What is Willful Ignorance

Willful ignorance is the state and practice of ignoring any sensory input that appears to contradict one’s inner model of reality. 

It differs from the standard definition of “ignorance“ — which just means that one is unaware of something — in that willfully ignorant people are fully aware of facts, resources and sources, but refuse to acknowledge them. Indeed, calling someone "ignorant" shouldn’t really be a pejorative, but intentional and willful ignorance is an entirely different matter.

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”  ― Plato

In contrast to ordinary of higher ignorance, willful ignorance occurs when a person knows the truth but chooses to ignore it, or the person refuses to abandon false beliefs and pursue the development of further knowledge. According to the Urban Dictionary. willful ignorance is: The practice or act of intentional and blatant avoidance, disregard or disagreement with facts, empirical evidence and well-founded arguements because they oppose or contradict your own existing personal beliefs

Research tells us that some people are cognitively complex while others prefer cognitive simplicity, some people are open to experience while other are closed minded, and some people are cognively flexible while others are cognitively rigid. I think there is a clear inference that people who are cognitively simple, closed minded and/or rigid are much more likely to engage in willful ignorance. Essentially, these would be "stupid" people, but not necessarily people lacking in the ability to be smart; rather, they are most likely people who would rather be comfortably ignorant rather than smart. 

One finding from recent research is that conservatives tend to have lower IQs. Remember, lifestyle and personality can have a huge influence on IQ, so it is likely that conservatives essentially think less than do progressives. They ask fewer questions and engage in fewer truth seeking missions, on the whole.

A corrolary to this is a personal, unproven but anecdotally supported hypothesis that conservatives are more likely to develop the effects of dementia, such as impaired reasoning and memory disorders.

The mind is meant to be alert at all active times,it is not normal to forget things repeatedly.

Willful ignorance impairs the mind slowly and robs us the of ability to want to strive more,know more and become more. We find ourselves in circumstances where we know what is supposed to be done,when its supposed to be done but we chose to look the other side and pass the moment.In doing so you literally reduce the strength of your mind of articulating issues.

One of the examples given by  Susan Smalley on this topic is the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law as an example of willful ignorance being encouraged by government. She makes the point that many of our institutions encourage willful ignorance, at least regarding certain issues.

Causes of Willful Ignorance.

One reason is that people tend to be "cognitive misers." Most people tend not to examine things intellectually if they don't feel they have to.

 Another reason is conformity. People tend to believe what those around them believe, and questioning those beliefs would lead to conflict and likely rejection, the last thing one would want to happen is to be a social reject .On the other hand, there are large social rewards for conformity, even if being a conformist means being willfully ignorant. Conformists have all the greater potential to find a mate, or mates, to climb the social ladder of "success," to have others speak well of them and to enjoy the benefits of a social support system. That everybody who participates in a conformist community, may indeed be willfully ignorant and delusional in their conformity, does not change these facts.

 A third reason for being willfully ignorant is that we hate to be wrong. Admitting that one is wrong, causes cognitive dissonance, which is something to be avoided. Thus, people are often resistant to any evidence which contradicts their world view or belief system, rather than examine the evidence and modify their positions, which would require the person to experience and deal with cognitive dissonance. 

How to reduce Willful Ignorance

One thing we can do is to have a more intellectually oriented, education oriented society. The progressive way forward requires a well educated public and electorate; otherwise, we will likely have a feudal futile future to look forward to. 

Another thing those among us who are not willfully ignorant can do, is to engage the willfully ignorant intellectually, as difficult and painful as that might be. Learning should be a lifelong process, so we should let all members of society participate in learning through discussions of matters of importance. While it may be difficult to change people's personalities or deeply ingrained willful ignorance, we should never underestimate people's capacity for change.

Thanks to Thom Hartmann - Program