Most of us have our own concept of “wilful blindness” – applying the term to that elderly Texan woman recently reported in the New Scientist as saying that “climate change is a Marxist plot fostered by the Muslim terrorist Obama to bring about world government” Those attitudes are self-defining. This book however, extends the concept in far wider and more subtle areas. There is the current debate over electronic surveillance, justified by “national security” but wilfully blind to the impact on personal privacy. The malign influence of money is covered in Chap.10: “DE-moralising Work” from which I quote the following lines: :Because we can't and won't acknowledge that some of our choices are socially and morally harmful we distance ourselves from them by claiming that they are necessary for the creation of wealth…Nowhere is this more dangerous than in our attitudes to the environment…" Sound familiar- The author also examines the impacts of love – ignoring the obvious defects of a partner; the limits of our minds and so on. It is remarkable how susceptible we all are to aspects of wilful blindness. If you get the opportunity, read this book for some parts of it will almost certainly apply to you as they do to me.
