Ignorance is a lack of knowledge, not a lack of the capacity to gain knowledge. It is usually subject specific and has little or nothing to do with intelligence, because by definition it does not measure original thought. Ignorance is never bliss. We are generally ignorant of our ignorance (we don’t know what we don’t know) and that’s OK, usually.
I’ve owned my current vehicle for more than a decade now. I’ve never had reason to open the bonnet (where, I’m told, the engine resides) and I’m ignorant of the workings of car engines generally. I don’t have the time to gain a deep enough understanding of what goes on (or doesn’t) under the bonnet to avoid being a danger to myself (and others) by meddling in that space. My car is going in for a service today, and I have it on good authority that experts will check up on the engine. It’s what they do.
I have no doubt that I would not advance, and could potentially endanger my life, by meddling in things about which I know nothing. By contrast, the absence of knowledge or experience never seems to deter chosen individuals from accepting appointments to positions of authority in public service for which they are totally unqualified.
For instance, the very thought of the owner of a hospital business instructing a surgeon how to operate is clearly ludicrous (and life threatening), and while the threat to personal safety might not be the same in most government entities, the principle applies no less. Even if it’s “only money”, that misappropriation does eventually affect the wellbeing of the citizens of the country.
I’ve seen published reports, issued by state entities of authority, being taken for granted as factual and acceptable when the “facts” they claim to record either aren’t facts, or are self-evidently absurd and would neither bear informed explanation nor pass any tests of logic or reasonableness.
These “errors” (which, in the aggregate, cost tens of billions of rand every year) seldom get properly diagnosed, tested for reasonableness or investigated for criminal prosecution. Once they’re classified as either wasteful or irregular expenditure (or put into some other convenient bucket), that is typically the end of that, and they’re left to rot in the archives.
Those empowered to sign off public contract terms and prices, or value transfers of practically any kind, show scant regard for, if not a total lack of understanding of, fair market value or even ballpark common sense.
Malicious waste
Beyond the malicious waste of state resources either squandered or stolen (by informed and purposeful crooks), there is a vast pool of money taken blatantly and openly in front of the watchful eyes and incompetent scrutiny of the manifestly ignorant.
We’ve become so used to it by now, so numbed by the size of the numbers, that we hardly take notice of it any more. It seldom gets reported on beyond its first appearance (unless some political gain, not justice, can be made from it), and there is no evidence to suggest any consequence or reparation would necessarily follow its identification or investigation. We simply can’t be bothered any more.
The truth is that so many charged with spending our money or managing entities within our economy simply don’t know what they’re doing. It may often not be their individual faults, but it should nonetheless be a punishable crime to pretend to know what you’re doing when given the regulatory authority to manage public money. The crime is in the lie, not the ignorance.
The aggregate economic consequences of this ignorance are big enough to make the difference between a successful and a failed state. If you don’t know what you’re doing, get someone who does to help you, or resign. It’s the right thing to do, and you’ll find that it’s the first step towards personal peace. Truth sleeps well.
• Barnes is an investment banker with more than 35 years’ experience in various capacities in the financial sector.
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