Smoke Signals

EC’s Debate Club met this Tuesday, November 19, in the media center to debate their predetermined question: “Deep Thoughts.”

Club leaders and its sponsors, Mr. Prince and Mrs. Cornwell, choose the themes or questions for each meeting. First they established what they meant by “deep thoughts” with a comparison activity. As one of the leaders explained, in a simple thought a monkey will see a banana as yellow and taste good.

In a deep thought, however, the monkey will wonder of the banana: how did it get here, what’s it doing here, or is it even safe to eat?

Then the club asked the question: “is  ignorance bliss?” Club members had to answer “yes” or “no” and explain why. Those who answered yes argued that you shouldn’t always know everything because once you know something that is just very bad, it could make you unhappy. In a way, then, not knowing anything could still make you as happy or happier than knowing all you can. For example, if there’s a deep secret that is not that important but it could also hurt you, if you find out it will deeply hurt you all because you were too nosey.

Other people disagreed, which is the fun of the debate club. This side argued that ignorance is not bliss is because it’s sometimes better to know things in general in order to make better decision. As one of the students said, “Think of it as if someone is cheating on you. You want to know as soon as possible because if you let the relationship get going for years and just found out he or she was cheating, it will hurt you even more than finding out sooner. “

But what do you think? Is ignorance really bliss? Do you want talk about other questions that you will enjoy? Then join the debate club in the main media center after the Thanksgiving break!