Ignoring Ignorance

In his first inaugural address, Franklin D. Roosevelt famously said (paraphrasing Thoreau), "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." That made some sense during the great depression when Roosevelt wanted people to forget their unproductive fear and get busy making things better; but taken out of context, the statement is absurd. Fear is a useful response to danger. If we feared nothing but fear, something dangerous would have got us before now, and we wouldn't be here wondering about fear.  Well, I wouldn't be here anyway.

One afternoon, many years ago, I was driving another chemistry teacher to the hospital after she had gotten complacent about safety while doing a routine demonstration with chlorine gas and inhaled a snootful. She forgot that fear can be useful even if you know what you are doing. 

That goes for me too. I was following traffic rather too closely on the way to the hospital when someone stopped ahead to make a left turn and we wound up on a railroad track. Joan (not her real name) suggested that stopping on a railroad track was not a good idea. I was just about to remind her peevishly that I was driving and she should leave me to it and concentrate on breathing when the signal started clanging and the barrier began descending and a train began hooting. I was instantly afraid. Luckily there was nobody behind us and I managed to back up while the barrier came down missing the windshield by centimetres. Luck works sometimes. A bit of fear in this case improved my luck.

Fear is not the only response to danger. Anger is another.  In my experience, getting mad at a train isn't useful. However tempting, getting mad at a passenger who is telling you how to drive or the guy ahead who made you stop while he turned left isn't going to help either. A train will keep on coming even if you are yelling at everything in sight.

Another unuseful response to a threat is to ignore it. No worries. I've been by here a hundred times and never seen a train. We'll just carry on. Clang, clang, clang, hoot, hoot, hooooooot, crash, tinkle, tinkle. 

You're wondering about Joan (not her real name). They checked her out at the hospital, sent her home, and she was more careful with chlorine after that. Fear can be useful.

No need to wonder about me either. I don't drive anymore because I can't see where I'm going and my reflexes are slow. I'm afraid to drive. As a result, you are safer on the road and I'm here at the computer telling a story with a moral. 

This story is about our response to the threat of climate change. If you reread with that in mind, it may make more sense. There are still lots of people insisting that fear is the problem, yelling at those who say it's time to get off fossil fuels, insisting it's all a hoax and what we really need is cheap gasoline. Ignorance is rampant.

In my opinion
ignorance is entirely useless.
The only thing we need to ignore
is ignorance itself.
You may quote me.

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Climate Change Denial: Wikipedia