Stupid is not Ignorant

The Amazon Rain Forrest is burning out of control. Smoke from the Amazon fires is turning day to night in cities 1000 miles away. Most of the fires were set deliberately to clear pastures for cattle.  The easiest way to clear a Forrest to make a pasture is to set it on fire.  For the last 30 years the Amazon has lost an average of 31,000 square miles a year from deforestation for ranch land, to raise beef. 

The tropical Forrest that supplies 20% of the worlds oxygen is now producing Co2 , the gas that causes climate change.    But why would you want to set the lungs of the world on fire? Money.  Money can be made from beef and no money can be made from the oxygen the Rain Forrest produces.  The current president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, is a climate change denier who says he will not preserve nor protect a centimeter of Rain Forrest.  He says that Brazilians have the right to make all the money they want from their own land, and now  refused the offer of money from the G7 to help battle the out of control fire. 

When I think about Bolsonaro’s policy toward this Global problem I say to myself, “How Stupid.” When I see climate denier, Trump rolling back EPA rules and  relaxing mining and drilling standards on protected lands in this country, I think the same thing... “Stupid.”  After much more thought I do not believe these men are Stupid.  They are much more dangerous than just being stupid.... they are IGNORANT. 

Being a wordsmith, adjectives and labels are very important, especially describing people of power.  Stupid is having or showing a great lack of intelligence or common sense. Intelligence is not the issue.  In fact our President is a self proclaimed genius.  Trump supporters believe, arguably, that he is a rich man because of “some sort of”  intelligence.  This is not an essay on the IQ of Trump or Bolsonaro nor a question of either man’s sanity.  I believe both to be much more dangerous because they are Ignorant.  The word "ignorant" is an adjective that describes a person in the state of being unaware, and can describe individuals who deliberately ignore or disregard important information or facts. 

Ignorance and Ignorant come from the root word “ignore”.  

Ignorance then is not so much  a description of knowledge or intelligence but a quality of awareness and acceptance.  Facts are facts, and scientific facts are things that can be proven true time after time.  You take water and heat it up enough it will turn to steam and eventually disappear.  Fact... you can prove it at home on your own stove.  The fact that humans  are contributing to the climate change of our planet by dumping poison into the atmosphere is   scientific fact.  These studies and facts are all almost general knowledge.  An uneducated person may not be aware of these facts, as would be the case if one was stupid. However, to know the facts, and dismiss them or IGNORE them is IGNORANCE. Both Trump and Bolsonaro know the facts, but they ignore the facts that are not good for them. 

I would suspect that Bolsonaro is very much like Trump.  He was supported and endorsed by Steve Bannon. I do not know the depth of his ignorance, but it runs very deep in the orange clad brain of Donald Trump.  Trump is ignorant to any truth, that he is not the best-ever, the brightest and most successful.Trump ignores his oath as president. Trump ignores any compassion for those not “loyal” and praising him and those who do not agree with him.  Trump ignores climate change. Trump ignores the fact that his words have any affect on the rest of the country while claiming all good comes from what he is doing.  Trump ignores and rejects any fact that the world is not the oyster of rich white men.  Trump simply ignores the truth about anything that does not support his selfishness.  

Trump supporters are not stupid either. They know Trump is a liar, a cheater and a vulgar racist but they IGNORE those facts because the economy is good? They are like the Brazilian cattle ranchers, as long as I make money... the hell with the world’s oxygen supply.  IGNORANCE.  

So let’s be fair.  Donald Trump is not the Stupidest President we have ever had.... He IS however the most IGNORANT President we have ever had and that is so much more dangerous.  

As you were,

Jay