T Fast wrote:
>
>
> It is a question the ROTW asks on a daily basis.
What is ROTW?
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> Nietzsche got at it this way:
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> I suspect Americans like Canadians are wilfully ignorant and that it serves
> to nip any cognitive dissonance in the bud. That is, the people are
> complicit. It takes a whole nation to get to Nuremberg!
The citation from Nietzsche confused rather than contributed to the discussion. "Will to stupidity" is unacceptable as a description of anyone, while "will to ignorance" can be defended as a rational response which, while in many instances unfortunate and in need of correction, is in most instances a necessary foundation of any knowledge whatsoever. I will give only and extreme example here, but an extreme example establishes that the question is one of degree, not of simple difference. If either you or I ceased to be willfully ignorant of the complexities of Sanskrit vocabulary & syntax, in attempting to remedy that ignorance we would have to close our minds to almost any other information for much of our time. Without willful ignorance the human species would have died out long ago.
Also, I would challenge "the people are complicit," on the grounds that this leads to a false understanding of the tasks of a left resistance.
I don't have time right now to develop and support these positions, but I thought it might be worthwhile to note their existence.
Carrol