
Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
Speak to anyone, on the street, in your family, circle of friends, whatever, and you will find what you, yourself know to be true, we are living in a time that is perilous in at least, two existential ways, the possibility of climate collapse and the threat of world War.
There are of course other issues, social, economic and political but they can stand down for a moment as they are not, any of them, going to end human life on Earth yet we have world War and climate collapse looming directly in front of us. To say or “believe” that these two threats do not have the potential of devastation and ruin is to be willfully Ignorant.
To not understand that the US is the leading cause of these two great threats, when all the evidence is in plain sight for anyone who wishes to see this truth, is to be willfully ignorant. To not understand the power of propaganda and nationalistic bias, when we know that propaganda is a tool in constant motion and that nationalistic or tribal bias has been a factor in human thinking, processing and decision making since the beginning of historic time is to be willfully ignorant.
To not care about these conditions, or the survival of not only our generation but the generations yet to come is to be willfully Ignorant or worse. To think that your voice or energy or action does not have some merit, some effect or some influence on the movement of the whole, is to be willfully Ignorant when everything around us shows us that voices, energy, action, in fact every living thing influences and moves and effects all that is around it from the butterfly to the invention of nuclear bombs, is to be willfully Ignorant.
To think that by voting for one or the other of the two men who both actively promoted and elevated the threat of world war and this climate disaster when they both had the opportunity to do otherwise, is willfull ignorance. To think that democracy in America is alive and well, or even barely breathing, after several corrupted elections that brought questionable outcomes, when those alternative candidates who might address these problems are frozen out of places on the ballots, when debates and even interviews or conversations in main stream media platforms with alternative candidates is not allowed, to think that this is democracy, is to be willfully Ignorant.
To think that we can continue on this path without suffering catastrophic outcomes is to be willfully Ignorant. To not understand that there must be a great awakening built on trust and truth, that we must make peace with our neighbors at home and around the world if we wish anything but disaster upon ourselves is to be willfully Ignorant. To close our ears to those valuable things cincerning love, compassion, cooperation, justice and peace, those things that is that we have been taught down through the ages is to be willfully Ignorant
To believe that we each, in our own small or large ways, are not responsible for this time and for creating the better or worse path forward is to be willfully ignorant.