WHAT AM I?
Lord Millet in a judgment in the House of Lords in 2002 said, "It is dishonest for a man deliberately to shut his eyes to facts which he would prefer not to know. If he does so, he is taken to have actual knowledge of the facts to which he shut his eyes. Such knowledge has been described as "Nelsonian knowledge", meaning knowledge which is attributed to a person as a consequence of his "wilful blindness" or (as American lawyers describe it) "contrived ignorance".
Who is the Nelson that Lord Millet is referring to? Well it is none other than Admiral Horatio Nelson, of British Royal Navy. As history records, that Nelson was blinded in one eye in his early stewardship with the Royal Navy. At the battle of Copenhagen in 1801, in order to defy orders from the then Commander of Chief to retreat, Nelson intentionally placed his telescope on the blind eye and said, "I have a right to be blind sometimes. I really do not see the signal," and he pushed forward his vessel into battle.
Interestingly this was a story that I read a long time ago, but a recent incident tickled my senses to revisit the phrase. John Walcott a correspondent of TIME magazine, during an interview with Brooke Baldwin of CNN on the topic of US Presidential Intelligence briefing, used the phrase "willful ignorance" with respect to Trump's action on the matter.
When the President of US of A, thinks that Button and Nipple are part of India, that should be pretty nightmarish for the personnel who work for the US$81 billion dollar a year, intelligence entity. By the way forgive me for not clarifying what Button and Nipple means, actually that's how the President of US of A had been alleged to have pronounced Bhutan and Nepal.
MY LIFE IN THE BOX
Willful ignorance is a contemporary terminology that means the same as Nelsonian Knowledge.
However Nelson may have had his reason, to act deliberately to pursue his agenda, whilst knowing very well of the orders that may come from the Commander in Chief of that day, should he use the non impaired eye.
Unfortunately, today, blatant ignorance seems to be the order of the day. A blinkered vision mars good sense and intelligence in many people. Be it political ideology, economic models, social order as well as religious dogmas.
It appears that people can see but they are not looking, they can hear but not listening. I dread to think that we are probably at the brink of a zombie apocalypse.
In one country, a Minister of Internal Affairs upon returning from overseas, was immediately arrested at the airport on charges of corruption. On the other hand in another land a Deputy Foreign Affairs minister claimed he was educated at a prestigious university, which he was not, but his colleagues came to his defense claiming that afterall he did not commit rape or steal. What bothers me is the level of tolerance at the latter speaks volume of the state of mind of the people there.
The danger will be when the willful ignorance of a numero uno of an entity is fed willfully by his /her lackeys which in turn becomes a fodder for the creation of a false ego of the numero uno, which can be destructive not only to the numero uno but also to the institution the person represents.
Former Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe is a case in point, where in his pursuit to bring socio-economic justice to the Shonas, he destroyed the entire Zimbawean socio-economic platform established by the earlier colonial government. What was set out to bring his poor Shona people out of misery, ended up just the opposite.
In the corporate world Michael Dell of Dell Inc. would be a classic case in point. He started his company when he was 19 years old, by 2001 Dell became the largest computer provider in the world. All that started to spiral downwards, as the company was hounded by inscrutable decisions, legal problems and stunted innovation which points to the numero uno at that time.
Both individuals suffered the endemic ego as their parasitic affliction. Were they conscious of this? I believe their willful ignorance, coupled with willful feeding by the minions around them, sugar coated their problems.
This problem seem more pronounced now than ever before. That's ironical isn't it? Aren't we more knowledgeable now than say 30 years ago, having access to more information within our finger tips?
Perhaps that's our problem, information over load, can't handle the volume, too much to compute and decipher. So what's the solution, compartmentalize information based on need and interest. No fret, that's taken care too. Our very own social networking platform and search engines are already doing just that.
At the end of the day, we are only exposed to what has been predetermined by us, unless of course we want to leave our comfort zone and seek anew. Takers are limited I believe, and the rest of the world goes on believing what they have been programmed to believe.
So ignorance can be bliss but in world that is governed by disruptions, shorter technological developmental cycles, extreme people diversity, I believe not only the numero uno, but all of us have to come out of this quagmire to ensure 'real' human development.
Otherwise we will end up as the "Dead Living."
If you know what I mean, the opposite of the "Living Dead."
I AM OUT OF THE BOX
By the way the story of Lord Horatio Nelson does not end there, his intentional decision to disobey Lord Hyde Parker the then Commanding Admiral, and the eventual ceasefire with Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark brought triumph not only to Britain but Nelson was appointed as Viscount Nelson of Nile, the new Commander in Chief of the Royal Navy. Poor Lord Parker was recalled to London and was stripped of his position.
If only the British fleet commanded by Nelson lost that day owing to his insubordination, perhaps history would have been rewritten.
Four years later, Nelson died at Trafalgar at the young age of 47. On the sunny afternoon of 21st October 1805, Nelson's fleet was facing the combined forces of the Franco-Spanish fleet, outnumbered and out gunned, Nelson pushed forward with his strategy to cut off communication and put the Franco-Spanish fleet into disarray which he indeed did. But alas his victory from the HMS Victory came with a huge price, he was fired at from the French navy ship " Redoubtable", just before it surrendered. Historical record states that Napoleon lived long enough to witness his victory of that day, and when Captain Hardy of HMS Victory came to report of the victory, Nelson quivered to Hardy, "Thank God...Thank God ..... I have done my duty" before he closed his eyes for the last time.
Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson went down in British history as the greatest naval commander, a man who took pride in his character, career, who lived for his country, and most importantly as an officer who cared for his men.
Perhaps Nelson qualifies to be willfully ignorant. But can anyone choose to indulge in such wanton behaviour whenever he likes? Well Napoleon Bonaparte, who was Nelson's nemesis at the Battle of Trafalgar was also another character who suffered from willful ignorance.
........but that story I will leave for another day.
Not all persons are built the same way, hence to LOOK, LISTEN and OBSERVE should be a mantra that all of should adhere to, rather living in falsehood.
If only the British fleet commanded by Nelson lost that day owing to his insubordination, perhaps history would have been rewritten.
Four years later, Nelson died at Trafalgar at the young age of 47. On the sunny afternoon of 21st October 1805, Nelson's fleet was facing the combined forces of the Franco-Spanish fleet, outnumbered and out gunned, Nelson pushed forward with his strategy to cut off communication and put the Franco-Spanish fleet into disarray which he indeed did. But alas his victory from the HMS Victory came with a huge price, he was fired at from the French navy ship " Redoubtable", just before it surrendered. Historical record states that Napoleon lived long enough to witness his victory of that day, and when Captain Hardy of HMS Victory came to report of the victory, Nelson quivered to Hardy, "Thank God...Thank God ..... I have done my duty" before he closed his eyes for the last time.
Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson went down in British history as the greatest naval commander, a man who took pride in his character, career, who lived for his country, and most importantly as an officer who cared for his men.
Perhaps Nelson qualifies to be willfully ignorant. But can anyone choose to indulge in such wanton behaviour whenever he likes? Well Napoleon Bonaparte, who was Nelson's nemesis at the Battle of Trafalgar was also another character who suffered from willful ignorance.
........but that story I will leave for another day.
I AM ALIVE
Not all persons are built the same way, hence to LOOK, LISTEN and OBSERVE should be a mantra that all of should adhere to, rather living in falsehood.
ravi varmman
23.29
Subang Jaya
7 February 2019
