How's Tricks?

There is no adequate defense, except stupidity, against the impact of a new idea.

Percy Bridgeman
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Hello Ally
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I suppose one could say there is a good reason for stupidity. There are a variety of things that could cause it, and maybe in some cases it's curable. I personally believe one should be compassionate with the stupid.

But there is definitely a reason for ignorance. Ignorance is simply not knowing. We are all ignorant of most things. That doesn't make us bad. If we need to know something which we don't know, we are ignorant. And the cure for that ignorance is to find out what we need to know.

Holding on to ignorance, refusing to find out, or being afraid of finding out, or, even, preferring to remain ignorant for social, political or religious reasons, is curable stupidity. Holding on to ignorance. Tenaciously protecting it. That makes us bad.

Clarence Darrow once wrote "I do not pretend to know what a lot of ignorant men are sure of." The first step out of ignorance is to admit it. That is sometimes difficult because there are so many things we think we know, things that have been told to us by those who think they know. Or else we make assumptions on our own. I knew a preacher once who used to say "To assume makes an ass of u and me."

Sometimes our ignorance is kept alive by the legerdemain of advertisers and politicians. A magician succeeds in fooling you into thinking you know where the card is even though he has palmed it into a different pocket by taking your focus off the card.

Politicians can avoid talking about volatile issues by focusing your attention elsewhere on the superficial and general ones. They either say what we need is a change or, as in today's magic show, we need to restore.

How ,amy times has a drug company taken something as harmless as, say, a stiff neck, which can be the result of stress, tension or a bad attitude, all of which are traceable to a mental state, given it a fancy Greco/Roman title, invented a drug with a veiled medical type name to heal it and then entertained you with TV commercials to sell it.

And we are bombarded with news about the misbehavior of famous people. Two stars are spotted together on a beach in Barbados and Wham! a scandal is brewing, "bubble, bubble."

TV is a very successful way to sell cars. It must be or there wouldn't be so many of them. We see them spinning along remote highways or cruising through impossibly empty city streets. But when was the last time you saw one of those fancy cars making its way through rush hour traffic?

It takes a great effort to ignore these magic shows, but it says even more for one's intelligence to say "Wait a minute," find out the facts and blow the ignorance away. Without doing that you can't decide whether a new idea is really a new one or just a newer version of the same old snake oil.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
I will keep harping on Guest Authors until I get some more and I will
Never Give Up
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Look here. I have 10 Guest Author entries since I started offering this invitation. Now I want yours. If you haven't posted one here yet, please do so.

This is an invitation for anyone and everyone to post an entry of their own on my journal, Vagabond Journeys http://vagabondjourneys.blogspot.com/.

The end of the year holidays are upon us and since it is a time for celebrations, remembrances, resolutions and plans for the future I know that people have things to say.

Not to take away from the postings on your own journals, but to add to the joy of my own celebrations is why I invite you to write for mine.

I want to read what your thoughts are about this magical time of the year. This invitation is open to everyone: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Agnostics, Atheists and the Uncertain.

Tell me your thoughts on Chanukah, Christmas, Ashura, Kwanzaa, the Winter Solstice, New Years Eve. or any subject you wish or associate with this holiday season.

There are no limits in regard to length. The only limitation is that, for reasons so far unexplained to me, my blog does not take photographs, animations, videos or pictures of any kind. I deal in words.

Please accept my invitation. Send your entry to my email address dbdacoba@aol.com I will copy and paste it into my journal and it will be displayed promptly. You may sign your name or not as you wish, and you may leave a link to your blog or your email or not, as you wish. I will do NO editing or censoring. Eloquence is not necessary, mind or heart or both is all.

I have 10 Guest Authors so far. Check them out. Can I hear from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America? All are welcome. Admission is free.

DB
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