Anti-Intellectualism and the Willingly Worn Bonds of Self-Oppression

One need only look around to see various forms of anti-intellectualism. Some people view certain knowledge as immoral and its pursuit as frivolous. Others think that only "useful" learning is worth while (I wrote about this attitude recently). Many more will avoid any information that conflicts with their previously held beliefs out of fear of contaminating their world view. The reason that a person shuns learning is less important than the effect of this anti-intellectualism. When one willingly walks away from knowledge, he or she hinders his or her ability to question the authorities who benefit from ignorance. Without the desire to learn and the drive to think critically, a person enters into a state of soft servitude. By ignoring information, one casts away the key to his or her mental bonds and bows to the powers who exploit us, free from thought and the resistance that it brings. However, if we understand why anti-intellectualism exists and reject those causes we can liberate ourselves from its self-imposed oppression.

There are numerous things that drive people away from learning. Sometimes people are told that knowledge is the enemy of belief and they accept this to be true because they lack the necessary knowledge to examine that claim. Some political groups claim that the "other side" controls education and will "brain wash" anyone who wishes to learn but learning a piece of information and accepting it as the hard and only truth are two entirely different things. Knowledge may be deemed as immoral or dangerous and people who believe that lie avoid the "offending" information. These reasons for ignorance may seem like separate phenomena but they all share a commonality. Simply put, all of these types of anti-intellectualism work to the benefit of systems of authority which require the blind obedience of the masses.

In reality there is no such thing as negative knowledge. If a thing is true, it can stand against questions and competing ideas and if it is false, that fact will quickly become apparent. It doesn't matter what a person's beliefs, political views, or what have you are, he or she has nothing to fear in becoming educated. If the things which he or she learns, conflict with his or her beliefs, the two ideas will come into conflict and the truth will emerge as the victor. In some cases, this changes nothing and in others, it alters the way one approaches the world but neither outcome is negative. New information is gathered its value is determined, and it is integrated or rejected accordingly. There is no reason for a person to avoid any information because he or she is always better for having learned it.

Of course, systems of authority will view this issue differently. Authorities often don't deserve the power that they hold. When people start to question them and use knowledge and logic to evaluate the false claims and misinformed beliefs which they rely on, their position is poisoned. When people have the necessary knowledge to notice that the authorities are unworthy, the noble protectors and benevolent leaders start to look like corrupt oppressors and cruel masters. The enemies of truth know that this is the case. They have not hidden the truth from themselves and they exploit their knowledge to prevent others from becoming their intellectual equals. An unworthy conservative authority may tell his or her followers that liberal knowledge will infect their children's minds and they shouldn't send them to college. An unworthy liberal authority may tell his or he followers that conservative voices lend legitimacy to wrong headed ideas and they must not listen to them lest they be "corrupted" themselves. I could go on saying that X says this or that and Y is ignored as a result but I suspect the point is clear. People whose power relies on blind obeisance will use their power to lead others away from learning. Be assured, if anyone says that learning a thing is wrong, it is likely out of a fear of knowledge and that is all the more reason for one to seek it out.

The solution is, thankfully, simple. All one must do to be free from the self-imposed oppression of anti-intellectualism is be willing to listen, learn, and reflect. Some ideas will be good and some will not. Some information will be truer than other information. It doesn't matter what the subject or source of the knowledge is because if a thing is correct, it can stand on its own and if it is false, it will collapse under the weight of its flaws. Learn everything and be liberated.

Peace.

Unless otherwise credited, all the images in this post were sourced from the free image website, unsplash.com.