Is Ignorance Really Bliss?

This weekend I had lunch with a loved one. As we sat down to eat by White Bridge Road, she informed me that she will be going on a cruise later this spring. I was instantly excited for her and began asking for all the fun details. It sounded like all of her plans were lining up for the cruise of a lifetime, jam packed with Caribbean conviviality, poolside luxury, and an Atlantean water park. Yes, everything was perfect, until she mentioned one final maritime activity... swimming with the dolphins.

On January 28, 2010, I probably would have immediately offered a high five and done my best to hide my envy. On January 28, 2011, however,  my opinion was quite the contrary.

Upon hearing this announcement, I began to pretend that I was cool with her news, but I quickly came to the reality that I had to voice my opinion. Politely, I prefaced the forthcoming rant by saying "Please don't take this as disrespectful. I'm not telling you how to live your life, but this is something I'm passionate about and as someone who loves you, I have to tell you the truth."

Basically, every time someone pays to swim with dolphins, they're supporting a business that promotes the capture and slaughter of aquatic mammals, an issue made famous through the Academy Award winning documentary, The Cove. Analogically, swimming with the dolphins is to supporting dolpin capture/slaughter as purchasing Nike is to supporting sweatshop labor. Not to single out Nike, lots of businesses do this, but this is the first one that came to mind.

My friend paused and posed the question, what if the dolphins are born in captivity and it would be against their own safety to release them into the wild? I thought for a moment and responded. Since people are making profit off of these dolphins, isn't that the same as a slaver master saying it would be unsafe to release child slaves, since the world outside their brick kiln is dangerous?

The table immediately went silent and everyone went back to eating lunch. After a few moments, I believe she remarked something along the lines of wishing she hadn't heard that, as it ruins all the magic of swimming with the dolphins. I was later asked by another party at the table if I acted like a downer around my other friends. I quickly responded that I had no ambition of being a downer, but I had to be sincere and honest about the issue. I didn't enjoy being called a downer, but this raised an interesting question. Is ignorance really bliss?

I also have to wonder if it's a western mentality, or just a thought process of the "Haves", that make us more than happy to enjoy luxuries as long as we can hold a blind eye to injustices the "Have Nots" must face in order to secure such comforts. Just a thought.

When I think of ignorance and bliss, I think of The Matrix.

Not to spoil the plot, but truthfully, you've had a decade to see the movie, so I don't feel bad about giving away the story. In The Matrix, the wasteland that was once earth has been taken over by machines that grow and harvest humans in pods above ground. These poor souls are plugged into a system, a dream world, known as the matrix, which is very realistic simulation of a human world. Below the earth's surface, the surviving free humans fight to stay alive, unplugging their brothers and sisters from the matrix when time allows. One particularly ordinary plugged-in human, named Anderson, is approached by a group of rebels led by Laurenece Fishburne. These rebels offer Mr. Anderson the choice of taking the red pill or the blue pill, which sets the stage for a great quote. "You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes." Needless to say, Anderson takes the red pill, challenging the idea that ignorance is bliss. 

Does this look like bliss to you?

Long story short, Neo becomes "The One" and spends the rest of the Matrix Trilogy defying the machines in order to save humanity. If Neo had adversely chosen the blue pill, accepting that ignorance is bliss, it would have been game over for humanity. Of course, this is only a movie, but I think we can grasp the idea.

In the end, I come to the conclusion that yes, ignorance is bliss, but such ignorance comes at a price. It would feel like such a lifted burden if I could go back to my childhood days, when the greatest concern of my day was tying my shoes, but I feel like God calls us to something higher.

When coming to terms with the fact that my bashing of dolphin capture was being perceived as a downer, I was reminded of John 15. Jesus tells his disciples, "¹⁸ If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you."

I do apologize if I have or will put a damper on your day by discussing such uncomfortable issues, but in good faith, I believe we are called to rise above the urge to remain comfortably ignorant. Of course, this is easier said than done, but I'm giving it my best shot. Anyway, back to the lunch table.

After a nice rant on dolphin slaughter and child labor, we transitioned to talking about school and family, enjoying the rest of our meal together in peace. Over the next 24 hours, I felt disheartened for having to share such blunt feelings, but I continued to remind myself of Jesus' words from John 15. I look back now, a few days down the road, and feel really happy I was able to overcome my own discomfort to plant this seed in the minds of my loved ones.

As for dolphins, you may read this entry and think, "I could really care less for dolphins." If so, I won't combat your feelings, but I want you to be aware that everything has a balance, especially the ocean, which we so often take for granted. With dolphin slaughter, whaling, overfishing, and pollution, we continue to to stab at our planet's greatest resource. If we don't get a hold of this, we could someday be looking at an oceanic fallout. So, maybe dolphins are a bit more important than we think... To learn more about this, please visit SaveJapanDolphins.org

With this being said, I do not want to end on a down note. I know for a fact that humanity is innovative and marvelously resilient. With God's love, I feel that there is no problem we can not overcome. And in the end, Christ will take care of us, so we need not be afraid. In Revelation 1, John illustrates, "¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."

We do live in a broken world, but as Christians, I believe it is our job to overcome ignorance and shine the kingdom of God on earth.

Shine on, brothers and sisters.