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On The Importance of Being Informed

30/4/2015

6 Comments

 
Good morning, Readers.

Yesterday, good friend and fellow author Eric Desmarais posted a list of five pet peeves (which you can read HERE).  I'm joining in with one of my top pet peeves.

Talking about something from a place of ignorance.  It makes one look like a complete ass.

Of particular note, is discussing a book without actually having read said book.  Now, I was lectured a little while ago on a link share I made on my Facebook page about the glorification of abuse in the book Fifty Shades of Grey.  In my opinion, the book does glorify abuse, and gives the mistaken impression that the abused can change the abuser from being an abuser to being a decent human being just by loving them more.

Which, everyone hopefully knows, is kinda bullshit.

Anyway, I had done a fair amount of research on the subject, reading both sides of the supposed debate (I say 'supposed' because after having done the research in my mind there really was no debate), and even attempted to read the book.  I admit that I didn't get very far with the first book itself.  I found the writing too poor to tolerate, even for the sake of research, and I immediately recognised the abuse.  It turned my stomach a bit and I just couldn't read farther.

So, I hadn't completed the series.  I couldn't bring myself too.

The point is, someone slammed me for speaking on the subject even though I had not read (finished) the book.  I had read the book.  I hadn't finished the book.  There is a distinction.

Were they right to call me out?  Well, yes and no.  Yes, I hadn't finished the book, so how could I speak on it?  However, I had read the series plot summary, and copious amounts of articles about the shape and effect of abusive relationships, the psychology and tricks of abusers, and the actual rules and practices of real BDSM.

I heard the furore created by the book and did all I could to understand it.

That's more or less the way I operate.  I try to understand the problem before wading in with my opinion.

Because I have been that idiot speaking from a place of pure ignorance, and I vowed - because I had hurt someone with my ignorance and been made to look the fool I was - to never do that again.

John Scalzi is currently dealing with a tool who is claiming his Hugo Award winning novel Redshirts only won because it was a Social Justice Warrior-y book, filled with the leftist messages so beloved by the secret cabal in charge of keeping leftist message-y books in the nomination slots.  Or something.  The person slamming his book has never actually read the work in question.  If he had, he might have been surprised at how much it resembled the 'good ol' sci fi' they claim their fighting to bring back (or something).
Picture
Image courtesy of weirdnutdaily.com. Click for link.
Scalzi wrote about it in a post last night, which you can read HERE.

For my part, I really enjoyed Redshirts and I reckon it really deserved its Hugo win.  It's not easy to write something funny that also pulls at the heart.

Actually, now that I think on it, we did a Nights at the Round Table episode on it:
I'm sick to death of the Sad Puppies thing, but it is the most recent example of the kind of idiocy that really grates on my nerves.

In the age of easy access to information, there is absolutely no excuse, no excuse, for ignorance.  We live in a world with information literally at our finger tips 24/7.  How on earth people can perform the mental gymnastics that enables them to double down in their ignorance is utterly beyond me.

And I hate it.  It's as stupid as the ignorance itself, and infinitely more idiotic than ignorance ever will be.

So, my top pet peeve would have to be wilful ignorance.

Stop it.  Just don't do it.  If you don't know anything about a particular book/subject/current event, keep your mouth shut.  There is no shame in not knowing.

There is a great deal in being the dumbass who talks about stuff you know nothing about.

Don't.

Do.

It.

Ciao!
6 Comments
eric link
30/4/2015 04:00:17 am

I think the amount of available information can sometimes cause more problems. I've done a lot of research on certain topics and sometimes the unreliable science, or unethical mouvement has someone writing references that sounds like they know what they're talking about.

Reply
S.M. Carrière link
30/4/2015 06:02:05 am

You raise good points. I think the issue is knowing how to research, which includes knowing what reliable sources are.

This includes looking at who sponsored a scientific study. Sometimes the science is good, but the interpretation is flawed, precisely because of who sponsored the study.

For example, Wikipedia is NOT an acceptable source, but it IS a good starting point. Going to the citations and reading THOSE is a great way to get started properly.

Reply
Karin
30/4/2015 10:55:49 am

Since I don't know anything about the particular issues you mention, I may be off-track, but I would add that it's also the importance of asking questions that's significant. I have been thinking about it since the Writers' Fest talk I attended (on how conservation happens in the Congo), where the speaker, Deni Bechard, remarked on how rarely conservation or development groups will ask questions of the local people before starting their projects. It isn't that they should either do something or do nothing -- say something or keep quiet -- but what they do, and how they do it. I feel like it's a similar issue -- a person doesn't need to know a great deal about a subject to converse about it, but they should be willing to learn, and as such, willing to ask questions before jumping to conclusions.

Reply
S.M. Carrière link
30/4/2015 11:30:21 am

Ah! A nuance I failed to address.

You are totally correct.

Of course, that is less spewing wilful ignorance than it is having a dialogue. In the case of the SP going after Scalzi's book 'Redshirts,' he was sounding of about the book being SWJ messaged rubbish (which it isn't). Something the person would know if they just read the damned thing.

Instances like the one described above are what I'm railing about. Asking questions with a willingness to listen and learn is precisely the opposite of wilful ignorance.

Reply
Karin
5/5/2015 01:33:31 am

Quite true, a dialogue is a different matter -- blathering on without any knowledge of a subject is pretty obnoxious. It does seem a bit of a feature of our culture that people prefer to talk as though they have authority than to ask a few simple questions, or (in the case you're talking about) actually read the book! But opinions aren't fact (especially when the person with the opinion has nothing to base it on).

This is why I enjoy book panels like your Silver Stag, incidentally, because it's about asking questions and differing opinions, that are taken as opinions but founded on a solid knowledge of the book.

S.M. Carrière link
5/5/2015 03:34:20 am

You are very right, of course.

Thanks for the compliment on Silver Stag. I do love those panels too.




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    S.M. Carrière, a Celtic Studies enthusiast, writes fiction.  And this blog.

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