Ignorance isn't bliss, it's ignorance.

If I hear one more person use the spent cliche, "ignorance is bliss," I will probably slap them. That means a lot, coming from a pacifist. I don't really resort to violence.

Okay here's my disclaimer, JiC I should ever be investigated for military reasons (like should I ever get ANY readers here...), I am well aware that I swore "to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States...against all enemies, foreign and domestic..." so within the confines of protecting the nation single-handed-ly (extensive laughter), I would resort to violence "to carry out the mission."

Having said that, back to my initial gripe du jour, "ignorance is bliss." I believe that this is really just coincidentally the fifth time in two days I've experienced this mentality. Granted, two of those times were within the context of two different women's studies courses, but I digress (frequently). It has also come up in the context of the "Ground-zero mosque" in reference to the church who decided it was okay to burn copies of the Qu'ran in protest. A high-school friend of mine is the moderator of the Facebook group, "Putting the Fire out - Burning the Qu'ran is a new level of ignorance" and requested I join and/or put in my two cents.

I always have two cents to put in, even if I have to borrow them from someone else, I ALWAYS have an opinion. I will add one caveat: I am not always in the position to express my personal opinion or feelings or experience on certain matters, but trust me, I've got LOTS of opinions!

Again, WAY too easy for me to get sidetracked! Ignorance is bliss...

Well, no. Ignorance is not bliss, and neither is it (as I've already replied) in any way new. Whether it be race, gender, sexual identity, class, religion, (or as I just learned fertility) or any other of the gazillions of other systems of inequality, and oppression. Ignoring something that you know exists is NEVER the answer to a problem. If you have an infection, rarely (humor me, just pretend I'm right statistically here) will your doctor say to you, "ignore it, it will go away!" What is more likely to happen is something to the effect of them telling you if you don't get the medicine to treat it, something EVEN WORSE will happen! In some cases, you can even spread it to other people, whether you mean to or not!

This is especially true for social "diseases" (and by that I mean with sarcasm) like prejudice and oppression. Hate crimes of any kind can hurt those around you, and just like the flu, you might not even know who around you will catch it from YOUR poor hygiene. (No, not every case of influenza is caused by poor hygiene; I was making a point.) What you teach your children affects a whole new generation of people. (I mean this not to discriminate against those who do not have children.)

A church burning copies of a religious manuscript because it's not their particular brand of spirituality is not new concept. Look at the multitude of other idiotic and harmful things that happen in the name of religion. Or sexual identity. Or gender. Or class. Or race. Or anything that divides us from each other.

I'm not really a sociologist, or any kind of expert on anything other than me, and as I've learned today, even my expertise in myself isn't really all that meaningful until I gain insight on what my particular experiences mean contextually...(haha gotta love those liberal arts classes!)

Anyway this book burning fiasco was in response to the 9/11 remembrance celebration of the upcoming weekend. I am quite proud to say, even as the thing that I have sworn to protect for almost a decade is coming under fire, this weekend I will be re-enlisting. As someone who has actually READ the Constitution (albeit not a Constitutional law lawyer), I feel it extremely important to note that the Bill of Rights is in there somewhere I think. (sorry, Mrs. Boop, that was a joke.) I often agree with and quote Rachel Maddow, but she says something all the time to the effect of "Rights are rights, not privileges, you don't GET to vote on them!" Ideally, that would be fabulous, but with the systems of inequality, and with those in power not really reflecting many of MY personal feelings, we still have things like gay-bashing, sexual harassment, and yes, people burning Qu'rans. I'm not quantitating that any of these is more or less threatening, but that it is ALL wrong.

I believe my fervor is being diluted with my sleepiness. I promise to finish this at some point!