I’m a Bigot,

I won’t consider ignorance useful.

I’m unwilling to hear arguments for ignorance.  I’m unwilling to reconsider ignorance as a deliberate choice.  I won’t listen to excuses for ignorance.  I’m convinced that ignorance is bad, and a source of all that is bad, and I'm sure there is no way to convince me that anything good comes from it.

Yes, I’ve heard, “ignorance is bliss”, but I’m sure that’s wrong.  Everything you don’t know can be used to hurt you.

I’ve made up my mind and won’t listen to or reconsider any information that anyone offers to modify my firmly held belief, regardless of the source or lofty purpose.

This I think maybe the classic definition of “Bigotry”. 

According to Merriam Webster; “a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; especially, one who regards or treats the members of a group with hatred and intolerance”.

That isn’t exactly my case.  I don’t have hatred for any one group.  I am intolerant of a host of groups, but not defined by race, religion, sex, or ethnicity.  I am obstinately devoted to beliefs developed over decades of inquiry and observation.  I've made up my mind about very few things; ignorance is poison; encouraging ignorance is insidious; striving to keep people ignorant is criminal; deliberately causing ignorance is evil.

Known, unknowns are and should be a clear signal to search for, accept, and reconsider any information that informs us of anything we know we don’t know. 

Not knowing what you don’t know, the classic unknown-unknowns; is a whole other matter and so are any uninformed conclusions. 

So is stupidity; and what constitutes stupid I think, is worthy of frequent reconsideration.

Ethics requires one to frequently re-examine facts and beliefs, the opposite of bigotry, the opposite of ignorance.

I believe ignorance is the root of all misery and clearly the root of many other things, like poverty, slavery, disease, starvation, corruption, crime, abuse, most ills and suffering, misery and all sins, and nearly all evil. 

Knowledge should always be sought for itself, and as a practiced habit to lead an individual to a much wider and more complete understanding of our world and lives.  All knowledge is good, although occasionally painful, unpleasant, frightening, repulsive, and often regrettable, but it should always be sought, but not always personally experienced.  Some knowledge should only be seen or heard of, not felt by participation.  One need not commit suicide to observe, surmise or imagine its impacts and effects without actually killing ones self. 

Knowledge is always more useful than ignorance and nearly always more good than bad.  Sometimes a piece of knowledge has no apparent immediate use, but someday combined with other bits of knowledge will reveal wisdom without the misery of painful trial and error; or just an intuition, hunch, or guess that avoids painful disaster without a traceable link to a single piece of knowledge.

So even though occasionally ugly, or unpleasant, or hideous, or frightening; knowledge is always preferable to ignorance, even if it only avoids some pain and some misery.

If I am obstinate and intolerant of those who chose ignorance and those who encourage and tolerate ignorance, then,

I’m a bigot about ignorance.