Ignorance Was Bliss
Published by Laurie on Tagged Society, Nostalgia, Life
The older we get, the more advanced society becomes, the more informed we have become.
I believe we were all happier before we became so smart. All of the technology designed to simplify our lives just complicates it even more. And all of the knowledge we’ve accumulated as a society has all of us either stressed out, exhausted, or scared to death.
A Much Simpler Time
At one time, we all attended our asbestos filled school buildings, went home to our lead based painted homes, drank water from the tap, rode our bicycles without helmets, then graduated from high school and felt college was an option rather than a necessity. We read the newspaper for our information, we had a choice of 5 channels on the television. (and we actually got up to change the channel) The encyclopedia Britannica was in book form. Family’s had one car, one television set. We took a yearly vacation, usually somewhere where we could drive. The majority of us actually believed we would be able to retire on social security. Kids had a few days of homework a week. We drank alcohol, smoked cigarettes in public. If we saw someone spanking their kid at the grocery store, we didn’t think anything of it. It was part of raising good kids.
Before we were so informed, there were only a few medications on the market for our anxiety and stress. Now we have hundreds of medications for our anxieties. We now know there are actual conditions such as ADD, ADHD, OCD, RLS (that the restless leg syndrome thing where you feel the compulsion to move your legs, boy that would be a great condition for my husband if he could acquire it on weekends). We see commercials all day long about how not to be depressed, how not to be impotent, how not to suffer with allergies, how not to suffer any ailment.
Before we knew about terrorist networks, the only war we really had to worry about was the cold war. And we really didn’t even worry too much about that. It was a cold war. We were pouting in our respective corners, refusing to talk to each other. It really wasn’t that bad of a strategy. It’s like being estranged from a family member. You just don’t speak for years until one party decides that this is stupid, and tries to reconcile. I know I’m over-simplifying, it’s just for illustrations sake. But now, we have the war on terror. People are dying, every day. We can be attacked at any moment. We have to be constantly on guard against the terrorist threat. That’s what is on the nightly news every single day since 9/11. Now, I watch the news to see what’s happening in the world, I don’t want to live in a bubble. (even though that would be nice) I need to be informed, but come on, I don’t need to be warned every single day. My mom told me to look both ways before I cross the street when I was 5. I grasped that idea pretty quick. I didn’t have to be told every day for 500 days straight.
OK, OK, I have to stop. This is sounding like those “you know your old when” emails. But what makes it funny yet disturbing is that it’s all true.
Now, Not So Simple
My point is now we much more informed and enlightened now. We have accumulated all of this knowledge. We have learned from past mistakes and have made great scientific strides. Life is good….ya think?
I’m not so sure. Being so smart is stressing me out. Now that I know I can get virtually any information I want on the internet, I find myself self diagnosing that pain in my left thigh that’s been bothering me. (it seems it’s nothing serious, but I’ll keep looking). I search online for ways to save time and money. All the while spending huge amounts of time and money looking for them.
Now that I know that Social-Security and Medicare aren’t going to last. I worry about how the hell I’m going to make a living when my body starts falling apart from eating insecticide riddled vegetables, hormone-laden meats, and saturated fat filled fast food. (just learned that over the last 10 years, the damage has been done)
And now that I’m armed with the knowledge that cell phones don’t cause brain cancer this week. (last week they apparently did) I can multi-task till my hearts content. I can go ahead and call my cable company’s voice-recognition-automated-systems-help-desk about the mistake they made in my bill and 45 minutes later while still trying to get a human on the line, I’m just happy that I’m not acquiring brain cancer as we (I) speak….Isn’t technology wonderful!
This is bull! I miss actually talking on the phone as opposed to pressing buttons when I call customer service, I miss the days when I could throw a can of coke in the garbage and not feel guilty about contributing to the landfills. I miss drinking water from the tap instead of a bottle. (although apparently bottled water is becoming a problem now, no fluoride, plastic bottles, fuel for shipping, more information to follow, I’m sure) I miss going to the grocery store and not having to check for the percent of saturated fat content of everything I buy. I miss the days when the principal’s office had a paddle hanging by his desk for unruly kids.
Back to reality
OK, enough wishing, I know there’s no going back. We now have the knowledge that all these things are bad. They damage our planet, our bodies, and our minds. We are slaves to our new-found knowledge. We have moral and social obligations to accept this new information and make the right choices. That’s right…more choices…more decisions. By the time we reach our 40’s we have an advanced degree in life. We are evolving before our very eyes. (at least those of us who still believe in evolution, God, I pray that is still the majority)
We’re torn between embracing and rejecting all of this new information, this new technology. Our old paradigms are slowly broken apart. After all, how are we to make informed decisions without being informed? So we absorb it all, adding it to our previous assumptions about the world. It’s all moving so fast.
Being ignorant really did have an upside. Less stress. I’m losing more ignorance every day. We can never go back to “stupid”. I’m smart enough to know that. I really have come to appreciate the saying “Ignorance is bliss”. I’m just sorry I didn’t appreciate all that “bliss” while I had it.
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