Monday, August 29, 2011

Know-it-alls

Gawd, I love this post by Beeryblog!

That which I cannot study empirically I do not understand. If there is nothing for me to have observed and I have either not sought or not been persuaded with evidence, then my answer is I do not know.

My peace is not in knowing; it is in wanting to know. And my bliss is not in knowing; it is in trying to know.

This makes me a liberal. Evidence is not something I fight against, and answers are not something I require.

That which one cannot study empirically the conservative claims to understand anyway. Even when there is nothing to observe and the conservative has neither sought nor been presented with evidence, the conservative’s answer is I know.

The conservative finds peace only in knowing the answers to questions that she has not even asked. And once she knows, she will not be persuaded by evidence; hers is to defend her truth, not to find nature’s.

It reminds me of something Nezua said a while ago about the essence of white privilege.

Mi novia says that it really frustrates White people that no matter how much they know or want to know, there may be an area of experience or knowledge that they cannot access. Bingo, Gringo.

This is another way of saying White Privilege.

How dare the world harbor some sort of Thing that I cannot experience! How dare you insinuate that you possess knowledge I may have to ask you about in humility! How impertinent of you to even imagine that I cannot, with study and great wisdom and effort, also know what it is like to grow up Brown™ in America! The voice of privilege thinks no seat is unavailable, no land unconquerable, no food untasteable, no right deniable, no experience out of reach. It is a slap in the face to this line of thought that there exists an area that cannot be known, even to a WHITE person. Gasp.

When did we stop asking questions and become know-it-alls?

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