Itâs apparently a very controversial take, but you can actually do both. Yeah, the system sucks and thatâs an important fact and a valid argument. Itâs true that many people struggle because they never had the access to the right resources and because the system is very flawed and in a desperate need of some changes. That said, thoughâŚ.Â
Thereâs the kind of information that is hard to access and verify, even if you have the Internet, but the map of the world is⌠not one of these things. You donât even need to have the Internet access to see the world map, you can go to the library.Â
And itâs perfectly fine to donât know something, I personally always sucked at geography because I have memory issues that often mean that I forget information very quickly unless I make an effort to make sure that I wonât forget it. I might study the world map many times and Iâll still mix up some countries especially if they are similar in size and next to each other. That happens. There are a lot of countries in the world. It just means that I should try harder.Â
And itâs one thing to have poor education because of your social economic situation or because of the flawed system but itâs another thing if you gleefully announce that you donât even know about some countryâs existence while simultaneously getting offended that youâre being called ignorant for that very reason if the whole thing happens ONLINE, so clearly said person could easily spend those 5 seconds that it takes to google Belarus and educate themselves instead of telling people that âhey, until now I had no idea your country even existed!â.Â
And at some point most adults reach this moment when they realize that the education they received was lacking and that from now on itâs on THEM to educate themselves and do better. And I think itâs a pretty universal thing, whether you got good education or not there is always more to learn. Itâs human and normal to donât know everything. Itâs understandable that your knowledge is lacking if the education system failed you. But itâs different if you loudly and proudly ADMIT that you are ignorant and instead of doing something about it (when you clearly have some resources) and then proceed to get OFFENDED when someone recognizes that you are ignorant. Because at this point you are making the choice to be ignorant.Â
I know that Americans canât relate, but as someone from Poland I hear âI never heard about Polandâ A LOT. And itâs not a very pleasant thing to hear and even if thatâs true then Iâd much prefer if people kept it to themselves instead of telling me, directly or indirectly, that they know nothing about my culture and not only wouldnât find my country on the map (or even gesture in its vague direction if I showed them the world map) but wouldnât even know that it is, in fact, a country that exists.Â
And itâs especially exhausting when you get that from people who will never understand or appreciate the fact that the reason why you can even communicate with them in the first place is because you had to learn their language and know at least some basics about their culture and politics. Which takes time, energy, money and an insane amount of dedication. And many of us also donât get any of it from school (because hey, shocking new! system kind of sucks everywhere!), we have to get out of our way to actually learn all of that. And in English-speaking Internet spaces it is practically EXPECTED FROM US that we know about American politics, life, culture, struggles, all while in return you will hear âBelarus? Poland? Is that even a real country?â.Â
blakekathryn
kaledo-art
jbbartram-illu
izzy806
janainaart
baratheonpilled
