People who live on trees

Post 91 Ignorance knows no barrier

I bought a set of Child Readers in the 70s for my daughter. One of the articles has this introduction written: “Some people in a land called Malaysia live high off the ground in tree houses....” If one thinks knowledge is not important, try ignorance which knows no barrier. As the writer of the passage was from the first world, his ignorance could be the offspring of arrogance. In this case, arrogance fortifies ignorance. As such there was no necessity for him to verify the fact.

The story of "Yelang thinks too highly of itself" (夜郎自大Yelang zi da) in the 120s BC best describes the extent of ignorance of people like the king of Yelang. His kingdom was very tiny as compared to the kingdom of Han. The king of Yelang thought that his kingdom was the greatest in the entire world. Once he inquired rhetorically of the Han emperor’s envoy, “Which is greater, Yelang or Han?”

When the citizen of a country of 20 million asks, “which is greater, my country or India?”, he is “Yelang zi da”, thinking too highly of his country in total ignorance.

People,who do not read, harbour and magnify their ignorance.

19 April 2011