What do you not want to know?

If I have more than 36 cytosine-adenine-guanine repeats on the HTT gene on chromosome 4.

@Lightlyseared Do you have a family history of Huntington’s? Are you getting this checked out?

Back in the 90’s, a woman comedian had a bit about how far one would have to go in order to live “cruelty free”. The joke ended in a person living alone on a hill with no shelter, naked, with no shoes, eating plants that are already dead, and wiping his/her ass on leaves. That doesn’t sound acceptable to me.

Right now, I don’t want to know how many gallons of oil is spilling into the Gulf. It is contributing to my depression.

When it comes to stuff like that, I want to know as much as possible. That doesn’t mean it’s going to change how I live, though. Especially when it comes to things like using beetles to color yogurt. Am I being negatively affected by that? I don’t see how, so I don’t see that it’s a problem just because it “seems” gross. Unless there is a proven link between certain diseases and certain chemicals used in food, simply naming a chemical isn’t going to turn me off of eating something. I find that people name and point out chemicals for fear-mongering, but don’t have any real scientific data to back up that the chemical is harmful.

As for vegan/vegetarianism, I know that what goes on is horrific in many cases, and so for some things, I try to get organic and free-range when it comes to animal products and I will never eat veal, but for the most part, it doesn’t seem to motivate me to want to become a vegan or vegetarian.

Consider also abortion. Many people are pro-choice, but don’t want to know exactly what goes on in some abortions. Same goes for being pro-death penalty and pro-war and all kinds of things. The more disconnected you are from something “bad”, the less of a problem it is for you.

@tinyfaery Yeah, I refuse to look at the dead turtles pics from that spill.
@DominicX Of course I agree with you and it certainly “helps” that most people don’t actually obtain their food in any manner that would place them face to face with it when it was still alive.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Yes (but statistically I’m looking good). As to getting it checked out – no. They can tell you almost to the year when you will start to develop symptoms and how bad and how quickly the disease will develop etc. That sort of knowledge would alter your entire outlook on life and I suspect not in a good way.

@Lightlyseared I don’t know what I’d do in your position. These conditions scare the hell out of me, truly.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir que sera sera

Here is a nice compilation.

@Lightlyseared Agreed.

I wish I didn’t know about pink slime. Very inconvenient.

I’ve done more thinking and lamenting about these kinds of issues than actual activism (which perhaps isn’t unusual). And, my focus has been somewhat different. The prospect, though, of making a life out of wading through bullshit to find the right products to consume feels a little too dogmatic and threaded with ire (although there’s no shortage of ire over here, and I suppose the same exercise can be characterized in a much more life affirming manner). Doing it in community, however, is probably much more rewarding. That road is probably better traveled with a hive mind at one’s disposal.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir, I don’t mean at all to be critical of your lifestyle (in fact, I am envious of your ability to manifest it to any degree), but I am also wary of again the somewhat dogmatic trap it creates. Becoming vegan because of animal cruelty practices and making distinction between green and non-green consumer products still leaves one sailing the S.S. Consumer. The consumption of meat, while obviously not a necessity for survival, can also be done with reverence and respect to the animal as many indigenous cultures have done for millennia. That being said, I don’t dispute that your practices are friendlier than what is commonplace, and that change doesn’t happen without them.

Either we are deluded into believing stupid shit that doesn’t really matter, or it is genuinely sad how many people support through either their own ignorance or greed the practices that make modern living so modern.

Part of this question, I think, boils down to what and whom do you trust. Lack of trust is anathema to happiness, and the more you know even about those who purport to be activists, the more likely you are to create for yourself a world where trust is fleeting.

Sorry to make this a muddle of a response. Your question has me vacillating between “they’re making ignorant people faster than we can reeducate them, so it’s kind of futile” to reaffirming a belief that global changes are powered by a critical mass of individuals manifesting change. All the while, my habits aren’t really all that different from most, and change is hindered in some ways by my social ties.

I think sometimes about a lunch my great aunt made for me, a cousin my age (mid 20s at the time) and a friend of mine who was visiting from out of town. The lunch basically consisted of a few “salads” (ham salad, vegetable aspic, potato salad and something else—don’t remember). I wasn’t eating ham at the time, so I refused that, and the aspic thing was weird, so I didn’t eat that either. Looking back, I wonder whether it was more important to make the decisions I did or to simply be gracious to my great aunt for fixing a meal. I doubt I could have produced such an insight then, but I’m glad I can now.

again, apologies for muddled rambling

I’m naturally curious and nosey, but to answer your question, only upper-level math comes to mind.

I don’t want to know the time and place of my death. I’d spend the rest of my life brooding over it.

@Dr_Dredd I wonder if I’d be the same way. But what do you not want to know that you can know?

I don’t want to know what goes on in my favorite restaurant’s kitchen! :-)

Now I dont want to know what is in aspic.

@jazmina88, I’m surprised you (or anyone else) got that far down the page ;-)

@Dr_Dredd The kitchen is what I don’t want to know. I also don’t want to know about the kitchens in states with a weaker health code than NY (excluding NYC)

@kevbo Thank you for your thoughtful response – I enjoyed reading it! You said ” The consumption of meat, while obviously not a necessity for survival, can also be done with reverence and respect to the animal as many indigenous cultures have done for millennia.” – I agree with you but how many indigenous cultures are winning that battle (or any battle, for that matter) against the food industries here in the U.S? And how many people do you know that honor and respect the animals before they eat them if they won’t even read about what happens to them?

Whether or not I will get Alzheimer’s; there is a good chance since it “runs” in the family.

Also, how devastating the oil leak in the Gulf will be over the next 10 years.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir, well you have a point there. I don’t know much about kosher food prep, but don’t kosher slaughter methods factor this in? I would also add many Native Americans and some hunters to that list.

Not that there’s one right answer, but I suppose a question might be whether veganism or “reverential consumption” are “right” responses to factory meat production.

I would feel better about going vegan if I really loved vegetables or was concerned about concentrations of toxins, etc. Barring a sort of Jain awakening on my part, I think I’d rather see an expansion in cultural consciouness of reverential (production and) consumption in addition to the option of going veggie. Having said that, it’s well past time for me to “heal thyself.

I practice reverential consumption when I eat. It’s called “saying Grace” and I never just mouth the words, I mean what I say.
I don’t like enough veggies to ever be a vegetarian. I grew up on meat and potatoes and I really don’t see that changing for me.
I wish that I didn’t know how hot dogs were made and what they looked like before the dye is put in. I rarely eat them any more. When I do, I get Oscar Mayer all beef franks. It’s actually a treat so I go all out with chili, cheese, mustard and onions, or dill relish with mustard and onions.
Maybe this will change for me when I go to Peru and have the Ayahuasca experience. it would really have to take some sort of cathartic for me.

The only thing I can think of that I’ve intentionally not wanted to know, was if I’ll be diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in about 20–30 years since my father has it. I’ve watched for years how it’s deteriorated him and I would be absolutely devastated if I have to go through the same. I’d prefer to stay in the dark about it until the last possible moment. I don’t even know if there is a way to find out earlier what your chances are of eventually having the disease, but if there is, I don’t want to know. It would depress the hell out of me and probably severely damage my quality of life for the next 20ish years even before any symptoms would arise, simply because I would know exactly what I have in store for me as I age.

I recently got the book Animal Factory ( not to be confused with George Orwell’s book) and I can’t imagine NOT changing my purchasing decisions significantly after finishing reading it.

Not surprisingly, the author has been having a difficult time getting booked into most TV venues as most authors doing the book tour talk show circuit have done. They really don’t want to know or present any of the info contained therein for fear of their corporate agribusiness sponsors.

Someone mentioned pink slime. I honestly can’t remember the last time I ever had a fast food burger ( probably well before Oprahs lawsuit over her show on beef) but there is no chance I ever will even if I’m starving.

www.animalfactorybook.com

I’m with my darling @janbb on both.

Other than not wanting to know the date and time and cause of my death, I can’t imagine wanting to be ignorant about anything. I love learning and exploring and creating.

@Buttonstc, I can live without the burger, but I love tacos like Charlton Heston loved guns.

I can’t remember the name of it immediately, but there is one Mexican chain which has a policy of only fresh natural ingredients and connections with REAL farmers.

I saw a lengthy profile and interview with the owner.

I’m quite certain that they eschew pink slime since that stuff is done as a lowest common denominator cost cutting measure.

Those businesses with different priorities wouldn’t tolerate that crap, no matter how cheap.

EDIT. I found it in time.

www.chipotle.com

Hope there’s one near you :)

I don’t want to know what my parents’ favorite sex positions are.

I don’t want to know how unsanitary my favorite chinese restaurant is. Please, let me have my chicken and broccoli overloaded with MSG and grease in peace! Heh that was unintentional
I also don’t want to hear what really goes in hot dogs.

Nothing. I feel like my food is tainted from the water and soil on up, vegan or not. This makes me sad, makes it unexciting to think about a home garden or too fervently on organic farms (I favor them anyway). Since I come from families that raised their foods, I know about the raising and killing of live things, I can choose not eat particular things but I don’t want to shield myself from their reality.

@kevbo See, for us, it’s not about what we (as humans) like or not like to eat – it’s about choosing the lesser of evils. It’s about choosing to put ourselves (in some ways and not others…like everyone, we draw lines somewhere, somewhat arbitrarily and given restrictions life places on us) on the same level with animals and understanding that going vegan for healthful reasons (of which there are many) is the last reason we’re doing it for.

@Buttonstc

That’s so cool about Chipotle; I always knew they were awesome. :)

Everything.

Knowing only fills me with an overwhelming sense of helplessness as I watch the majority of folks that really don’t know, blissfully go about their day to day lives.

The private life of celebrities.

Last night, I learned about debt vultures through an alt news report. Between that and understanding IMF shenanigans, I feel like I’ve finally found some kind of bedrock cause for the bucket of concerns that most would call “solving the world’s problems.” Oddly enough, I’ve had concerns along these lines since being exposed to them (on other levels) in college, and I would love to figure out a way to feel resolved on a personal level if not participate in a more global solution, assuming that is feasible.

I don’t want to know what people say about me behind my back.

I would also prefer not to know (because I don’t care):

Your sexual orientation – Your lack of, or, abundance of intelligence – Just exactly why the way I choose to live is ”wrong” – When I am going to die – When you are going to die – How often and in which way you choose to fuck – What folks think of me – What type of psychological problems you think you may have – Why you think you have an actual psychological problem – What you think makes you think you are “special” – That saying dirty words is “wrong” – The funniest things your child did (unless it is made up) – That torrid, July/December, octogenarian, love affairs with venerable, Finnish speaking, grammarians is frowned upon here at Fluther