A question about ignorance and deception.?

Question

To be ignorant and to be deceived are two different things. To be ignorant is to be a slave to the world. To be deceived is to be the slave of another person. The question will always be; Why, when all people are ignorant, and therefore already slaves, does this latter slavery sting us so?

Freedom is the ability to grasp and choose the broadest range of possibilitie for oneself. In ignorance we are bereft of of some of this range and in deception we are led (by the dictates of another) to a lesening of the range of our possibilities insofar as it serves the deceptor. These both constitute a lack of freedom in my eyes. And this lack of freedom can be analogous to slavery of a form. Thats what i think anyway.
Those who wish to criticize my logic-do you wish to tackle questions in this forum or questioners? Try to answer within the framework of the question. being empathic enough to see it from my pont of view may dissolve some of the slavery of your ignorance and open your eyes to another point of view.
Thanks very much.

Answer 1

Ignorance does not sting the way deception does because the "individual" (ego-self) is not involved in ignorance, but is the focal point of deception.

Consider, at one point in history people believed that the sun revolved around the earth. They were ignorant; but it wasn't personal (even though individuals like Gallileo were personally harmed by it). Deception, on the other hand, is always personal. It stings because we are being led astray by people who actually know the truth, and choose to deceive for their own purposes.

We are not "used" by the ignorant -- merely misled. However, deception, by it's very nature IS the using of people. Those who deceive are therefore reducing people to the status of "things;" and that is why we are so offended. Nobody likes being manipulated like a pawn on a chessboard; and when we are, there's no way to avoid taking it personally.

As to your supposition about slavery -- I don't quite see it as you do. While I accept that knowledge increases choices, and that choice lies at the core of freedom, the absense of adequate knowledge doesn't necessarily imply slavery.

Slavery, by definition, is the inability to choose. Ignorance, though, is merely the unawareness that the choice can be made. On the surface the two may look the same, but substantively they are different as night and day.

The slave may subsist on bread and water because that is all he is given. The free person may also subsist on bread and water because that is all he knows. The presence or absense of freedom is not to be found in the range of the diet, but in the ability to make alternative choices once the possibilities arise. The slave cannot make this choice, and the free person can.

Thus, ignorance cannot be seen as slavery, but merely a lack of understanding of the options at hand.

Hope this helps (Great question, by the way).

Answer 2

It is curious how you look at it.
When you say a person is ignorant you are implying that both parties - the ignorant and the knowledgeable have no interaction as yet. It is only a state of being.
An ignorant person can very well live very happy in a society where people do not take advantage of others! However, in real world we are all ignorant outside of our field of knowledge. So we all face the risk of being cheated somehow.
So your conclusion that one is a slave when one is ignorant is err.... non understandable. You can say he is prone to be cheated.

On the other hand when one is decieved - he has been cheated. So there is a clear wrong doing from one side. The knowledgeable attempts to take advantage of somebody's ignorance. And as you well pointed out that in real life people are decieved very often. But still they are not slaves. Becuase slaves are told to do whatever the master wants to be done and they do that all their lives.

As far as being a slave, we are all slaves of our own desires. People with strong will power overcome the little desires to achieve bigger things.

enJoy

Answer 3

To be ignorant and to be deceived are two different things - agreed, but what does that have to do with being a "slave" ?
You are assuming that either one makes a person a slave of some sort, but I'm not sure where you draw your conclusion from. To be ignorant is to lack knowledge and to be deceived is to be mis-lead.
If we are ignorant, we can change our ignorance by learning. By learning that we have been deceived, we can find the alternate path to the truth. Neither of these makes us a slave to anything unless we let it.

Answer 4

To live in ignorance is to live without knowledge. Knowledge will set you free. If you aren’t free, you are a slave. If you have knowledge, you are less likely to be deceived. It stings when we realize we don’t have the knowledge to protect ourselves from deception. Therefore, we are all ignorant to some degree. It hurts to know this. The more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know. It generates a never ending cycle of the deceivers and the deceived. The deceivers influence or limit your destiny; they are in charge of your fundamental liberties.

This brings home your point…this makes us slaves. The deceiver robs us of something fundamental to our sense of well-being. It is a violation of the human spirit. It scars us in ways not always known to us at the time. To chain the human spirit is a crime to humanity...with spiritual consequences. It lessens our possibilities or range in choosing for ourselves, limits are range of possibility for each other, and colors our outlook in everything we do. Freedom is an inherent right that belongs to all of us…and few of us possess. I live in the land of the free…but it can sometimes be founded in deception…and lessens my sense of personal freedom. This phenomena can be multiplied a hundredfold in other countries with even less freedom. We should all be concerned. We are all affected. It is dangerous to rest in complacency or indifference to the plight of those around us.

Answer 5

Similar, but still two different things. For the ignorant have not the pain as to the decepted one. Some say the truth hurts and that ignorance is bliss, but I disagree to both of these. For the truth can equip you with precious knowlege wich will save you from the ultimate demise of ignorace.

Answer 6

Under your explanation we are decieved by our ignorance.
Many of us live in the belief that people are trustworthy. That naivete and innocence is ignorance. Many are not worthy of such trust.

Still, we want to be able to trust people. We want to know that they will accept us, support us, and protect us. We want more from them than we do from the world. They are our buffer.

So when we suffer the sting of deception hurts us more than anything other slavery. We can accept the world, but people-we put so much more on them.

Answer 7

Is there really freedom for both parties? i.e. the slaves and the masters.

off topic: man i love the way you ask your questions! they bring whirlwinds in my head and i have difficulty organizing them.

the latter stings so much more because we might be ignorant of some things in the world but we are not ignorant of the situation of the slaves and we DO NOT want to be placed in THAT situation. thus the rebellion on the knowledgeable side.

are the slave and the master really in different situations? isn't the master also ignorant in some ways (e.g. the effect he does on his slave)? isn't he just as much a slave to his position, as the actual slave?

and the one being deceived, what does he really feel prior to knowing the deception? does he not feel content (in some ways) prior to the knowledge of his master's deception?

i mean, isn't there always going to be a need for heirarchy in society? that some are always going to be meant as slaves while others as masters. if you ask me, it boils down to a person's mental capability to think, within himself and in context to his environment. some are born slaves and choose to be ignorant (probably due to their lack of mental ability to think beyond their situation) and remain slaves. some are born slaves but choose to rise above it (these are your self-made men). some are born masters yet are ignorant of the plight of their subjects. while some masters are socially aware and try to outdo their labelled stereotypes. do you agree with me that it is all a matter of choice?

now an issue arises, should a better-off individual meddle with another person's situation? to what extent can he meddle? i mean, some are slaves just because they are ignorant of their situation but once presented a catalyst, they choose to be better. they are the intermediates. and if one looks at history, these are the men who make change possible. but is it also advisable to plant on one's thinking WANTS that might be unattainable? my professor in pyschology pointed this one out and so does Paulo Coehlo in his The Alchemist. It is not advisable to leave the ignorant wanting. "Ignorance is better than incomplete information."

It is human nature to spread the truth and beauty. to help those in need. that is what drives the knowledgeable to help the slaves. but are we always destined to be equals? considering human interaction, i don't think that is possible. (man! we should not be Atlas!)

man, this question makes me want to see Plato's the Republic put into action. but with isolation also taken into consideration. and Hitler was right in trying to produce the best individuals but his method was wrong and his qualifications for BEST CHARACTERISTICS were biased. and man should avoid taking medicines and allow natural selection take its course. elimination of the weak not elemination due to poverty.

lol. i can go on and on. i hope i added some insights instead of purely asking. :)

Answer 8

If we are ignorant we would have to blame ourselves for our ignorance. If we are deceived we have someone else to blame. It is always harder when our slavery depends on the actions of others. We accept the slavery that we bring to ourselves easily.

Answer 9

I'm going to give this one a try, make it as simple as I can.

Ignorance is usually a result of a lack of knowledge, or a result of an abundance of knowledge that is wrong.

Deception involves trust and belief in something or someone...trusting someone or something that is abusing this trust from you. Believing in someone that is lying to you.

That said, I think the latter hurts more because it's more personal when someone abuses your trust in them.

Answer 10

I really dont know but you could be right.