistence.
Having thought about your original comments more, I think you might have just misapplied terminology. It isn't so much willful ignorance that you are annoyed at, though that is related. Rather, it is the lack of due diligence on the commenter's part. Does that seem to be a fair perception?
The commenter was attempting to learn about installing Linux, thus he was not engaging in willful ignorance by the very fact that he sought out the article. That the article is slightly misleading in its attempt at being a beginner’s guide is a valid criticism, one which if the individual had appeared to be an expert in the field I think you would have found more palatable. That is, if the individual had said something along the lines of "This article is not beginner level. For example, what is sudo? That wasn’t covered until my second year of major-work at my University; maybe that isn’t advanced, but it isn’t basic either.”
The commenter wanted to know information, he was interested in it, but from that single comment it appears that he was unwilling to perform his due diligence. While that article was not a "beginners guide," and so the poster's complaint was valid, the poster should have also been willing to perform the leg-work (or fingerwork, really) to find out the terms they didn't know.
Since this touches upon a theme of the Compendium, it is no surprise that such behavior would not sit well with a member here. If one is interested in a topic enough to research it a little, then one should be willing to research the hell out of it, or so the local philosophy goes.
There is a fine line between willful ignorance and lack of due diligence. I am proposing, and I think Uboa was as well, that willful ignorance is too strong a term in this case.
Thought, has it occurred to you that there are different types of ignorance?
Yup. You might notice that in my previous post I listed a number of topics so that Arakial would be aware of those topics (thus eliminating Ignorance B, by your definitions). I then offered him a challenge so that he had to make a choice (thus eliminating the possibility of passive ignorance, which you didn't list). All this was done to narrow down Arakial's options and force him either into an undesirable course of action (endless researching of topics which he might not be interested in) or into admitting that willful ignorance isn't always a bad thing. I would say that I am always against extremes, but such a statement seems to be a little too extreme for me
To note, while ignoring information is indeed willful ignorance, that isn't all it is. Willful ignorance could also be described as intentionally being not curious. One might acknowledge a particular set of information and yet refuse to put that information together in order to extrapolate meaning.
Specifically, what is the significance of the temporal component in all this to you?
Well one must always remain ignorant in the present. There is no way that even you could learn all there is to know (or even a smattering of what there is to know) about, say, Kid Radd in this very instant. Any attempt to eliminate your ignorance will inherently take place in the future. Thus, the temporal component is significant in terms of intent. If one
will become informed of a topic in the future, then that is no longer willful ignorance. But if one only says that one will become informed of a topic in the future but does not make this a reality, then that is willful ignorance. Intent is the key. So the temporal component is largely nonsensical, as even that returns again to if one is intending to remain ignorant or not.
You made this argument as one of convenience to rebut Arakial. But how sincerely do you mean it? How far are you willing to go to defend and strengthen it?
Humanity thrives because of specialization. Not all of us knows about farming, for example, because some of us can know about it and we can all benefit. Willful ignorance is a term that is often used disparagingly and in the context of looking down on an individual because they do not know what we know. The thing is, not everyone should know what I know, and I should not know everything that you know. Thus, there are topics that we, as human beings, have to acknowledge to ourselves and others that a) we don't know much (if anything) about and b) we won’t know much (or anything) about it in the future either. We should also not hold another individuals ignorance of topics that we care about against them, at least not in a reactionary way. There are topics that we might say that all humans should be informed about, but not every topic is that way.
There is a general theme in American society that the individual has to be good at everything. There is a particular shame that is bred into us regarding ignorance; it pains us to ever admit that we might be ignorant in a topic, even if there is no reason for us to be knowledgeable about it. This is most painful when it comes unexpectedly, when our ignorance is demonstrated by others rather than identified by ourselves. This is one of the things that I think holds back many people from achieving excellence. Instead of developing their strengths into paragons of virtue, people waste their time attempting to reduce their weaknesses in order to avoid the possibility of this shame. To address character flaws is important, but bringing everything aspect of ourselves up to average isn't as important as bringing a few aspects of ourselves up to phenomenal.
I am thus proposing that, in the proper circumstances, willful ignorance can be a virtue. If a medical doctor doesn't know about anime, oh well. An anime creator might impress upon this doctor of the cultural value of the art form, but the doctor is still within good form if they choose not to investigate it. Indeed, if instead of being a doctor this individual is a medical student, then ignoring anime in favor of medical information is a commendable virtue, one that I think most of us would prefer if our doctors had in their youth. Willful ignorance in this case is desirable. If an anime creator, on the other hand, doesn't know about anime, then willful ignorance becomes problematic. What might have been a virtue is now a vice.
As an aside, my comparison of medical knowledge to anime knowledge might seem laughable, as most people would assume that the former is important while the latter is not. I would disagree; medical knowledge can improve the quality of life and lifespan of a few people, anime knowledge can improve the quality of a culture and the lifespan of that culture. But I'm a historian; one should expect that I’d be biased more towards the humanities than the sciences.
Becoming an expert on a topic means learning more and more about less and less. One of those things that separates humanity from other animals is our ability to analyze the cacophony of information we receive and pick out those tidbits that are important. Willful ignorance, then, is even what makes us human. But I'm a moderate! Here I am arguing that total rejection of willful ignorance is harmful, but I would also argue that a total acceptance of willful ignorance is harmful. There are so many impossible things in the world, but if we want to do the impossible, we have to select a few that are important to us and ignore the rest.
This relates back to the original comments regarding Linux. The vice of the commenter, the vice that I believe struck a chord with Arakial, is a lack of due diligence. The individual wanted to know information but only took halfhearted (maybe even one-eighth-hearted or worse) steps to obtain that information. The analysis of the article was valid; it does not seem to be a beginners guide. But the commenter should have not stopped with that article (and hopefully they didn't).
Willful Ignorance – because to know one thing really well means we have to know ten other things not at all.
Due diligence - cause we have to research the hell out of the stuff we want to know.
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... hmm, this water tastes a little funny. Urge to post random anime pictures, rising!
