The Power of Ignorance

According to Webster, power is "to be able, to have the ability to act, to have the capacity to influence, and to have the authority to control others." Every day of the week our TVs and newspapers go nonstop telling us about the power of the press, black power, white power, and the power of the spoken word. This book is about another overwhelming power that can and sometimes does change the world we humans live in. On the pages of this book, the author, David Swendsen, who has spent his whole life protecting our natural resources, believes that the biggest enemy he and our fading resources face is the power of ignorance. Early in this book, former state and federal officer and later university instructor, Swendsen, describes just how some of our former world leaders previously made use of the power of ignorance to accumulate a great deal of power. Swendsen states, "Having acquired and confronted my share of ignorance in my lifetime, I feel I am qualified to attempt to point out how IGNORANCE has affected we human's existence here on this changing planet." The book discusses lies and liars and includes quotes that were made by former leaders. In the book, Winston Churchill's quote is, "A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put its pants on." Being creatures of habit makes us humans vulnerable to ignorance. "Because we have always done it that way," we don't want to change. The book defines two kinds of ignorance and explains how many leaders use ignorance to gain the power they need to control people. Many people call this salesmanship. It appears that all leaders mostly use sales talk to lead regardless of how they sell their programs. Not all leaders use ignorance as their method of gaining a following. Some leaders promise jobs, and some promise but don't follow through. Some vocally downgrade their rivals. Some use religion. Some use their salesmanship toward gathering male or female followers. Some promise financial gain. George Bush used the false assumption that Iraq had nuclear weapons to justify the disastrous decisions to go to war. Those in Congress who continually disclaim the effects of climate change and those leaders, including President Donald Trump, who have claimed climate change a hoax and that human beings are not involved in our recent more violent and more frequent storms, tornadoes, floods, and overwhelming weather-related disasters, are doing so to gain money and power. In fact, their actions or nonactions are putting our planet earth in jeopardy of becoming unlivable for our children's children. Most human beings are born with a wonderful gift of human intelligence. This helps develop a lifelong determination to succeed in our daily affairs, such as to preserve our underlying health and to maintain our needed self-esteem. We, because of this intelligence gift, can deal with most difficult situations. But if we put our faith in the hands of any leader or proposed leader and that leader lies to us or abandons us, depression can be the result. We now may be overpowered by what I call the ignorance trap. President Trump's overwhelming raid on environment safety measures, attitude toward sensible gun regulations, immigration, his wall, and relaxing the protection of federal lands and waters jeopardize the lives of all humans. The scientist suggests A-F needed changes to override the power of ignorance. End if the book describes firsthand experiences with "power of ignorance" leaders . . .