The Dangers of 'Wilful Blindness'

28 Aug 2013

A+ A= A-
    Print this page      0 comments
0
     

Wilful blindness is a legal concept, which means, 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 wilfully blind. You have chosen not to know, says, author, academic and entrepreneur, Margaret Heffernan in this TED Talk.

"You could see wilful blindness in the run up to the Iraq war," she argues.

Wilful blindness is rife in big corporations, Heffernan contends. In large corporations, when employees were asked, "Are there issues at work that people are afraid to raise?" -- 85% of people said "yes", as they continued to remain silent about those issues. "There is a profound mythology around whistle-blowers, which says that they are all crazy," contends Heffernan.

In a talk that’s part history lesson, part call-to-action, Heffernan demonstrates the danger of "wilful blindness".

© The TED Talks

You can find this page online at http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1765.

A+ A= A-
    Print this page      0 comments
0
     

Leave A Comment

Posts by unregistered readers are moderated. Posts by registered readers are published immediately. Why wait? Register now or log in!