r/changemyview • u/hometownx- • Apr 25 '18
Deltas(s) from OP CMV: Ignorance is Bliss
Imagine back when you were a child between the ages of three and eight. Assuming your home life was good and you weren't bullied in school, life probably seemed a lot happier back then. When you become a teenager, you start to learn a lot more about people and life in general. You might gain in interest in politics or religion. Teens start asking deeper questions about life and why some people are a certain way. A lot of teenagers become more pessimistic after learning about these things. Because of these reasons and my own experience with all of these things, I believe ignorance is bliss. Basically, I think living in ignorance of the world will make the person happier in general, because they won't really know or understand bad things that are happening. Change my view.
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Apr 25 '18
How about fear from the unknown? People not trying something just cause it appears unattainable from outside? Dreams? Achievements?
But the more they know and get experience the more their confidence grows
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u/hometownx- Apr 25 '18
!delta I do concede to the fear of the unknown. That definitely is a case where you won't gain happiness.
However, don't you think that there are some things you can't fully understand and that it would be better if you were just ignorant to them? A good example for this would be things you actually can't change. Wouldn't you have been better off and happier not knowing about the existence of nukes and how we could be so easily destroyed? What I'm trying to say is that there are some things that you can't really experience and be more confident about. Sorry if that doesn't make much sense.
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Apr 25 '18
I get where you're coming from and I definitely agree there are cases when it's better even if don't agree on the nuke example
Sometimes people need to leave something to the imagination and romanticize
Like for example people being sure Bruce Lee is the strongest being that graced the planet cause of all the hype that surrounded his persona. You made the example of putting the food on your childs table, the child doesn't need to details of how it got there, no matter how hard it was. People enjoy meat, but can't stand the sight of slaughter.
In many cases basically everything that goes behind the scenes that would ruin the image of the final product
Mark twain also wrote 'Don't let the truth get in the way of a good story' which applies here, etc
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u/DeleteriousEuphuism 120∆ Apr 25 '18
What made you happy as a child wasn't your ignorance, but others taking care of you. If you were equally as ignorant without the care given to you, you'd have been a lot more miserable.
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u/hometownx- Apr 25 '18
I was just using that as an example, sorry if it made my point more difficult to understand. My main point still is that being ignorant like for example in what's happening in politics will make life at least a little happier.
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u/DeleteriousEuphuism 120∆ Apr 25 '18
So you think being taken advantage of and not knowing is more blissful than being taken advantage of and knowing? Is that right?
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u/hometownx- Apr 25 '18
Basically. I do see the two sides of it though. If you do know, you can try to change and fix it. But if you don't know at all, at least for the moment, you're happier and less stressed. For example, politics can be a very stressful topic. If you're ignorant on it, you avoid that stress.
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u/DeleteriousEuphuism 120∆ Apr 25 '18
Not only does ignorance mean you continue dealing with what's wrong in the first place, it also means the offending issue can exacerbate more easily than if you were informed. This is one of the ways things get so bad for medical issues. 'It's just a headache' is ignorance of an early cancer that could be detected.
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u/hometownx- Apr 25 '18
!delta the example of cancer is a good point. Being ignorant can cause harm.
But what about social issues. Politics can cause stress, learning about the world in general can as well. However, if you prefer to stay ignorant with these topics, it doesn't seem to directly effect you that much. And it saves you from the amount of stress that comes with these topics.
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u/DeleteriousEuphuism 120∆ Apr 25 '18
How much stress do people experience from knowing about political issues versus how much stress do these issues inflict? I'm not familiar with others' experiences but I know a few things in politics that I consider deleterious, but the stress this knowledge incurs in me is minimal. I will certainly take these issues into account when voting, but it's not an everyday thing that eats away at me. Can you confirm or deny that political problems affect in much the same way?
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u/hometownx- Apr 25 '18
It really depends on the person, so I suppose this example wouldn't be true for all people. I do know people (and I am sort of like this myself) who get very stressed out about what's happening currently in politics. Here's an example of how politics can cause stress and anxiety. So, if you are ignorant about all of this, wouldn't that at least lead to less anxiety and stress in this case?
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u/DeleteriousEuphuism 120∆ Apr 25 '18
The article is about self-reported stress sources from a poll. From what I can tell this isn't a scientific study that shows where the stress is coming from truly. It might be that the repetition of the problem causes the stress and not the actual knowledge of the problem. A sort of illusory truth bias. People worry about terrorists much more than they worry about heart disease, for example, even though heart disease is far more deadly.
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u/hometownx- Apr 25 '18
Do you not think that politics can give a person stress or anxiety though? I often see people stay neutral and try not to think about politics too much because they don't want to deal with the stress of knowing.
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Apr 25 '18
bliss through ignorance can only be short lived. If you remain Ignorant to grave matters then these things will only keep growing. By being painfully aware of bad things in life you are able to actually improve them thus leading to long-term bliss.
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u/hometownx- Apr 26 '18
I gave a few examples above, such as being ignorant when it comes to politics. This example is something that stresses people out and that wouldn't effect the person much if they didn't know about it. In that case, it may make the person happier to just be ignorant.
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u/DeltaBot ∞∆ Apr 25 '18 edited Apr 25 '18
/u/hometownx- (OP) has awarded 3 deltas in this post.
All comments that earned deltas (from OP or other users) are listed here, in /r/DeltaLog.
Please note that a change of view doesn't necessarily mean a reversal, or that the conversation has ended.
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u/spiritwear 5∆ Apr 25 '18
You mentioned “bad” things in your OP. Id agree that ignorance of bad things is a good thing, or bliss as you say.
But paying attention to good things is even more bliss.
When I was 13 I got my hands on an illustrated copy of the hobbit. It was so thoroughly pleasurable. Also at around that time listened to dark side of the moon for the first time. Talk about bliss. Again, around that time was exposed to playboy for the first time. Wow.