Iamon lyme:

Straight from the dictionary:

Ignorant:
Lacking education or knowledge. Showing or arising from a lack of education or knowledge. Unaware or uninformed.

> First of all, the term 'ignorant masses' isn't just insulting, it's usually used as a means to an end. If you agree with the premise (ignorant masses) you can then assume you are not a part of that group.

Maybe I should spare the feelings of the masses, and instead of calling them "ignorant", I can use a politically correct term like "knowledge challenged" or "educationally disadvantaged". Those sanitized terms are less insulting, are they not?

Then I said that I am the worst kind of ignoramus. The kind that knows exactly what is going on, and does nothing to stop it. I merely defeat myself intellectually. All that knowledge is useless if I don't know what to do with it. Yes, I am a aprt of the ignorant masses. We all are. Nobody likes to be called ignorant, yet we all are.

Knowledge is a relative thing. I can give you a good example of how the masses are "ignorant" about something, and then take it for granted.

Take plastic bags. Almost every human being on the planet has used a plastic bag at one point or another. People go shopping, put their things in bags, and go home wihtout even thinking whqt a plastic bag is. However, a chemist sees more than just a plastic bag. A chemist will know that it is made of a polymer called polyethylene. This polymer is made by polymerizing ethene gas with a Ziegler-Natta catalyst embedded inside a zeolite support. A chemist can draw chemical structures, and propose reaction mechanisms. He or she knows about the physical properties of the polymer such as the melting point and the glass point. He or she also knwos that Ziegler and Natta won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for their discovery of this family of catalysts that is used to make all plastic bags in the world.

The masses are ignorant in relation to the chemist who knows all about plastic bags.

Likewise, the masses are ignorant about politics and economics. Their sense of knowledge about politics and economics is based on what they see in the media. Newspapers and TV will describe current events, and self-appointed experts (like Glenn Beck) will interpret those events giving them the slant that is convenient either to themselves, or to somebody else.

Yet, when the masses never bother to study the history of political systems and the philosphical basis behind them. People will pass a judgement on demcoracy, socialism, etc. without having taken the time to study or analyze the history and meaning of those things. The perfect example is communism. Just about everybody hates communism, even though all that people know about it is what they heard on TV or on their high school social studies class. I have never met anyone who read Marx's Capital and interpreted according to Hegel's dialectic system. If people did that, it would be impossible for a government like China's to exist, because they ihgt call themselves communist party, but they are nothing more than a form of state capitalism.

Well, ignorant is not an insult. It is merely a fact. All that people need to be happy is enough money for Macdonalds and Walmart. As long as people can consume they have no fighting spirit. Consumer capitalism turns human beings into consuming automatons, always in fear of change or social discontent. So the masses, like a big flock of ostrich, hide their head in the sands of blissful ignorance. It might sound insulting, but it is the sad truth.

The US is about to default its 14.5 trillion dollar debt, and people don't even realize how bad the situation is and how risky it is. Instead of making an effor tto educate the public, politicians are bickering and bringing the world's financial system to the brink of catastrophe. And the masses, lacking knowledge and information, continue blissfully unaware of what impact this could have in their daly lives. This is the perfect example of how the rich and powerful use ignorance to advantage. While the masses sleep, the rich are setting themselves up for huge tax breaks and the fattening of their own pockets at tax payer's expense.