Margaret Heffernan·TEDxDanubia The dangers of willful blindness

 Margaret Heffernan·TEDxDanubia

The dangers of willful blindness

Summary 

This was a great story so we sometimes misunderstand about freedom and freedom doesn’t exist if you don’t use it. 

The willful blindness of the title means that it’s a legal concept, if there is information that you could know and you should know but you somehow manage not to know, the law deems that you’re willfully blind. You have chosen not to know and it’s not freedom. However, many people are willfully blind under certain circumstances. They say that they’re afraid of retaliation, nothing’s ever going to change and it's waste, the side of whistleblowers is crazy, but it’s mythology. Whistleblowers are loyal and conservative, they are dedicated to their institutions that they work for and the reason that they speak up is that they want to keep it healthy heartily with pride. 

There was a story of asbestos in Japan also. Many people died because of asbestos, though, of course, companies, governments, and people who are victims didn’t want to understand. They were willfully blind. 

The person who can change it is you who is ordinary, you should not be willfully blind and you being able to speak up is true freedom. 

Words in this story

mor·tal·i·ty / the state of being subject to death

fa·tal·i·ty / an occurrence of death by accident, in war, or from disease

willful / adj wilfully / adv blind / adj blindness / noun