The perils of ignorance unchecked
Yesterday I was confronted by my own ignorance.
It’s not unusual, my job is a constant search for understanding. I am comfortable in uncertainty, in the unknown. Trusting that understanding leads to knowledge and, perhaps, eventually a little wisdom.
But yesterday my ignorance was laid bare.
I’d fallen foul of what Ricky Gervais warned us against in his Humanity tour; “ludicrous[ly]” thinking our opinion is worth as much as some else’s fact.
We only have to look at the recent mess in Afghanistan to find some deeper insight into the harmful role ignorance plays in complex situations. It feels a Trump-level of arrogance to assume our prevailing world view is the only path for all. And if there is one thing you take from the quote below, please let it be the word ‘NEED’.
“Ignorance of prevailing social, cultural, and political contexts in Afghanistan has been a significant contributing factor to failures at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels.”
From the SIGAR report ‘What We Need To Learn: lessons from twenty years of Afghanistan reconstruction.’
It was a podcast that did it. Listening to Chris McGreal and Nosheen Iqbal of The Guardian talking about the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (worth a listen here).
Its simple telling of events without taking sides stood in stark contrast to the rhetoric resounding across the world. And it made me remember how history should teach humanity to be more human, not less.
I was still in school when Nelson Mandela raised his fist. His humanity and grace left an indelible impression. That he sought remembrance rather than revenge in response to the terrible injustices under South African Apartheid rule should be a historical lesson we continue to learn from. Mandela challenged the divided nation to seek a path forward by understanding and learning from a shared troubled past.
As Barack Obama said during Mandela’s eulogy:
“Ubuntu, a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift: His recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us. . . . He not only embodied Ubuntu, he taught millions to find that truth within themselves.”
This post is about the perils of ignorance unchecked.
In a time of political, social and cultural complexity where every side carries both hurt and harm, I am pro-humanity. Anti-inhumanity.
We all have blind spots, flaws, biases that cause harm and offence. We are all ignorant until we open our ears and our eyes to seek understanding. Only then can we hope to have a chance ourselves to be understood.
It was only this morning on the school run that my flaws were proclaimed to the streets as one of my daughter's frustration echoed off the pavement, 'you're not listening to me'. It was true. And we talked.
To reach common understanding we need conversation, compassion and kindness. The very things that make us human.
Because shouting doesn’t help people understand you.
Nor does taking things from them.
Neither does belittling, berating, beating, besieging nor killing.
It is senseless on all sides. And no side really wins; history tells us that repeatedly.
Yet understanding takes more effort now than ever before in my lifetime. For the pandemic pushed us further into ourselves, the rush to be first with the news has given us more opinion than fact to guide us (for more on read the excellent 'Facts and other lies, Welcome to the Disinformation Age by Ed Coper) and the rise of self care, self promotion and self interest has coincided with a fall in compassion.
In Edelman’s Trust Barometer at the beginning of the year, two facts stood out like angry blisters in the sun (and should have been a warning to the referendum team hoping for a ‘yes’ majority).
54% of Australians say ‘the fabric that once held this country together has ‘grown too weak to serve as a foundation unity and common purpose.’
61% say that in Australia ‘the lack of civility and mutual respect today is the worst I have ever seen’
Gervais warns of returning to the dark ages. It is rhetoric, it’s wry and with all great comedy it has the ring of truth.
Our humanity is under siege and it is up to each of us to open our ears, our hearts and our minds to first understand those around us, find compassion and seek the strength for reconciliation over revenge.
