Ignorance is bliss in certain situations.  There are times in my life where I have felt that being ignorant would have been easier emotionally.  Sometimes being aware of something can cause more stress and anxiety than the problem itself would have caused without knowing.

I think ignorance is bliss for some people when it comes to politics.  If watching or reading the news causes you stress and anxiety, it is probably better to not watch it, especially when you have no control over what is happening.  Of course, in our world of fake news, you might be less ignorant by not watching the news anyway.

It is harmful to closely follow politics if you are going to use it as an excuse to not better your life.  “I can’t get a higher paying job with all of these immigrants coming in and stealing jobs.”  “I can’t start a business with all of these government regulations.”  I’m not going to save for retirement when the government is doing it for me.” “I’m not going to work on that side hustle of mine tonight because I have to see what all of my Facebook friends are saying about Trump.”

I’m sure you can think of your own examples.

With that said, I do think it is important to be aware of what is happening around you, and it is important to be knowledgeable and ethical.  I can’t imagine my life without a libertarian education.  I really don’t think I would trade it for 10 million dollars.

I also like to say that you may want to ignore politics, but politics isn’t going to ignore you. I think this was made quite evident in 2020.  In fact, I think it was hard for some people because they were almost forced to take a political position when they were previously able to remain politically silent for their whole life.

I suppose it is still possible to remain silent and refuse to answer people’s questions.  You don’t have to offer your opinion on mask mandates and lockdowns.  But your actions are going to tell everyone where you stand to some degree.

If you are staying at home and only going out for “essentials” while wearing a mask at all times, then it is pretty clear where you come down.  If you are prohibiting your children from doing activities, it is really clear.  On the other hand, if you are socializing up close with others and going to eat out at restaurants, it is also pretty clear where you come down.

Sure, it is possible that you may stay at home and believe the coronavirus is really dangerous without favoring lockdowns and other government mandates.  But these people are very few.  Most of the hysterics hang on to every word of the establishment and its corporate media, and they likely favor the government interventions that are touted by this same group.

Living Life

I never changed the way I was living since March 2020 except for what was forced upon me by government and society at large.  I haven’t “socially distanced” on purpose, except I have seen a lot fewer people because they are distancing.  Sometimes I am forced to wear a mask if I want to shop somewhere or attend something.

I live in Florida, which is open for business.  There are a lot of localities that have mask mandates, and a lot of businesses require them.  But businesses are open that want to be open, which is most of them.  Life is close to normal in Florida except you still feel like you’re in a hospital when going to the store, and activities in government-owned or government-controlled buildings are quite different.

In 2020, ignorance wasn’t bliss.  To me, ignorance meant listening and hanging on to every word spoken by the so-called experts. It meant following the establishment media and worrying non-stop about the “pandemic”.

I knew the establishment media was lying from the beginning for several reasons.  First and foremost, they lie.  If they’ll lie about things to get us into a war overseas, then surely they’ll lie about the severity of a virus.

I also knew that the mortality statistics they were quoting were fake.  The government-approved “experts” were saying that the virus had a 3 to 4 percent mortality rate.  This was coming out of China where they were mostly testing people who were really sick.  This is faulty statistical analysis.

If you tested people for the flu entering a hospital in the United States, you would probably get a 3 to 4 percent mortality rate there too.  People who are going to the hospital tend to be in bad shape. I’m sure there were many people in early 2020 in China who had the coronavirus or some other flu who didn’t get tested and recovered just fine at home.

I have always viewed this as something akin to the flu.  The hysterics love to quote the number of dead, now over 400,000, but they are again falling for propaganda and faulty statistics.  Early on, the federal government issued guidelines, along with monetary incentives, to code anyone who tested positive for COVID as a COVID death if that person dies.

If you said that anyone who has had the common cold in the last few weeks and dies gets marked as a death from the common cold, then you would have a pandemic of the common cold.

I am glad that I have seen through this whole thing from day one.  While it is frustrating to watch the world around me destroy itself, at least I am not in a state of panic, or at least not from the virus. My children, likewise, have no fear over the virus, just as it should be.

I watch these people who are nervous wrecks.  I see parents pulling activities away from their children.  I see two-year old kids in stores wearing masks.  I see people who are afraid to see any friends or extended family members up close.  They are living a life of panic and loneliness. I am not sure sometimes whether to laugh at them or to feel sorry for them.  Sometimes it is both.

These people are ignorant.  The thing about being ignorant is that you usually don’t know that you are ignorant.  These people got suckered, but they have no idea that they got suckered.  If someone tries to tell them they have been suckered, even in a polite way, they shut that person out.  “Don’t deny the science.”

Intelligent Ignoramuses

The problem is that the hysterics are largely intelligent people.  Many of them are well read.  Many of them have college degrees or advanced degrees.  Many of them make a good living.  Many of them are articulate.

Unfortunately, this hurts them.  They think that because they are basically intelligent people, that they can’t get duped. They think their intelligence applies to every facet of life.  They are blinded by their own intelligence.

 They will gladly listen to Dr Fauci and the other experts that are paraded before them by the politicians and the corporate media. If anyone questions the wisdom of these experts, then that person must be the ignorant one.  They aren’t following the experts.  They aren’t following the science.  They are deniers.  They are conspiracy theorists.  They are lower class rednecks.

This is why conversations with the other side are mostly hopeless.  You will sometimes find someone with an open mind who is willing to consider other viewpoints.  Sometimes you will find someone who just hasn’t given things much thought. Other than that, it is almost impossible to change people’s minds, especially when it challenges their whole worldview.  They were suckers, and they will never want to admit they were suckers.  The only way out is for the same people (the establishment) to tell them that it is ok to start resuming life again.  They need to hear from the same “experts” that things are safer now, whether it is because of a vaccine, or the wise policies of Biden, or whatever the “reason” may be.

I think the only other way to convert some people is to be an example.  Live your life to its fullest, given the choices around you. In 2020, I went to a wedding. I went to a large party inside a house.  We had neighborhood kids running through our house.  We go out to eat as much as we did prior to March 2020.  It has to bother some people who are living in fear inside their house.

You may not move people to our side, but maybe you can demonstrate that you can continue to live life without fear of the plague.  Maybe you can convince them, with your actions, that they can set foot outside of their house and survive.

It isn’t all or nothing.  There is a wide spectrum of people with varying degrees of fear.  The immediate goal isn’t to move everyone to not being fearful at all.  The goal is to move them one step closer to being less fearful.  Or maybe you can convince someone who isn’t fearful to be a little bolder in not always wearing a mask or speaking out more.

The hardest people to convince of anything are the intellectuals who believe they know it all.  They are the biggest suckers of them all.  Either that, or they are playing along and virtue signaling for the sake of their own career and reputation.  I’m not sure which is worse.