It was a few years ago when I was young and wise, that someone my age but older stood and claimed jubilantly, "Ignorance is Bliss", the wonderfully dreadfully, perfect mistake people make. What is so blissful about not knowing, better yet, purposely not wanting to know truth? The idea that Ignorance is Bliss makes sense to most, I mean, yeah, the truth can hurt but think about it. Removing a band-aid fast is far better than doing so in a slow and agonizingly painful manner. The difference with knowing is that pain is temporary, pain is understood, pain shapes the future.…
In Susan Jacoby’s essay, “How Dumb Can We Get?” she questions why Americans are becoming less literate and what factors contribute to the lack of awareness in political and cultural issues (261). Jacoby deliberates on the severity of the national crisis presented because of the dullard, irrational citizens of society (262). University students mock their learning experiences by doing the bare minimum and still managing to obtain a college degree, Jacoby assures (260). Jacoby believes that education should not accommodate everyone in regards to simplicity nor convenience but rather students should rely more on reading to simplify their achievements (260).…
Adverse truths are often difficult to accept. Humans’ inquisitive minds are always striving to uncover truth. However, people have the tendency to believe only the positive truths. Truth is no longer universally accepted because people are extremely selective with the information they deem to be true. The unaccepting attitudes towards negative truths can be observed in “The Boston Photographs” by Nora Ephron and “The Allegory of the Cave” by Plato.…
Knowledge is an effective factor in which human society relies on. Thru history, those who were educated were well-respected, honored and valued. Author Jonathan Kozol wrote his essay, “The Human Cost of an Illiterate Society,” to project the magnitude of knowledge and to explain that without it, people can suffer disastrous outcomes. He highlights real-life examples to how people suffer and as a result this leads to severe illiteracy, and his essay is a backing for familiarity and literacy. Douglass and Malcolm x’s personal experiences attests Kozol’s argument that people suffer due to chronic illiteracy.…
Have you ever caught yourself allowing your mind to become an excellent servant but a terrible master? The most valuable lesson that I have learned in my life thus far is the notion that the quality of life that I live is dependent upon the way that I choose to think. The individuals that we are and the individuals we aspire to be are hypothetically supposed to allign; for it is how we think that’ll determine whether or not the person you are now will be the person you aspire to be. Through the analysis of my past, present, and future I will analyze my passion for baseball as a child and how it contributed to how my masculinity was formed, I will analyze David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” commencement speech and how it has contributed to…
From John Knowles’s A Separate Peace, the reader learns that while ignorance is bliss, it is short lived and can be devastating. While Finny wants to remain innocent, he has too much knowledge to convince himself that he is still ignorant. In his hopeless attempts to fight life itself, he fails to adapt before it is too late. In his feeble battle, Finny begins with denial. This refusal leads to anger, and finally acceptance.…
It is my belief that David Foster Wallace’s speech, This Is Water, reflects the importance of education and human consciousness. This blurb relates to the phrase “ignorance is bliss”. The proverb about fish may be readily applicable to humans living in the twenty-first century. The uneducated are the fish that do not know what water is, and knowledge is the fish that asks them “How's the water?” Many people avoid concerning themselves with various subjects when they do not learn the details of the subject and fail to research or understand the matter.…
As we all go through life we will all undoubtedly be faced with circumstances that will make us gush with happiness, circumstances that will make us cry from the pits of our souls, and circumstances that will make us want to scream from the highest peak of the mountains. And during all these circumstances many people find themselves awash and looking for wisdom. Wisdom from individuals who have, for instance, already conquered life themselves. For me when I am in one of these situations I look for wisdom from one of my longtime heroes Dr. Martin Luther King jr.…
To begin I had to read this book as extra credit. Before I read it the title sounded pretty interesting. My first thought after reading the title was that it would be a self-help book and make me think about the dumb things I do. I had a feeling it would be a serious book, yet include a twist of fun. After reading it I realized my presumptions came out to be true.…
Just knowing and being educated is the best way to help our society improve. This way we may not be as ignorant…
Ignorance is born out of censorship and nowhere else is it better demonstrated than by author Ray Bradbury in the book Fahrenheit 451. In this futuristic society, the government’s goal is to censor the knowledge of the citizens by banning books and controlling the information they are exposed to. Since citizens are not able to independently think and come up with new ideas, progression in society will come to a halt. The government wants citizens to distract themselves with mindless activities and enforces everyone to do so by instilling fear and intimidation. Although the government uses its power to control and enforce people’s knowledge, there are a handful of individuals that express their curiosity and want to think independently, while…
On December 14, 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut, the city experienced a devastating event in history. There was a mass school shooting. 20 children between the ages of 6 and 7 and 7 staff members were killed in the attack. I remember what the day was like when this event happened. I came home from school and saw all the news stories and broadcastings of reporters.…
Have you ever wanted your parents to just let you be and live life? Well, this is personal independence. Many people take personal independence for granted. People don't understand how much goes into personal freedom. Personal freedom requires taking responsibility for your actions and being aware of consequences that may come.…
Education and society Why we should learn to read write, and become educated within our society. “Without education, many of our ideas and opinions can be stereotyped or prejudiced, bearing no relationship to the truth” (ch.5, p.254). Learning to Read and Write This reading by Fredrick Douglas on his experience to read and write shows great commitment by an African American during a time of slavery. Douglas was a slave that whose duties were to work and obey, not read and write.…
The story, “Brokeback Mountain” by Annie Proulx presents us with a character named Ennis del Mar who is unwilling and unable to reach for his heart’s desire, a man named Jack Twist. Jack and Ennis meet when they are both young men, having grown up in almost identical situations. Both were high-school country boys with no prospects, brought up to hard work and privation, both rough- mannered, rough-spoken, inured to the stoic life. Both are real cowboys, both are also living the life expected of them including dating and having sex with women; at this point Ennis is even engaged. It is only after they begin working together on Brokeback Mountain that acknowledge that they are homosexual and fall in love with one another.…