Re:Kill All Muslims--even US citizens (Score 1)

There are three levels of ignorance. The shallowest, most easily corrected, is "adult" ignorance, or simple lack of knowledge. One displaying adult ignorance can be easily corrected by a simple statement of the facts. The adult is invited to examine reality, which is done with a gracious thank you, and life moves on.

The intermediate level of ignorance is the "adolescent." Here we have lack of knowledge compounded by lack of motivation to learn. The adolescent does not know the truth of facts, and lacks the fundamental motivation to discover them. They can be placed in front of him and he will grudgingly accept their existence, but otherwise he forges onward in his ignorance, somewhat blissful and innocent. The adolescent can fall either forward into adult ignorance, or backward into the deep stage, the fatal stage of ignorance.

This is "infantile" ignorance. The ignorant infant is unaware of reality, and flat-out refuses to accept evidence of his error or lack of knowledge. In a five-year-old child, infantile ignorance is "cute." The child refuses to believe that the world more complex than his on-the-spot interpretation, and objects outside of his perspective are not real, and therefore need not be considered. It is innocence and this is endearing, for it reminds us of when the world was simple and cast in shades black and white.

An adult who displays infantile ignorance is disgusting in the same way as an adult who has shit his pants. Bigotry and prejudice are two examples of infantile ignorance; the unrepentant refusal to be shown the truth or reality of facts regarding one's world. In an adult there is no innocent excuse for it; it's wilful and deliberate behavior. There's nothing to be done about the adult who displays infantile ignorance except to send them back to the "kid's table" to eat their meal, play with their feces, and drool on themselves. You cannot engage in adult conversation about important matters with the wilfully ignorant. There's a reason the term "like arguing with a four-year-old" was invented, and a reason it is a metaphor for futility.