Ignorance, fear and inhumanity: a reminder of education’s weightiness
by Nahia Onchalo-Meynard
In conversation with John Mayer’s “Waiting on the World to Change”
Ignorance: what a dreadful word for societies urging to fight and repel this ruthless demon. A conveyor of violence, aggressivity, hatred or disdain; it can lead also to radicalisation and convictions that might not even be our own. But would not all this antipathy be linked to an intense fear?
We’re all misunderstood
Indeed, it is impossible to plan what you do not understand, to know what you do not know. Constantly remains a hypothetical danger, hanging above our vulnerable heads, in those situations where we know nothing, or not enough. It is never a truth as we do not detain any proof. However, we do not wish to wait for it, as it would be too late and — who knows, in a fit of anxiety — lethal. So here we are, forced upon a mere prevision: a belief that lets a wild imagination run free, furthering us more and more from an often way less dramatic reality.
Constantly tortured, down to the wire, we face a dilemma — but risk or comfort? Heated situation or uncomfortably precarious peace?
They say we stand for nothing and
There’s no way we ever could
Now we see everything that’s going wrong
It sounds henceforth obvious that most of the loss of value of balance and measure, the extremes, the unsettling positions, the unbelievable violence that we witness nowadays comes from this fear of the unknown, of the uncontrolled. From a common viewpoint, this is no longer the time for harmony — this romanticist ideal once upon a time worshipped — but for protection. Protection against potential, expected risks, never knowing all the outcomes — which is what ignorance is all about — could be displayed through a mental and spiritual form — placing one’s trust and self in a higher figure and feeling as if one was acting vicariously through it — or a more offensive one. By attacking, it is not only the danger but the belief of it that is destroyed, leaving oneself fancifully safe and sound — no reappraisal, because this attitude appears legitimate due to the total absence of knowledge regarding the (potentially harmful) outcomes. Follows also an eased conscience, because of this idolised representation of bravery and commitment.
We just feel like we don’t have the means
To rise above and beat it
Nonetheless, without verging on to stupidity and impulsiveness, risk seems to be part of a “well-lived” life, full of opportunities, encounters, fortunate happenstances, mishaps, making the placidly vivid life that was bestowed upon us different from what it was, is and will be, for us and others.
Education therefore makes its way as a single solution through this ubiquitous fog. It gnaws on ignorance, and with it all the deviances and manifestations of the threatening intrinsic fear negating our (left) humanity. The oh-so cliché secular portrait of the old wise man is not worshipped because of prodigious intelligence and exceptionally performant memory, but because it highlights the key role of education and knowledge in peace and happiness. Not a tense peace born out of fear of discussion or repulsiveness, but one built of shared understanding; not fleeting happiness, but a stable and satisfying state of joy.
Cause when they own the information, oh
They can bend it all they want
Without any naivety, or not so much thereof, as long as one learns and knows, one does not verge into fear or aggressivity to protect himself from the wonders and vagaries of the living. Wisdom is not genius, but a sense of balance and understanding of what surrounds oneself and what one surrounds. The complexity and duality of it can only be inviting for measure and doubt. There is a need to learn to doubt and to question and actually implement it, as certainty is indeed the domain not only of science, but even more so of misguided beliefs.
It’s not that we don’t care
We just know that the fight ain’t fair
Even if some obstinate manage to rid themselves of their education to embrace excess and brutality, let us make an effort to pay attention to the significance of education and its influence on society — dismantling a ministry of education is somehow eloquent regarding the upcoming social climate… ).
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
Song : Waiting on the world to change – John Mayer (2006)
Le Dragon Déchaîné 