In the TED talk "How to not be ignorant about the world" father and son Hans and Ola Rosling tagged team this topic to an audience who clearly had a few things to learn about being ignorant. Being ignorant is one of the downsides of the population and when asked why we are ignorant the answer is quite simple. We grow up in small towns and therefore are unable to learn about different cultures On top of leading a sheltered life the material we learn in schools today are normally outdated and the media seems to cover unusual news with skewed information The major theme throughout was to think about the majority instead of the minority because the majority of the population is not the minority.
I personally think this TED talk was eye opening to say the least, I wouldn't say i'm ignorant (I try not to be and always have an open mind), and I never thought about the majority when thinking about things. Always thinking about the majority, the bigger picture, or just thinking positive are great ways to try and not be ignorant. Being ignorant is somewhat of a social cripple that affects everyone. If we were able to teach people how to just simply not be so closed minded a lot of the controversial issues we face today wouldn't be so controversial.
You're right. We tend think of the word 'ignorant' in a negative way, but it just means that we don't know what we don't know. Even the most cultured and educated people are ignorant about some things.
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