For the past few months, things have been quite troubling for the country that I live in. In just a few months, we went from a fairly "normal"—if you could call our situation normal—community to one that is completely divided due to events that unfolded so quickly and so unexpectedly that they took everyone by surprise.
Things are bad, at least when it comes to politics. Not much seems to be different outside of this part of life that I detest, at times, with a passion. People go to work, people come home, they live their lives, and they complain about the little things that life likes to throw at us.
But in the past few months, this detestable occupation that seems to be the playground of all the thieves and scoundrels of most countries has somehow infiltrated everyone's private lives and turned them either to one side or the other.
That is bad enough. But what it did that hurts everyone more than anything, at least in my opinion, is that it transformed stupidity and, especially, ignorance into a virtue.
Knowing, reading, doing research, and trying to understand something better than others is nowadays labelled as dumb, a trait of the naive and of those who don't mind being manipulated by the "evil sources" that do nothing more than disagree with whoever has "the absolute truth."
It is truly, for those who value knowledge, a stressful time. No conversation can happen in which you could try to offer some useful information that goes against the "esoteric" truth that people seem to possess from others, without immediately being considered a manipulated idiot who does not understand the world and how things "should be."
It has especially been a time of sadness for me. As a person who strives to know more and understand the world a little better, who is continually worried that he doesn't know enough and always tries to motivate himself to learn more, with the argument that the wise are better than the alternative, I find it extremely depressing that knowledge is no longer appreciated.
How can you understand the world if books are being seen as a medium for manipulation, if education becomes nothing but the "enemy's way of preaching false information," if anyone who even dares to think against the current wave of ideology and nationalistic blindness is shunned or criticized, when superficial information given to those who cannot even understand the inner workings of the devices they use to "learn the truth," or the complex algorithms that study their very habits and interests, becomes the default accepted medium of understanding?
It is a sad time, indeed. I remember fondly when learned people were admired and appreciated, when I wished with all my heart to one day rise at least to the lowest level of their understanding and wisdom. Now, it seems that those same learned people are being hated for their knowledge. And when stupidity is being acclaimed, it becomes harder and harder to wish to be better.
Do you defy the masses and isolate yourself with your books and your "manipulated information," contradicted at every step by those who don't even care where their information comes from as long as it agrees with their point of view, or do you give in and become one of them, if only to be in the presence of other human beings, despite their shortcomings?