The cover picture of this pithy book says it all: ignorance could be a blissful reality as it does not involve not knowing but constitutes an abject surrender to denial in the event of reality becoming too hard or painful to grasp. Exactly like the abject denial by world leaders at the online G20 Summit in late March, proclaiming that the world ‘will overcome the pandemic’. Such collective denial has cost society lives and livelihoods as coronavirus ravages the world, confirming thereby that democracy has become a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. Renata Salecl, a professor of philosophy at the University of London, is intrigued by the overwhelming relevance of ignorance in the post-truth era when we swim in a constant surge of information and misinformation.
Ignorance is an age-old human trait that plays out in various aspects of daily life. It does seem that feigning ignorance in matters of love, illness and trauma has been critical—why being ignorant at times works better is a question Salecl explores through philosophy, psychoanalysis and popular culture. It is baffling that the so-called knowledge economy has turned upside down into an ignorance economy. As a result, ignorance holds both social and political currency that knowledge does not.
One tends to agree with Salecl that in a technology-driven world, embracing ignorance is more a matter of choice. ‘To know or not to know’ is context specific and of vital importance. Michel Foucault may have equated power with knowledge in his seminal work, but understanding how power relates to ignorance today holds much relevance. More so, as the rise of cognitive inertia has helped leaders persist with lies, as more people increasingly show indifference towards distinguishing between truths and lies.
A Passion of Ignorance could not have come at a better time as ignorance is fast gaining legitimacy in the public space, and there is little by way of explanation. The book cautions that collective ignorance is emerging as a passion, letting it be manipulated as a strategic tool for autocratic politics. Lack of knowledge is no longer a matter of concern—Google is only a click away. Alarmingly, with easy access to information, everyone is an amateur expert, casting serious aspersions towards any form of professional expertise.
Are we then staring at a future when society will greatly depend on its ability to inhibit intellectual capabilities? Current scepticism about knowledge may indicate so, but Salecl sees it as a transitory phase. With a rising number of people actively choosing not to know and caring little about it, suggests Salcel, the world may indeed be heading towards reclaiming the role of knowledge. Since our anxieties about lack of knowledge have yet to reach a critical threshold, it is anybody’s guess when the end of the tunnel will be sighted.
A Passion for Ignorance is inconclusive but explains why acquiring knowledge has taken a backseat in the quest for economic growth, and how the process may be reversed. However, it offers a multi-layered narrative on how ignorance manifests itself in various facets of science, technology and psychology, and why technology-driven capitalism will continue to nurture ignorance to remain in the business of profit. Be it packaged products or acquired information, consumers have little clue how algorithms are at work to promote ignorance in order to make profit. Unless people begin to question their trust in pre-packaged knowledge by pressing the anxiety button about the unknown, our capacity to remain wilfully ignorant will only expand and flourish.
Written with academic clarity and professional empathy, Salecl takes the reader into an insightful journey on why we are what we have become, not realising that we are increasingly being left out in our highly unequal society. The pandemic has only exposed our systemic vulnerability at the hands of the powers-that-be to remain ignorant, and thus exploited. A Passage for Ignorance is a call for breaking free from the interplay of circumstance and choice that aims to keep us trapped in ignorance.
(The author is an independent writer, researcher and academic)
