Ignorance and Freedom

When I say the words tolerance, unity, and respect, what comes to mind? I bet American society was the first thing you thought of! Now you probably just rolled your eyes, laughed, or muttered “I wish” after that last statement...why? Because American society was probably one of the last things that came to mind to group with such vocabulary.

We live in a society today where respect for a differing of opinions seems to be nonexistent, where tolerance seems to make people think that we must all agree regardless of moral beliefs and attitudes, and where unity seems to signify that if your opinion doesn’t line up with what’s popular then you shouldn’t state it at all; and if you do say it, prepare not to be heard but to rather be called a bigot, racist, homophobe, radicalistic, traditionalist, someone lacking in keeping up with the times etc.

We are starting to live in a world ignorant of any view differing from than that which is popular, trendy, politically correct etc. So why do I care, why should we care? In a letter to Charles Yancey, Thomas Jefferson once wrote,

        "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be. The functionaries of every government have propensities to command at will the liberty and property of their constituents. There is no safe deposit for these but with the people themselves; nor can they be safe with them without information. Where the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe." (Library of Congress)

In a world where we oppress another’s opinion simply because it does not agree with our own, we foster ignorance, and where we foster ignorance we trample on our basic freedoms.

Some might state, “just because I only know my side of the story doesn’t make me ignorant.” John Stewart Mill once said, 

"He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion." 

(First 50 minutes of 2 Incompatible Values)

Let me give you an example of how this works, when I was a girl I loved camping, I still do and could personally live my life in the woods perfectly happy. At about age 13, my church decided to do a big camp for all girls ages 12-18. In that group of girls, was a girl (we will call her Betty) who didn’t want to go, when I asked her why, she stated that she hated camping, when I asked what she hated about camping she couldn’t tell me. After a little prodding, I came to find out that Betty hated camping and had never gone camping before, much less, she had no idea what camping even entailed. Betty was ignorant because she never took the time to see another viewpoint from her own, and had no experience to even base her view off of.

So how does ignorance, opinions and freedom relate to family, I will tell you. The definition of family, and basic moral principles that should occur in a family, is an aspect where many people differ in opinions; and yet an aspect that is affected by voting, how and when we speak up in society, and societal trends. In a society where abortion, divorce, gay marriage etc is permitted, and sometimes even celebrated; many have different views on the morality of such things. For those who do not agree with such principles and those who attack them without hearing their side, simply saying they should be more tolerant and accepting, I echo what a well-known American Jurist once stated,

“We preach… tolerance toward the personal differences that are inevitable in the beliefs and conduct of a diverse population. Tolerance obviously requires a non-contentious

manner of relating toward one another’s differences. But tolerance does not require

abandoning one’s standards or one’s opinions on political or public policy

choices. Tolerance is a way of reacting to diversity, not a command to insulate it from examination.”(Truth and Tolerance: Dallin H Oaks)

My invitation this week is to talk about our differences; bring up those conversations that we try to avoid, and you be the willing one to say the hard thing. Speak up for your opinions that don’t coincide with the popular movements, speak up for the political candidate that you are choosing this year, speak up for why you believe that marriage is between only a man and a woman or why you think gay marriage is ok, speak up for why abortion should or shouldn’t be allowed. As others speak up, lets engage them, find out why they believe the way they do, tell them why you disagree; and lets be open to seeing where another person might be coming from rather than attacking anything that differs from us.

As Americans we brag about the freedoms that we hold, and yet at the same time that we brag, we trample upon them through being so hateful. Let’s liberate ourselves by learning about the opposing person’s side, and then with a more educated and less biased approach take the good out of both sides and continue to protect our country and our families.