I wouldn't call what Trump displays "willful ignorance". I'd call it more "MILITANT IGNORANCE"! He parades it on display proudly and defiantly! (And the rest of the nation cringes...)
Ok, so riffing on "militant ignorance" here:
I have had plenty of experience with people who passionately defend their "right" (or whatever) to be ignorant or uninformed, shun education or correction, and/or look down on "elitist" academic types. "My opinion is just as good as yours (even though I'm uninformed on the topic)" kind of stuff. It bothers me, and ive been trying to parse it in the back of my mind.
First, there's the culture of anti-intellectualism that's been present in the USA since shortly after "the USA" was a handful of colonies populated by pious Puritans. Then you have egalitarianism, which postulates that "we're all equal". If we're all equal, then all our ideas and opinions have equal merit--right? We don't have to put stock in those that have more education, or experience in a specialized, than us--right?
I feel like there's more to it than that, but Im only an armchair sociologist--and TBH I couldn't get through Hofstadter's Anti-intellectualism in American Life on my first go-round--so I could use some perspective here...
You do just fine...better than fine...careful analysis, thoughtful responses...opinions are normally based on the interpretation of a factual event...if not, they are just ignorant spewings...there is no right or wrong in opinions, just a point of view based on the same information...ignorance is just that...not knowing...lacking facts, backing up facts, research...tRUMP is ignorant...he spews even when presented facts...they are not opinions...just pure crap
I just can't take posts showing how ignorant he is anymore...we all should have stopped listening after we found out he doesn't read anything...ugh...