Ignorance is Bliss: The Ironic Misuse of a Word.
It seems to me that many people are using words that they don't know how to correctly use. That's all fine and good; as I said, everyone does it. I just thought that I'd point out one of the more ironic words that people misuse: Ignorant.
Ignorant, as defined by dictionary.com, is "lacking in knowledge or training; unlearned". This is not at all an ambiguous word and it's difficult to see how its misuse has come about. People are using this word as if it means "rude" or "stupid". Stupid is close, but they're broadly painting people with it in a context that implies that some people are ignorant, and others are not. I've got news for you: everyone is ignorant in many different areas. In fact, we're ignorant of more knowledge than we actually know, so to paint one person as ignorant and another as not is missing the point. This word should not be used as an insult so much as just a statement, but to call someone ignorant lead people to think that you're overly harsh and mean. All you're saying is that they don't know something! To proclaim ignorance is also something that most people try to avoid because of the connotation that is now attached to the term.
But where did this all start? Where did this word, so unambiguous, get led astray? It's hard to pinpoint, but I'd say it started somewhere around the time when Michael Jackson claimed in an interview that people were ignorant if they had a problem with him sleeping with young children in his bed as you can see here:
His overuse of the word was so extensive that South Park even mad a spoof it. I'm not meaning to say that this is entirely Jackson's fault; what I'm trying to say is that these (the interview and South Park spoof) were both very public events, which could cause people to become confused. My question is: What exactly did he think people were ignorant of? Was there some information that would have made this activity entirely valid? As far as we know, there isn't. There's no way to prove it either way, which means people are forced to make assumptions based on MJ's behaviour.
In any case, take a second to think about what people are saying when they say something or someone is ignorant: What specific knowledge are they lacking?
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I always thought the common usage of "ignorant" was a pseudo-PC way of saying the person is ignorant of things that most people in that society should know. So it's not that they're *stupid* but have just failed to learn the necessary memes of modern culture. In MJ's context, I think he meant "ignorant of the reasons why this behaviour is acceptable and not criminal." I think it makes more sense if you look at it that way.
I fully agree.
'Tolerance' is another very misused word. It implies that holding your tongue or not acting when it comes to things that don't effect you and are frankly none of your damn business is praiseworthy when it's actually just something you should be doing anyway. I (barely) tolerate people letting their dogs shit on the pavement, but I don't have to 'tolerate' other people's lifestyles/religions simply because it's not a matter of tolerance - it's a matter of minding my own business.