Ignorance - the state or fact of being ignorant; lack of knowledge, learning, information, etc.
The Audacity of Hope - Our current President ran his successful 2008 campaign based upon a theme developed from the second book he authored entitled "The Audacity of Hope." The subtitle was "Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream." This message was inspired from a few factors, such as a sermon from Jeremiah Wright based upon a lecture by Dr. Frederick G. Sampson based on the G.F. Watts painting "Hope." When you boil it down, Obama's summation through Wright's message seems to be that even though this lady portrayed in the painting had so little and faced so much adversity that she continued to make music and praise God. Despite the massive impediments she faced, her faith and loyalty carried her forward on her mission to faithfully show her love to the almighty. That is an inspirational message of hope against all odds that we should all respect and appreciate.
That message of hope is one that I think of when I listen to the inspirational words of the late Jim Valvano (A Great Day - Laugh, Think, and Cry) receiving the Arthur Ashe award at the ESPY's and the announcement of the creation of the V Foundation back in 1993. He was ravaged by cancer. He had to have help to get up to and down from the podium. Yet, he had a mission and the moment energized him to a level that most of us can't achieve when we are totally healthy.
He was such a passionate and motivated man and he did a lot for the State of North Carolina. Sure he made mistakes during his tenure at NC State, but it was unjust the way that he was torn down and removed from his position by the petty, small minded forces who served their own personal interests. One thing is for certain, there will never be another Jim Valvano. He was unique.
The Audacity of Ignorance - Now we can get to the point. We hear people constantly bemoaning the fact that the good news isn't getting out there and progress isn't being shown by the media. Most of this is just bluster. I agree whole-heartedly that I don't want to be subjected to murder and mayhem, the dimwit momentum news, or trivial pop culture. Most of the so-called good news these people lust for more of is pop culture feel good material.
Our local scene has been inundated by wall-to-wall stories involving several murders and manslaughter type deaths that were way over reported, in my opinion, and show a tawdry side to our local culture that people with class and dignity find embarrassing. I understand the need to report the stories, but to carry some of these issues forward through needless conjecture and arbitrary ramblings does not present any factual account of the situation and does a disservice to the victims and the well-being of our community.
The real issue that we face in our community is how we are going to create and enhance jobs (or careers) and increase the incomes and well-being of our community. I don't think our local government can create jobs, but they can create an environment, which enhances the ability of the private sector to create jobs. Are we doing enough of that in Hickory and the surrounding metro area?
Frankly, I am sick of the idea that "Big Daddy" government has to control every aspect of our life. The Democrats promote the idea of the Government just cutting a check for every desire, but in the end they just cut the check to the people who control them. The Republicans (and our local officials) represent the party of "NO!" But, in the end they cut checks to their puppet masters in charge of the special interests that they represent also. Both parties represent "BIG" government. They want to involve themselves in every facet of your life and tell you what you can and cannot do and what you can and cannot have. They don't look for solutions. They look to promote personal interests and issues and control outcomes.
A Government of freedom and liberty is supposed to be governed of, by, and for the interests of the people and it is supposed to enhance our lives binding us in a positive way. It is not supposed to choose winners and losers. We have many issues on the local front where we need for local business and government to get on the same page, but we really don't see any positive relationship, and thus progress, taking place that enhances the interests of both sides of that equation. We see a lot of give and take and backscratching. There are deals that could be made in this community where the outcome of the goal (equation) could be greater than the sum of its parts, if people would work in each others interests instead of in myopic, shortsighted endeavors of one-upsmanship.
Let's set out a local Moonshot mission of one goal and do whatever it takes to accomplish that one goal. Pledge to check the egos at the door and call out anyone who pledges and then reneges. If we accomplished this one goal, then we would have something to market and actually have something that would sell itself. And this would re-energize the community. In my opinion, Conover is following this philosophy with the Conover Station.
I refuse to be a yes man to the company line. I am not here to trash the call centers. I am glad some people got jobs and I have heard some great reports about Fiserv, but call centers are not the answer to our prayers and the Telephone Customer Service Industry will not replace the tens of thousands of jobs we have lost. The facts are that we rank last in the State as far as per capita household income (by several thousand dollars) and all of the statistical analysis of highly respected analysts rank us in the bottom 10% of the nation (... Forbes, the Milken Institute, and the Gallup-Healthway survey as examples).
All of these messengers aren't picking on us. And to send out this "All is well" message in the face of a "Shock and Awe" Economic collapse reeks of the characteristics of Baghdad Bob. All is not alright and there are people in our community who deserve kudos for the efforts they are putting forth to turn things around. That is the positive message, but there are also a lot of people that aren't doing diddly squat and they think we are in a normal business cycle and eventually things will turn around on their own. They want short answers, simple solutions, and easy fixes. I think the people who pay attention understand that there are no silver bullets available.
Do you know the difference between ignorance and stupidity? Ignorance is when you do something because you don't know any better. Stupidity is when you know better, but you do it anyway. We have a lot of both in this community. Sometimes I think I am stupid for believing that anything will ever change around here. The worst part is that it seems that the leadership of our community want people to remain ignorant about the ways of the world. It is like the slave owners that didn't want their slaves to be able to read. And that is stupid, because in the end this type of attitude cannot establish the firm foundation needed to build and sustain a vibrant community. And in the end the Richy Rich control freaks are going to suffer from the poor Quality of Life issues just like the rest of us. That is the ones who don't decide to escape the debacle.
The Audacity of Ignorance reflects upon the intellectually lazy in our community (and other communities) who are proud of their disinterest and ambivalence toward the environment that surrounds them. You hear it all the time; "That doesn't effect me"... "I don't care about that." They think that they are entitled to everything turning out alright without personally investing in the equation and thus the outcome. The worst part is when these people, who do not invest intellectual capital into their own being or their environment, fearfully create roadblocks for those who do.
We cannot rebuild our community based upon survival techniques. We have to think about the future and not put all of our chips into the survival pile. We need to start thinking about whether we should be forcing future generations to accept reduced expectations. By not investing in our future, we are imposing our will upon a future society and culture that will be doomed toward failure. What kind of arrogance does that display and what right do we have to do that?
I enjoy Proverb 16
To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the proper answer of the tongue. All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the LORD...The predicament of an Ignorant Populace is addressed in the video below:
How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver! The highway of the upright avoids evil; those who guard their ways preserve their lives. Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.
From Warren Pollock's blog
Aldous Huxley, social critic and author of Brave New World, talks to Mike Wallace about threats to freedom in the United States, overpopulation, bureaucracy, propaganda, drugs, advertising, and television.
The pattern pushing us deeper into a totalitarian regime. The strongest operative force is organization towards oligarchical-corporate-bureaucracy run by a handful of those who are entitled. The have-nots are embedded in both propaganda and false-ideology that operates below choice and reason. All the propaganda now being in the hands of a few agencies such as the democrats-republicans in power. The oligarchical minority are entitled to a high standard of living on the back of a dumbed-down majority of slaves.
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