You never know where you’ll end up or what you’ll learn when you start browsing the internet. This morning, looking for information about the October 2 Women’s March in Denver, I landed on the Women’s March Denver website. Only it wasn’t “Women’s March” — it was “Womxn’s March.” I lost interest right there. I’m not that young and progressive, or whatever it is that embraces a word like “Womxn’s.”
However, at the bottom of the page was a picture of a hand-lettered sign saying “Ignorance is the enemy.” That struck me as true and extremely timely; I wanted to know the origin of the expression.
That search led me to Shreya Shanbhag‘s LinkedIn page, headed with a Stephen Hawking quote: “The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance. It is the illusion of knowledge.” That was followed by an opening paragraph: “Knowledge is knowing tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.” What follows is a great discussion of knowledge, wisdom, growth, and learning. A relevant discussion, even though it was posted in 2018. The problem, of course, is that those who most need to read this, won’t. Those who need to understand it, won’t.
I’m probably guilty of confirmation bias here, but you might find the post worthwhile.
Meanwhile, I’m still rejecting “womxn’s.” It goes against my 78-year-old bias.
Timely and perfectly said.
Clear target. Don’t dilute the message with auxiliary clutter.
Succinct and to the point. That’s why I like it.
LOVE that Hawking quote.
Me too. The man was brilliant by any definition. And obviously an observer of human behavior.
Ditto. Old enough to appreciate true wisdom, but too old to appreciate it’s illegitimate illusion.
Let me think now, what public person in recent years has illustrated the greatest illusion of knowledge …