Proctor had found that the cigarette industry did not want consumers to know the harms of its product, and it spent billions obscuring the facts of the health effects of smoking. This search led him to create a word for the study of deliberate propagation of ignorance: agnotology.
It comes from agnosis, the neoclassical Greek word for ignorance or 'not knowing', and ontology, the branch of metaphysics which deals with the nature of being. Agnotology is the study of wilful acts to spread confusion and deceit, usually to sell a product or win favour.
"I was exploring how powerful industries could promote ignorance to sell their wares. Ignorance is power… and agnotology is about the deliberate creation of ignorance.
"In looking into agnotology, I discovered the secret world of classified science, and thought historians should be giving this more attention."
The 1969 memo and the tactics used by the tobacco industry became the perfect example of agnotology, Proctor says. "Ignorance is not just the not-yet-known, it's also a political ploy, a deliberate creation by powerful agents who want you 'not to know'."
To help him in his search, Proctor enlisted the help of UC Berkeley linguist Iain Boal, and together they came up with the term – the neologism was coined in 1995, although much of Proctor's analysis of the phenomenon had occurred in the previous decades.
Balancing act
Agnotology is as important today as it was back when Proctor studied the tobacco industry's obfuscation of facts about cancer and smoking. For example, politically motivated doubt was sown over US President Barack Obama's nationality for many months by opponents until he revealed his birth certificate in 2011. In another case, some political commentators in Australia attempted to stoke panic by likening the country's credit rating to that of Greece, despite readily available public information from ratings agencies showing the two economies are very different.
Proctor explains that ignorance can often be propagated under the guise of balanced debate. For example, the common idea that there will always be two opposing views does not always result in a rational conclusion. This was behind how tobacco firms used science to make their products look harmless, and is used today by climate change deniers to argue against the scientific evidence.
"This 'balance routine' has allowed the cigarette men, or climate deniers today, to claim that there are two sides to every story, that 'experts disagree' – creating a false picture of the truth, hence ignorance."
For example, says Proctor, many of the studies linking carcinogens in tobacco were conducted in mice initially, and the tobacco industry responded by saying that studies into mice did not mean that people were at risk, despite adverse health outcomes in many smokers.
A new era of ignorance
"We live in a world of radical ignorance, and the marvel is that any kind of truth cuts through the noise," says Proctor. Even though knowledge is 'accessible', it does not mean it is accessed, he warns.
"Although for most things this is trivial – like, for example, the boiling point of mercury – but for bigger questions of political and philosophical import, the knowledge people have often comes from faith or tradition, or propaganda, more than anywhere else."
Proctor found that ignorance spreads when firstly, many people do not understand a concept or fact and secondly, when special interest groups – like a commercial firm or a political group – then work hard to create confusion about an issue. In the case of ignorance about tobacco and climate change, a scientifically illiterate society will probably be more susceptible to the tactics used by those wishing to confuse and cloud the truth.
Consider climate change as an example. "The fight is not just over the existence of climate change, it's over whether God has created the Earth for us to exploit, whether government has the right to regulate industry, whether environmentalists should be empowered, and so on. It's not just about the facts, it's about what is imagined to flow from and into such facts," says Proctor.
Making up our own minds
Another academic studying ignorance is David Dunning, from Cornell University. Dunning warns that the internet is helping propagate ignorance – it is a place where everyone has a chance to be their own expert, he says, which makes them prey for powerful interests wishing to deliberately spread ignorance.
"While some smart people will profit from all the information now just a click away, many will be misled into a false sense of expertise. My worry is not that we are losing the ability to make up our own minds, but that it's becoming too easy to do so. We should consult with others much more than we imagine. Other people may be imperfect as well, but often their opinions go a long way toward correcting our own imperfections, as our own imperfect expertise helps to correct their errors," warns Dunning.
Dunning and Proctor also warn that the wilful spread of ignorance is rampant throughout the US presidential primaries on both sides of the political spectrum.
"Donald Trump is the obvious current example in the US, suggesting easy solutions to followers that are either unworkable or unconstitutional," says Dunning.
So while agnotology may have had its origins in the heyday of the tobacco industry, today the need for both a word and the study of human ignorance is as strong as ever.
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Comments (17)
Pretty right wing but very PC commentary - no mention of Empire and denigration of Trump. The tobacco story is old news.
The preceding comments here are agnotology at it's best. Divide and conquer really works, throw in some chaos and death and you have usa terrorism at its best.
"...(as a result of the Internet), many will be misled into a false sense of expertise. My worry is not that we are losing the ability to make up our own minds, but that it's becoming too easy to do so"
That is nothing new. Agnotology was what made religion work. The old testament, then the new, the Koran, etc. It was just too easy for people to be misled into a false sense of expertise rather than using critical thinking to debunk illogical, irrational concepts.
That is nothing new. Agnotology was what made religion work. The old testament, then the new, the Koran, etc. It was just too easy for people to be misled into a false sense of expertise rather than using critical thinking to debunk illogical, irrational concepts.
It didn't take long for the Agnotological Anti-God people to step up to the pulpit did it!
What's wrong with sticking with good old-fashioned Agnosticism? That not only is suitable for the Tempting technique used by "the most cunning of all God's creatures" but also for every other sucker who falls for the same method.
It's been around for thousands of years and you see loads of them trolling on websites with their love of "discussion and debate".
Time-wasters all!
What's wrong with sticking with good old-fashioned Agnosticism? That not only is suitable for the Tempting technique used by "the most cunning of all God's creatures" but also for every other sucker who falls for the same method.
It's been around for thousands of years and you see loads of them trolling on websites with their love of "discussion and debate".
Time-wasters all!
That was a lot of talk about one word. What would Americans do if they knew that "israel" was stealing Palestine and stealing from the USA?
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/images/walnutcreek...
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/images/walnutcreek...
A good but late article but then again, many of us here knew. Instead, it is a morsel being tossed out to show Amerikans that we are making progress. We are not.
Why didn't the author fast forward to what is happening TODAY. That would have real traction. Bet somebody else will come up with another 'insightful' thesis 25 years from now about the wars initiated by Amerika. Too late boy.
Why didn't the author fast forward to what is happening TODAY. That would have real traction. Bet somebody else will come up with another 'insightful' thesis 25 years from now about the wars initiated by Amerika. Too late boy.
I have been smoking pure tobacco leaf for over sixty years. My last medical exam had me passed as being as healthy as a Mali Bull.
Regarding the big tobacco's ciggies however you must be aware that they contain over 500 addatives! > check out the link! http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/nicotineinhaler/a...
In regard to climate change read the following last sentence...
Subject: Global Warming-The Washington Post
The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulafft, at Bergen, Norway.
Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes.
Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the Gulf Stream still very warm.
Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.
I must apologize, I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922, as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post - 93 years ago.
Regarding the big tobacco's ciggies however you must be aware that they contain over 500 addatives! > check out the link! http://quitsmoking.about.com/cs/nicotineinhaler/a...
In regard to climate change read the following last sentence...
Subject: Global Warming-The Washington Post
The Arctic Ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consulafft, at Bergen, Norway.
Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes.
Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the Gulf Stream still very warm.
Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds. Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable.
I must apologize, I neglected to mention that this report was from November 2, 1922, as reported by the AP and published in The Washington Post - 93 years ago.
I guess now how it came that Greek tobacco growers (an almost extinct class -Thank you EU!) were forbidden to use, let alone sell independently, their own crop! (Well, deep down I always knew that.)
Brilliant expose of two important issues!
Thanks Macka!
Thanks Macka!
For anyone interested in the article from 1922 that supposedly predicted, prematurely, global warming, you can read a copy here:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/science/globalwarm...
Most of it is accurate -- up to the last sentence provided above: "Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable." That is not in the 1922 article.
The warming trend was centered around the area of Spitzbergen, Norway -- and was not applicable to the Arctic as a whole.
Here is an article that actually puts the 1922 report into a scientific context:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100707124649/http:/...
And needless to say, if one person smokes a long time and doesn't get lung cancer then that definitely proves that smoking does not cause lung cancer. It's elementary, my dear Watson.
At least for people who have no grasp of statistics or rudimentary scientific principles.
Hey, I think there may be a marketing gig opening up at American Spirit Cigarettes!
http://ecocult.com/2014/whats-the-deal-with-ameri...
http://www.snopes.com/politics/science/globalwarm...
Most of it is accurate -- up to the last sentence provided above: "Within a few years it is predicted that due to the ice melt the sea will rise and make most coastal cities uninhabitable." That is not in the 1922 article.
The warming trend was centered around the area of Spitzbergen, Norway -- and was not applicable to the Arctic as a whole.
Here is an article that actually puts the 1922 report into a scientific context:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100707124649/http:/...
And needless to say, if one person smokes a long time and doesn't get lung cancer then that definitely proves that smoking does not cause lung cancer. It's elementary, my dear Watson.
At least for people who have no grasp of statistics or rudimentary scientific principles.
Hey, I think there may be a marketing gig opening up at American Spirit Cigarettes!
http://ecocult.com/2014/whats-the-deal-with-ameri...
The world is full of people conspiring to either speak as truly and impartially as they can and others who are attempting to win their argument without concern for either truth or the effects of their winning.
Col 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Christ appears in your life right here, right now: one nanosecond after you believe and confess that Jesus is Lord.
https://www.facebook.com/CAYMCameroon
https://www.facebook.com/CAYMCameroon
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