Watching Role Models and <a onclick=“javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview(‘/outgoing/www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taken/’);” rel=“nofollow” href=“http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/taken/” rel=_external”>Takenback-to-back got me thinking…
At the beginning of Role Models, Danny is a smart-ass and points out the ignorance of others. In Taken, Brian’s daughter tells him that her mother said that his job (first as some sort of Special Forces guy and then as a high-end private security guy) made him paranoid. He counters that it simply made him aware of what the world was really like. Suppose that ignorance is really bliss. Would you rather make the people around you happy, or well-informed?
For instance, take coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is shit constantly going down over there, but we hardly hear about any of it in America. There are journalists on the ground over there giving stories to their editors and getting shot down because someone in the news org doesn’t think the American public wants to hear this stuff.
Or take the publicity that Slumdog Millionaire is creating for the poor in Mumbai. People are arguing about whether the movie is an accurate depiction of life there or not; whether it has been over-dramatized for the movie, or perhaps glossed over too quickly instead. But did you hear anything about Mumbai before the movie?
Would knowing about these and other bad situations around the world make you unhappy? What if you could know all the good things in the world, too? If we all shared perfect information, do you think people would be more or less happy?
Yes, I know this would destroy the sex appeal of secrets. (From Qwantz.com.)
