Ignorance as a Remedy for Rage
I've decided to become ignorant. I'm attempting to be ignorant, willfully ignorant, about the news. I want no more breaking news. My mind is not big enough to take in every tweet and twitch from Trump. I cannot handle the 24-hour coverage and analysis of his every move. I'm tired of cursing at my TV. And I'm tired of praying for curses on the GOP.
I've hushed news and social media notifications on my phone. I no longer spend my day watching MSNBC. I don't want to hear another panel soon. I will not watch election coverage. I don't like horror films.
I made those choices for my mental health. This is a form of survival.
In the book “Race and Epistemologies of Ignorance,” the writers theorize about the role of ignorance to sustain white supremacy, and they also say:
“Ignorance is not only a tool of oppression wielded by the powerful. It also can be a strategy for the survival of the victimized and oppressed, as in the case of black slaves' feigned ignorance of many details of their white masters' lives. This survival strategy also can take the form of the oppressed combating their oppression by unlearning the oppressor's knowledge, which has been both passively absorbed and actively forced upon them. Ignorance can be used against itself. It can be an important tool for the oppressed to wield against their oppressors, including their production of ignorance to dominate and exploit.”
I'm choosing ignorance as my strategy for survival, as a remedy for my rage. I think others should too.