Few Things Stick In My Craw Like Ignorance

Do you know what gets me? What really sticks in my craw?

Ignorance…and ignorant people.

I despise ignorant people. And I’m not talking about the fools who can’t spell, who think “wit” is a word. I’m not talking about the poor misguided people you see in all the “fail” pics on social media sites. These people may be uneducated, I’ll talk about my problems with education later, but they aren’t the ignorant I speak of.

I’m talking about the arrogant, bigots and hypocrites of the world. I’m talking about the people who hate for no other reason than to hate because of a difference. The people who hate because they don’t understand something or someone.

These are the people who grasp at straws when they try to justify their actions. They reach for the media outlets to tell them what to say. They reach for the Bible and they bend and twist the words to suit themselves. Some even create reasons out of thin air. They’re afraid so they fight it with hate. They spew angry, vile, lava filled filth from their mouths. Words that scar (and on occasion kill) those in its path.

That childhood adage “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is wrong. Words CAN hurt. They hurt hundreds of thousands of people every day. If they didn’t hurt there wouldn’t be bullies. The words they yell represent themselves in some way, they see themselves or someone they know in the person they bully. The fear is real for them, and if they make fun of you, or hurt you, they don’t have to deal with how it makes them feel. Lashing out makes the problem yours, and that’s okay to them.

Being the passionate person that I am, when I see these people I get angry. I don’t mean normal angry either, I mean Hulk smash angry. I want to punch people in the face. Of course that won’t really solve anything will it? I’ve learned recently how to fight them with facts. For every erroneous fact they give me I try to give them two accurate ones. It doesn’t mean they’re going to change their minds, in fact I can almost guarantee they won’t, but if ONE person overhears the conversation or reads it on social media and gets all the facts then I have won the argument.

I choose to fight Ignorance with EDUCATION! I can educate the snot right out of them. And it makes me feel good to know that by choosing to educate I’m taking the high road. I don’t have to hurt with words, I don’t have to use force, I don’t have to manipulate someone to bring them to my way of thinking. And that makes me a better person. I may lose an occasional friend/acquaintance/family member but that’s okay, because I will usually gain a couple more.

Please don’t spread ignorance around. Be passionate about your beliefs, we don’t all have to have the same ones after all. Just be educated about what you believe in. Give facts, not bias. Sometimes you don’t like something because you just don’t, I get that (I don’t like Brussels Sprouts and I’ve never eaten one), just don’t quote someone or something you don’t understand as a way to justify it. For the record I don’t like Brussels Sprouts because they freak me out to look at, plus I’m not a huge cabbage fan.

Educate yourselves my friends. Education is the most powerful weapon you can have.

Peace and Love.