Knowledge Will Forever Govern Ignorance

612 Words2 Pages

James Madison once said,” Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who wish to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power that knowledge gives.” It is almost impossible to suggest a sole meaning for a phrase. Each mind has a different view and opinion. Perhaps this is what Mr. James Madison was attempting to say, that no captain could guide his crew safely past the rocks in a foreign and foggy harbor, better than the lowly fisherman who was raised and nurtured in its waves.
Revolutions of experienced and knowledge empowered people have overthrown incompetent leaders. Kingdoms have fallen after efforts to stay true to old customs and traditions, ignoring the new ideas and knowledge that the world was providing rivals. …show more content…

In 1229 A.D., a decree of the Council of Toulouse stated, “We prohibit also that the laity should be permitted to have the books of the Old or New Testament; but we most strictly forbid their having any translation of these books.” Now, this raises the question as to why the religious leaders of Toulouse thought it necessary to keep the people without a direct path to the words of their God. From the less controversial viewpoint, let’s just assume that in the minds of the council it was better for the people to follow the words that have been taught for centuries, rather than the people potentially making their own opinions, and deriving their own meaning, by possibly blurring or misinterpreting the scripture. In a slightly controversial view, perhaps the religious leaders of that little French town had been blurring a population’s faith for years and didn’t wish to be discovered. In any case, the bible wasn’t fully translated into French until 1530 A.D., three hundred years after the council was held. Five hundred years later, circumstances of knowledge being manipulated for, or kept from, the public still …show more content…

The FDA is payed $1,841,500 by pharmaceutical companies for every drug that a company wants on the market. Medicinal herbs are practically free and have rid the world’s populations of disease, and malnutrition, for millennia. Now, they are deemed as a silly or even a dark approach to medicine. Even though, based on a study done by the Alliance for Natural Health International, pharmaceutical drugs are 7,750 times more likely to kill a person than herbal supplements. The World Health Organization has estimated that about eighty percent of Africa’s population accepts traditional, and herbal medicines, as their primary source of health care. If we were to do the same, then the drug companies would suffer terrible losses monetarily, and the FDA would soon follow suit. Examples of Madison’s theory occur in every type of situation.
Unfortunately, from the ancients to present-day politicians, knowledge has been confused with popular opinion, one’s belief, and one’s social standing. It is just too difficult to lead a people that is more intelligent than the person making the rules. Revolutions and rebellions tend to ensue. Knowledge is freeing. So, the easiest way to manipulate a public to be less knowledgeable than its leaders, is to attempt to dissuade them from the knowledge that they have the potential to be

Open Document