Knowing was a barrier which prevented learning. -Frank Herbert
As anyone debugging a computer program who has ever skipped over a routine they “know” is working can attest, knowledge can impede insight. Knowledge is a stone, a wall, a fallback position, an opt-repeated aphorism, a discussion-ender, an assertion of superiority, a casual rebuke to the curious. Learning is a river, a tide, a question, a detailed observation, a discussion-starter, an admission of ignorance, an invitation to the curious.
This intro leads me to a bifurcation, as I feel equally able to confirm or dispute this assertion, the curse of the former debater. I started writing with the expectation of confirmation so I will continue, though I admit that knowledge has some use in our world, used as a guide rather than a bludgeon, though I personally prefer lore.
Everyone today knows raw milk is dangerous to consume. That’s because raw milk was demonized to the public over doctors’ objections after industry was able to monetize homogenized and pasteurized milk in the 1920s. Milk is a natural substance that evolved to help baby animals grow–as opposed to nut milk, which is an oxymoron–and any human mom who has gone to the trouble of expressing her milk would never waste that effort by blending or microwaving it. This knowledge has nearly eliminated access to this therapeutic substance a century later, and led to a deluge of unnecessary “lactose-intolerance.”
Everyone knows that wild turkeys are quite dumb and really do drown by holding their mouths open in rain. Yet they are actually quite smart, as described by a variety of sources ranging from bamboozled hunters in North America during the 18th century to police reports of a wild turkey gang systematically terrorizing Brookline, Massachusetts in the 2000s. This type of knowledge, the assumption of human superiority over wild animals of all kinds, continues to prevent us from understanding numerous interconnections between us and wild animals, such as sharing of disease vectors.
In a recent poll, over 60% of Americans, almost everyone, were found to believe, or know, that crime is a huge problem in our country, though only 17% believe it is a problem for them locally. Statistics suggest that the gap may be due to media influence rather than reality. This knowledge leads to a fearful populace and to wasting community resources solving non-existent problems.
Everyone knows homelessness is caused by drug use, laziness, illegal immigration, lawlessness, and financial downturns. Those factors may contribute to anecdotal cases, but homelessness as a phenomenon is definitely caused by two few homes. It simply does not exist where there are plenty of homes. This knowledge guarantees we will never solve it.
I’m reminded of Leonard Cohen’s song, “Everybody Knows”.
Obviously, the issue is that people don’t actually know, but they think they know, and the lack of critical thinking makes people believe the same thing, or as Isaac Asimov once put it, they believe “democracy means ‘my ignorance is as good as your knowledge.'”
As for the issue of raw milk, I’d say there’s a difference between a mother’s own milk and milk from a cow. I agree it would be silly for a human mother to blend or microwave her milk, but she isn’t out grazing in a field full of effluents from who knows what, and her milk isn’t batched with milk from other human mothers, all collected using machinery of questionable sanitary practices, especially now that the FDA and USDA are barred from inspecting facilities without permission. So my objection would be not so much to the raw milk itself as to the chain of custody as it goes from the teat to the glass. I agree with you 100% on the nut “milk”, though. It’s just expensive water, almost completely devoid of nutrients. Soybeans, almonds, rice, and oats don’t have mammary glands. Just eat the nuts and drink a glass of water.
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