Two stories came together, reminding me of a third story, and the importance of education.
Ignorance is a lack of good information. Stupidity is ignoring good information. Education can cure ignorance, I’m not so sure about stupidity, which can be willful and deliberate. People who believe the 2020 election was stolen, for instance, or those who believe men can give birth.
Of the current stories, the first is about the young netizens who fell under the spell of a 10-year-old video issued by al-Qaeda mass murder mastermind Osama bin Laden. The second is Dr. Jamina Clay, a Philadelphia School District assistant superintendent, and a Colonial school board member, who had made a Facebook post referring to Israel’s army as a “terrorist organization” which was employing “genocide,” both terms being lies, and possibly anti-Semitic.
Clay took down the original post, replaced it with an apology, and resigned from her seat on the Colonial board. She remains with the Philly school district, which said her opinion was protected free speech, and I’m OK with that.
The negative heavy reaction to her first post educated her as to how hurtful her words were. She was invited to meet with a Jewish group to further her education and sensitivity. I hope she accepts the offer.
The members of the Osama bin Laden fan club — the ones who clicked “like,” or expressed agreement with his lies, are desperately ignorant.
They are young, for starters. I’ll bet almost all are under 30. Remember way back, when some said, “Don’t trust anyone over 30?” It was the ‘60s. It was a thing. Are we heading toward don’t trust anyone under 30?
Many in the bin Laden fan club weren’t alive to witness 9/11. They also have not been taught critical thinking, and a wariness about what you see on the internet.
There’s a meme that says, “Abraham Lincoln said you can’t believe half the things you see on the internet.”
They probably believe Lincoln said that.
This brings me to the third person, who I will not name.
She was a friend of mine at the Philadelphia Daily News, where she was a news reporter, and gorgeous, not that that matters.
This was late 1973, or early 1974, because we were discussing the Yom Kippur war as we drank wine and played Casino, the card game, in my apartment.
Around her neck she wore a piece of jewelry, a pendent in the shape of the continent of Africa.
Although the Black Power movement had emerged a few years earlier, she was not a revolutionary, although she was a proud Black woman.
She had nothing against Israel, she said, but she didn’t like the idea they were in Africa (where white people did not belong, she did not say, but was thinking).
Even then, radical Blacks sang the song of grudges against Israel as, well, Europeans, and colonialists.
“Israel is not in Africa,” I said.
Sure, it is, she said.
There were no cell phones, no internet.
I excused myself, walked to the bookshelf. I pulled down a world atlas and put it down in front of her.
“Open it to Africa.”
She took a sip of red wine and opened the heavy book.
When she got to Africa, she turned the book to vertical, because the map took up two pages.
She started looking. After about 15 seconds, she looked at me.
“Find Egypt, which attacked Israel,” I said. “It’s the next-door neighbor.”
She found Egypt easily, then looked puzzled. “Where’s Israel?”
It’s almost like she thought I was tricking her.
I took the atlas and turned to Asia Minor, where Israel is located.
“There it is.”
She just nodded, as she processed new information. Something she deeply believed was proved to be untrue.
She was by no means dumb. She was a college graduate, and an experienced reporter. She was just ignorant of the facts, had made assumptions that were not true. She was not stupid.
Dr. Clay is not stupid, just ignorant of the facts.
I don’t know her, but in her case there may be a political overlay that will make accepting new facts difficult. If she can’t, she’s stupid.
And with the Osama bin Laden fan club, they now are hearing — and seeing — a lot of information about bin Laden and his plans for Islamist global conquest. He hated Western civilization.
If they are capable of understanding reality, each of us should be patient, and try to educate them.
If that doesn’t work, we will just have to kill them.
If Dr. Clay was a cashier at Acme or a heart surgeon, her ignorance about politics and foreign affairs would be forgivable. But she is an educator — a member of the same class of people who have failed to teach our children critical thinking and the facts of history.
I’m sure that if she had said the same things about certain other groups of people, she would already have been removed from her position at the school district. But these days, it seems OK to say the most vile things about Jews without facing consequences.
I wish I could argue with you about consequences, but I can’t.
And you wonder why America’s youth is so ignorant. Look at the sort of people teaching them.
How about this for ignorance: my late mother-in-law insisted a cruise ship had to drain its swimming pool when in port so the ship wouldn’t sink from the water’s weight.
Students that attended public school and some private schools have been taught all the lies from the far left teachers. College professors also do the same. This is why the supposed intelligent college graduates are raising havoc in our major cities. Schools turning our young into radicals who believe the far left doctrine is a major problem today.
Based on this response, I wonder where YOU were taught. I mean, c’mom.
What is your point? JR’s statement is based upon the subjects of this article along with numerous others. I mean c’mon.
Can’t help but wonder what our parents, and grandparents, thought of us, in our 20’s, with protests against the Vietnam war, civil rights, equality for all, blah, blah, blah. Maybe it’s just a natural phenomena to think the younger generation is stupid. Perhaps really what they are is simply ignorant because they’re just beginning their lives, and don’t have the wisdom or experiences that older generations have? How different is it, really?
Protests against the war and in favor of civil rights were based on fact, that’s the difference.
There’s always been a generation gap, but young people now get their “Facts” from unreliable sources, meaning social media.
Stu… You are 100% right. Protests against the war were based on facts. Today’s youths believe all that they are taught by many bias teacher and think internet posts are gospel.
I’m not sure I agree. I remember at Indiana University (in late 1961 into early 1962) a student group called “Fair Play for Cuba Committee,” that ignored the fact that Castro was a self-avowed communist whose aim was to turn Cuba against America. There were “Fair Play” committees at a slew of campuses across the USA, which showed (to me) the protests were organized and led by useful idiots. Students then were easily led, as they are today.
Lee Harvey Oswald was a member of “Fair Play for Cuba”. How’d that work out?
It’s fascinating to see people on here condemning all teachers as liberals who have not taught our children properly. Who the heck taught THESE people, I wonder? Were these so- called evil liberal teachers also taught by evil liberal teachers? If so, who taught all the so-called conservatives on here to think critically? The logic just doesn’t add up, guys. Perhaps it’s time to consider the possibility that there are simply a lot of dopes running around, and all the teaching in the world ain’t fixing that. Critical thinking requires intelligence and the ability to separate facts and reality from opinions and fiction. If you have a good, working brain, some moronic teacher is NOT going to be able to sway you.
I think teachers have one of the most difficult jobs in the world, and I respect what they try to do every day. Are there bad teachers? Hell yes. But condemning the entire profession for the actions of a few clowns is asinine and I won’t do it.
Bottom line: the world needs to smarten up before we destroy ourselves and start living the movie Idiocracy.
After reading your newsletter and commenting, I read of two music students from Tulsa University who’ve opted to live in a senior center. In exchange for providing free musical concerts for residents, they’re also learning a lot from the life’s worthwhile of experiences these seniors have had. We need more of this.
I was pretty careful to indict members of the Osama gan club, NOT all young people. There are a lot of good kids out there.
Stu – your article above reminds me of that old expression: “You can’t fix stupid.”
Similarly, “Never argue with a stupid person. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”
“you can’t fix stupid” and often ignorance doesn’t want to be fixed. Some people just want to drink the Kool Aid.
Legendary football coach Lou Holtz was asked to compare today’s players with those from decades ago. He said, and I am paraphrasing, players from 50 years ago talked about obligations and responsibilities. Players today talk about rights and privileges. He also pointed out this shift is a reflection of society at large.
I find it ironic when the rights and privileges crowd openly endorse people (OBL) and/or organizations whose actions and behaviors are completely opposite.
As far as people under 30 go, I’ve spent some years now trying to warn the people I know and the relatively small number of people I reach on social media, that the indoctrination of children through our education system – both higher and lower – and now I also know through TikTok – is the most serious issue we face as a nation. I know Trump and the havoc he wrecks and some of the people he attracts is more front and center and I acknowledge that’s also a huge problem. But unless or hopefully until people with the ability to do something about it can stop the radicalization – in ways that are totally nonsensical in many cases – of young Americans, this is a horror show that will just keep getting worse until people who think like that are running nearly every aspect of the country. They already have an alarming amount of power in many institutions.
We either do something to stop it or we’re going to have a very Orwellian future.
On a lighter note, my favorite Lincoln quote is this one: “If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.”
Beverage standards must have been pretty bad in those days.