George Bernard Shaw said, "Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance." Do you agree or disagree?

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Today’s (or I should say) Friday’s topic has me thinking about false knowledge.  I am not going to dive into it too close, after all, this is a writing prompt assignment. I wanted to know which is worst, so I looked the quote up by Mr. Shaw.  When I first think about false knowledge, I think about the word, “Lie” or “Lying.”  It makes me wonder how many lies we are told by people, such as family members, friends, and professional people.   For instance, when a child gets a shot at the doctor’s office, how many times are they told that the shot does not hurt?  Of course it is going to hurt, even for a tiny little second.  It is the longest second that anyone has ever experienced, because up to that point, that child have never experience that pain.

When I think of false knowledge, I also think about false advertisement.  As a business person, I always have to watch how and what I advertise.  The product has to be able to represent the company the way it is supposed to be.  For instance, how many of you watch the infomercials on television? For that company, you have to be able to prove that all of those exercise, business model manuals, and appliances work the way that they are advertised.  Anything less, and it is false advertising.  You have lied or scammed your way into the public eye.  So let us look at another word in the quote, “ignorance.”

Ignorance is the lack of knowledge.  For instance, to say that a person is unaware about a group of people, it means that person is ignorant.   There are all kinds of ignorance, but the most common of all ignorance is ignorance against a race, a lifestyle, a culture, religion, or a gender.  I can tell you from experience that one ignorant statement I hear all the time is “all African American males (AAM) are either unemployed, on drugs, cheating on their spouses, in jail, or dead.”   That is a statement that is false and here is why.  First of all, the word “ALL” is used.  Second, a person who makes that statement, has predestined all AAMs from birth to age 99 to particular way of life.  People often do not take into account on how a child is raised, the educational background, and other environmental surroundings.  Lastly, the person who makes that statement does not look at males of ALL races, they only look at the history of AAM and current stats on a concentrated few.   It also goes back to the false knowledge about the AAM.  Perhaps the person who made the statement about AAMs were taught that false knowledge through a parent or a teacher.  Who knows unless you start asking questions to that person?

Is it possible that “false knowledge” and “Ignorance” could be one in the same?  I just used the “African American Males” example, where it is possible for someone to be fed “false knowledge” about a group of people, by a person who is “ignorant” or “shows ignorance.”  If that is the case, to me, that quote is false and both false knowledge and ignorance can be dangerous at the same time.

People will always put their own spin into things that are a bunch of lies or “half-truths.”  It’s worse now than it has ever been.  There are lies against everyone, because people do not take the time to get to know that race, religion, or lifestyle.  They also do not take the time to get to know that individual, because people are always in a hurry.  For instance, today, I had a conversation with a cousin of mine, who is “tired of all the digital communication.”  He wanted to physically talk to people in front of him, instead of always to them through social media, texting, and through email.  We used to do that.  I expressed to him that I wish that I could get all of my cousin’s addresses phone numbers, and such so we could all get together to meet with one another.  I wish that we were all like my cousin.   In an age where teens could sit across from each other, only to say something in text, we need a little less false knowledge about one another, and so we can stop the ignorance that goes on throughout this planet.

So my quest I want from you is to comment below on what you think about that quote about “false knowledge” and “ignorance.”  Do you agree or disagree?

Until then, be blessed, my friend, and do not let a little thing happen to you.  Educate yourself about someone else outside your circle of friends.