On Stupidity

I used to think that ignorance, or stupidity, was a social ill that could be addressed and corrected by education, information, facts, etc.  I have since been convinced that so much ignorance is actually an act of will - a willful refusal to accept what is true.  As such an act of willfulness, ignorance is a sin, with the consequent damage sin brings with it.

Bonhoeffer's observation offers no solution.  I'm not sure there is one.  I suggested in my last blog that the Christian response to the ignorant is grace and mercy, but to offer grace is a sacrifice.  To offer grace to the willfully ignorant is a gift given, expecting nothing in return.  Indeed, the ignorant person will not consider it a gift but his due.  The ignorant person feels entitled, deserving, to whatever good comes her way.  This is why the Christian cannot offer grace with a transactional mindset.  We cannot expect that the offer of grace will necessarily lead to a change in the willfully ignorant.  No, the offer of grace is a sacrifice.  We offer grace not because we expect results.  We offer grace because this is the nature of God.  This is Christlikeness, and this is the only thing that matters.

Of course, grace is to govern our relationship and response to the willfully ignorant.  However, this does not mean we are choosing to be ignorant ourselves.  We can continue to act rationally and ethically in opposition to the ignorant.  They vote.  We vote.  They run for office.  We run for office.  There must be alternatives to ignorance.  We must act in spite of, and in opposition to, ignorance.  We must continue to allow facts to guide our actions in contradiction to the uninformed biases and rants of the ignorant.  

I am uncomfortable with this line of thinking, however.  I realize I am creating a false “us” versus “them” dichotomy, as if I am the arbiter of who qualifies as rational . . . as if I am not ignorant, myself.  In the past I have tried to avoid this kind of dualistic thinking because I see the danger in this kind of judgment.  Jesus warned us about seeing the speck in our neighbor’s eye while refusing to remove the log in our own eye.  So, one must be aware of and accept one’s own ignorance.  To judge another as ignorant can be a serious mistake.  But . . . how can we live without making judgments?  Is it not also a serious mistake to allow ignorance to have its way in the world?  

I take some comfort that Bonhoeffer and I are in agreement.  If I have erred in my judgments, I am in good company.  Ignorance cannot be left unconfronted.  Otherwise, it will be the death of all of us.