Ignorance is Bliss

Ignorance is bliss: an idiom? I trust we all know what an idiom is. When someone refers to a "cool car," it is usually safe to assume they do not mean this: . http://www.instablogsimages.com...Likewise, if I say my opponent is "hip," I am not saying he is this: . http://upload.wikimedia.org...Idioms have meanings that are not obvious from the words themselves. People attempting to learn a second language often have difficulty learning the idioms, because each one has to be explained; they can not be translated literally. For instance, I lived in Germany for a few years, back when I was young; and the constant refrain from my German teacher was "You must not translate literally. " So many phrases made little to no sense when I took them at face value; even after they were explained to me, they still sound strange. When Bavarians greet each other, it sounds to me like they are swearing at each other. "Gruß Gott! " really just means "Hello," or "Good day," but it sounds like they are going around saying "Great God! " at each other. Similarly, "Macht schnell! " doesn't mean "Make fast;" it means "Hurry up! " However, a foreigner with a good dictionary could probably determine the real meaning of the phrase "Ignorance is bliss;" none of the words actually mean anything different when in the phrase than they do otherwise, and the phrase itself is pretty much literally the sum of it's parts. Not knowing something makes you happier. The phrase may be a proverb, or a cliche, but it does not seem to fit the definition of an idiom. Ignorance is bliss: correct? On the surface, at least, it is intuitively correct. If we don't know how miserable we should be, we will be happier. If I don't know that my wife is planning to leave me for someone with better table manners, I can enjoy my last few days with her without sorrowing about her imminent departure. On the surface, I say, there seem to be some cases in which this proverb applies. Obviously it is wrong in all of the cases I put forward last round; in the first three, the characters were doomed to a life of sorrow and an early grave because they did not know something very important to their situation. In the last case, I would be happy if I knew anything to be happy about. In all four, ignorance was misery, not bliss. But on the whole, there seem to be many cases in which life is unfair, and we would be happier if we were unaware. The fact is, in the vast majority of those cases, we could avoid the misery by knowing enough at the right time. Ignorance may be (comparative and temporary) bliss in those cases, but it won't last; sooner or later we learn the truth about our situation and our false happiness is gone. Better to know beforehand what is going wrong and how to remedy the situation. If I knew that my wife despises the way I inhale my food and use the tablecloth to wipe my mouth, I could have taken steps to apologize for my behavior and act better at my meals. And one can be ignorant of something good, which would have made you happy if you only knew about it. Ignorance of your girlfriend's true feelings about you may allow to to remain in self-doubt and uncertainty, when she has been waiting forever for you to pop the question. Not knowing about your rich uncle's last will, in which you are named his sole heir, may mean he dies intestate; the State takes just about everything, and you get nothing. Contrariwise:So ignorance does not always cause happiness. It gets worse, though; ignorance usually causes unhappiness. "Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: it might have been. " -John Greenleaf Whittier"If I only knew. " Everyone says this, right? "If I only knew x were about to happen, I could have done y. ""If I only knew the road was icy there. .. ""If I only knew you were allergic to peanut butter. .. ""If I only knew you had AIDS. .. ""If I only knew the gun was loaded. .. "Many, if not most, of life's tragedies are caused by ignorance on someone's part, or (if done deliberately) were allowed because the right people didn't know it was being planned. If the right people knew where that iceberg was, the Titanic needn't have sunk. If you knew your son put a bucket of water above the door, you could have avoided soaking the contracts you brought home to work on. If one learns early about the dangers of eating meat, one can change one's diet and avoid having to undergo a dangerous quadruple bypass surgery down the road. Conclusion:If ignorance brings happiness, which I have demonstrated is not always the case, it appears to be a shallow and temporary kind. I contend that it is far better to know what you are dealing with and how to avoid the unpleasant consequences of your choices and circumstances, rather than to blindly go on making those poor choices and remaining in those dangerous circumstances out of ignorance. Ignorance is not always happiness. It does not usually bring happiness. Ignorance usually causes unhappiness. The statement, "Ignorance is bliss," is usually false.