Ignorance is Bliss

"Indeed, I am very sorry to be right in this instance. I would much rather have been merry than wise." -- Jane Austen, Emma

Regular consumption of media brings forth a number of average sources that often meet expectations and inform about current events. It also brings forth sources that supersede expectations and provide information neither looked for nor expected. I have collected five of these in recent weeks. I discovered the first article through the Discover Ag podcast, and it shocked me out of eating Kraft Mac & Cheese. According to the 2023 Washington Post article, "Many of today's unhealthy foods were brought to you by Big Tobacco," tobacco giants R. J. Reynolds and Philip Morris bought out Kraft, General Foods, and Nabisco in the 1980s, and in that time they used chemical research done to increase cigarette sales to skyrocket both the profits and the hyper-processed food rates in the Big Food companies. This is obviously shocking and somewhat scary, but it doesn't stop there.

I next encountered the Harper's Magazine August 2024 Index, which presented statistics on the U.S. socioeconomic state in comparison to other countries. These were somewhat surprising, but not incredibly shocking. Next came The New Yorker's "The Really Big One," which taught me about the presence of the Cascadia fault line and its potential to obliterate the entirety of the Pacific Northwest. For sure surprising, and for sure scary. The 2013 episode of This American Life, "Doppelgängers," hosted by Fred Armisen and Ira Glass, contained two different stories. One was a cautionary warning about the rumors of hog rectum being sold and served as calamari, a fate no one's taste buds should be subjected to, and the other was a comparison of the development and PTSD symptoms of a U.S. Military veteran and a former drug dealer. As a person who does not frequent the seafood genre, the first of these stories was not particularly haunting to me, but it did turn an avid calamari lover into someone who “not only wasn’t he sure if he’d ever eat calamari again, he didn’t want to eat the calamari on the plate in front of him. Calamari I guaranteed him was real." The second story from This American Life had a more significant impact on me. It was heartbreaking to read about the ways exposure to violence and gore changed these men and deeply wounded their psychological health, as well as to see the similarities between two roles in society -- soldier and supplier -- that we often believe are so different. The final source I encountered was a TED Talk by Adam Grant, "The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers." This was interesting and inspiring, but like the Harper's Index, had no lasting impact.

At first, I saw no connection between these stories. They span such a broad range of topics and years that there could be nothing tying them together, right? Wrong. Time and time again we’ve heard that "ignorance is bliss." While the statement carries some truth, it also carries some falsities. Living in a state of perpetual ignorance in which one is unaware, uninformed, and lacks the societal context of modern-day events is blissful, yes, but it is less than ideal. Society functions at its best when people have a certain degree of awareness.

"I sometimes think if we knew all, we should be more glad to get away." -- Robert Louis Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

However, being aware inherently promotes worry. We can fear something only after we know it exists. In this sense, not knowing about the existence of a situation – ignorance – inhibits our ability to fear said situation – bliss. At times, the worry that knowledge brings is necessary. With fear or concern comes the inspiration to find solutions, to build our way out of danger or discomfort. At other times, our worry does nothing and it might have been better if we never gained awareness about the worrying situation in the first place.

The articles I consumed brought forth awareness of scary statistics, potentially devastating earthquakes, possible consumption of hog rectum, gory violence, our unused potential, and the chemically addicting foods we consume. Most people aren’t incredibly aware of these situations. Gaining awareness and becoming informed about some of these topics provided concern for me. Such is the case with all loss of ignorance. When we lose our ignorance, it can provide concern for us, but can also lead to personal or societal reform. 

Knowing about the power the Cascadia fault line has to completely detonate life in the Pacific Northwest is terrifying. Reading that “there is no long-range plan” to counteract this threat is uncomfortable, but it also makes us realize the painful reality of the situation and the fact that we need to do something about this possible danger. On a smaller scale, knowing that when we eat calamari we run the risk of consuming hog rectum provokes the same response. While it doesn’t induce mass societal reform, it can produce change on the personal level. Awareness can be uncomfortable and difficult, but this loss of ignorant bliss does induce change. 

"If we hadn't learned to read. . . we might still have been bearing children in ignorance and that, I believe, was the happiest life after all." -- Virginia Woolf, "A Society"

Ignorance is bliss, but it isn’t always healthy to live in a state of ignorant bliss. On the one hand, it feels great to not worry. On the other, we do carry a moral responsibility to be aware of the state of our world. If we’re unaware, we run the risk of ignoring serious problems that we have the potential to reconcile. We have to shatter our ignorance, and in doing so we sacrifice our bliss. 

However, there is a time and place for everything. Some of us choose to be ignorant about how hot dogs are made in order to preserve the bliss of eating a hot dog. In cases like these, where the change awareness might induce is something personal and mostly inconsequential, it can be okay to choose ignorance. But when it comes to the state of our world and bettering society, the best thing we can do for those around us is to give up our bliss.