The sapient and the stupid

Basaha ang putos sa asin (Read the salt packaging),” a teacher told us one day in elementary school. He was referring to the common practice back then of using old newspaper pages and other printed materials to bundle up everyday goods like salt. But what he was really saying was a gem of an advice: to read everything we could get our hands on, even if it was soggy newspaper, because our access was wanting but our potential was yet unmapped.

I’ve never forgotten that. It was important counsel for us kids who had to share textbooks and were rarely allowed into the school library. Yet today, when information and insight flow freely from all directions, this advice is even more essential. Despite the overabundance of knowledge readily available, many people refuse to be well-informed, while those who do read and crave learning are smart-shamed by people around them.

Exhibit A: climate change deniers. Almost every week now, a new scientific report emerges about increasing global temperatures, drastic weather patterns, rising sea levels—and human activity as a primary factor in all of these. Yet we still have friends among us who point fingers at homosexuals or karma or God’s plan (or all three) to account for extreme weather. Just to reiterate the facts, pride parades don’t whip up typhoons, and nonbelievers don’t create heat waves. Our greenhouse gases do. We all are responsible.

A five-minute skimming of any science book or of “Climate Basics for Kids” could have explained that, but why waste five minutes reading when you could just spend the time lobbing insults on Facebook?

Right beside climate change deniers are those who refuse to recognize mental health issues, those who are quick to blame rape and harassment victims, and those who immediately believe health scares and “earthquake predictions” shared online. There is a wealth of data, logical arguments and firsthand insight to broaden their perspectives, if they would only care to sit down and read.

What’s worse is that those with limited world views can so summarily shut down those who are trying to expand theirs. We’ve seen smart-shaming and anti-intellectualism in various contexts. Someone makes an informed, rational argument, and they’re made to feel awkward with the subtly vilifying “Nosebleed!” Or someone corrects a misconception, and they’re cast out with “Ikaw na ang matalino.”

The saddest, most pivotal form of anti-intellectualism, however, happens at home. Alas, not everyone grows up in a Nido commercial where the whole household is invested in education and the surrounding community is supportive of it. More often than not, people who spend time reading and learning are branded lazy for “doing nothing.” Eager learners are discouraged by their family because “reading is a rich man’s pastime,” or being knowledgeable is “not their place.” Parents reject their children’s attempts at logical conversations just because objective new information goes against traditional beliefs and norms.

I’ve seen this happen in my own circles—among my own classmates back in elementary school, among some kids I’ve tutored and even among my adult colleagues. There are brilliant, creative minds lying dormant because they’ve been pumped full of self-doubt and deterrence. You can’t help but root for them to successfully wade through the muck and finally shine, because you know they have a real capacity to accomplish great things.

But they are often held back by those who don’t believe in learning. So few are the role models who encourage us to enrich our minds. Our influences are instead overrun by loud bigots who would consider it an attack if you tried to ameliorate their ignorance.

Bertrand Russell summed it up nicely: “The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” The litmus test, I think, is this: Are you confident that you know enough, or are you still keen to read the “putos sa asin” at your fingertips?

Suggested topics for further reading (or Googling):

The Dunning-Kruger Effect
The Impostor Syndrome
Why we still get heavy rains if the climate has really gotten hotter

hyacinthjt@gmail.com