We live in an era of incredible access to… Information? Data? Misinformation? We are ceaselessly bombarded, messaged constantly… often with meaningless content and separating the signal from the noise is never ending and exhausting. At what point is enough enough? 

I’ve always equated acquisition of knowledge with the power to make things happen and was raised to believe it was every citizen’s duty to be a knowledgeable voter and stay aware of current events… and yet so much is deeply disturbing, emotionally toxic, and far beyond my ability to directly impact. 

My survival solution has been to be VERY selective in what I pay attention to, where I place my learning efforts. However, it is very much a two-edged sword. When utilizing the ostrich approach (selective ignorance) allows one to focus on the truly important, it is awesome. BUT when the ostrich approach becomes a preference for ignorance over knowledge at too great a cost it can become a deadly foe. 

God grant us the wisdom to know the difference.

Closing Quotes:

“Truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.” – Flannery O’Connor

“Deliberate ignorance isn’t about avoidance; it’s about proportion. The point isn’t to know less, but to recognize when knowing more serves no real purpose.” – Inside the Ostrich Effect: How Ignorance Has Become a Survival Strategy by Alex Stone 

 “’Critical Ignoring’- the ability to consciously filter out information that drains attention or erodes agency…(should) be taught as a core digital skill alongside media literacy and critical reasoning.” – Ralph Hertwig, managing director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development

“We know – intellectually – that confronting an issue is the only way to resolve it. But any resolution will disrupt the status quo. Given the choice between conflict and change on one hand and inertia on the other, the ostrich position can seem very attractive.” – Margaret Heffernan, Willful Blindness: Why We Ignore the Obvious at Our Peril

As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier

Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832