The opposite of knowledge is not ignorance but tyranny! It is that idea that if we do not educate ourselves, if we do not question what has gone before us, we are doomed to believe what others tell us to believe, giving them a certain power over us. This is an insidious flaw of our modern world, for to seek knowledge is an overwhelming prospect, but to challenge the norms and question them is even more difficult.
For the most part, we are told what we know. We are taught at a very young age to believe what those in authority tell us to believe, and we blindly follow. This has always been the way of the world – whether from a religious, political, or scientific standpoint, most of us are happy to just follow along because it makes our lives easier. But does it make our lives better? And, more importantly, does we give up control of our lives, even a responsibility for our lives, as we give the power that knowledge brings to others?
These questions arise from discussions over the vaccinating of children, or the choice not to vaccinate a child, which has been presented in the media and other fora. It is not the intention to question whether it is right or wrong to vaccinate a child, but rather to ask why this subject has become so polarized: why does it generate so much fear?
The media, government, and the medical system are mostly to blame for this, because not only does it generate fear through the sensationalizing of this subject, but it does little to education the public about the pros and cons of the issue. It really comes down to a “trust us, we know best” scenario.
The flip side comes when one tries to educate oneself, and one finds all those competing claims on the Internet. Who really is telling the truth, and how do we know it to be true or credible? Sadly, this seems to be the debate from the time of Aristotle. To muddy the waters further on this, as many will say that science has proven the facts through experimentation, there is an underlying philosophy in the science that states that all truth or knowledge is temporal. In other words, it will eventually be disproven. This is the simplification of Karl Popper’s idea, but it makes the point, and if this science is not truly certain, then why do all these actors tell us to trust them?
In 2009, the WHO issued a H1N1 pandemic warning, which created a global fear. The results were pressures upon governments to protect their citizens, even here in Canada. In 2011, it was revealed that Big Pharma, who influenced scientists within the WHO to create this pandemic warning, motivated these.
This does not mean we should never trust another word someone tells us, but rather, we need to be cautious and become informed. Otherwise, we are going to create policies, within our healthcare and school systems, which could have devastating and long-lasting consequences.
John Kennair is an international consultant and doctor of laws who lives in St. Albert.
