Be Responsible For Knowledge

I saw recently a person remarking that he had only just learned that Alaska was not an island. The general response to that was "I don't want to live on this planet anymore", as though they were so ashamed of this person's ignorance that they didn't want to even be part of humanity anymore.

I hate those people. They are worse to me than the ignorant; they're elitist. Note that they aren't elite. They just think they are.

Face facts - nobody is born knowing everything. People are born knowing basically nothing. Knowledge takes a long time to acquire, and is even harder to gain when surrounded by misinformation (like basically every photo with a sentimental caption that gets spread on Facebook) and people who think the stuff they know is obvious or self-evident.

Look at a map. Alaska is always detached and placed off the coast of California. If every map you ever see shows Alaska like that, it would be perfectly sensible to think it was an island. The truly deplorable thing is that this person was not properly educated sooner. But that does not make him the problem; it makes him the victim.

If you have a problem with the level of intelligence in the world, then be responsible for knowledge. Go out there and educate people. You don't have to have a classroom or make it your career. You just need to spread truth and facts whenever you can and wherever you go.

As writers, you do not have to write textbooks. Any story can be educational. This is why you do research. Rather than making guesses or assumptions about a given subject, look up the facts. Not only do you make a more convincing story by being accurate, you also make every person who reads it a little smarter, for having acquired more knowledge (or reinforcing facts they had heard before).

Be like Randall Munroe of xkcd: