Stephen Fry on Ignorance

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"The only reason people do not know much is because they do not care to know. They are incurious. Incuriousity is the oddest and most foolish failing there is." -- Stephen Fry

Excellent quote -- it doesn't just describe ignorance, but stupidity, which is willful ignorance.

People who don't want to learn are stupid.

Just so you know, Stephen Fry is a degenerate "vulgar" gay who is socially pretty liberal. I thought you don't agree with those types?

To be fair he does dress pretty sharply, though. I guess you can admire him for that.

I'm not the least bit homophobic and even if I were, it wouldn't follow that I'm compelled to disagree with someone just because he's gay.

Mr Fry, while being socially liberal (I respect that, though I hold the opposite view myself) has actively spoken out against virulent political correctness.

You do know that gays like to have casual sex, and comedians swear a lot, right? I mean he represents a lot of the qualities you have stated about liberals that you can't respect.

I don't know whether you're being serious here or just trying to make fun of me (which would be easy enough, and I'm more than thick-skinned enough to take it ). I don't expect many more homosexuals engage in casual sex than heterosexuals. I don't like profanity, which, I guess, puts me at odds with Mr Fry, but there's no profanity in the above quote.

I don't understand the principle whereby somebody becomes, as it were, untouchable because there's one thing that one disapproves of about that person. I've noticed this a lot with people on this forum - maybe it's an autistic thing, though I've never experienced it myself. It's almost superstitious - the idea of contamination owing to contact with the undesirable "other".

On a serious note, if you want to find out what committed traditionalist conservatives such as myself really believe, read any work by the (living) English philosopher Sir Roger Scruton. His works cured me of my Libertarian phase. I'd particularly recommend his polemical works on pop culture. His ideas changed my life and the whole landscape of my value system.

I believe Stephen Fry is a classical liberal. Yeah, he definitely is outspoken opponent of political correctness.

Fry is very affable, full of factoids and anecdotes, but I wouldn't look to him for a sensible, let alone original opinion on anything important.

"Stephen Fry’s great value to modern culture is that he has the voice, education and mannerisms of an English gentleman — but the opinions of a Trotskyite lunatic."

As stated above, I'm pretty far from Mr Fry on most political issues, but he's right on the money here. By the way, whose quote is that?