--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Information about toxicity in food is…" description: "\"“Information about toxicity in food is widely available, but people don’t want to hear it. Once in a while a story is spectacular enough to break throu..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f50/ruth-ozeki-2896_bad-news_information-about-toxicity-in-food-is-wi_2135178.jpg" --- # Information about toxicity in food is widely available… ![“Information about toxicity in food is widely available, but people don’t want to hear it. Once in a while a story is spectacular enough to break through and attract media attention, but the swell quickly subsides into the general glut of bad news over which we, as citizens, have so little control…” quote by Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f50/ruth-ozeki-2896_bad-news_information-about-toxicity-in-food-is-wi_2135178.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f50/ruth-ozeki-2896_bad-news_information-about-toxicity-in-food-is-wi_2135178.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f50/ruth-ozeki-2896_bad-news_information-about-toxicity-in-food-is-wi_2135178.jpg) > ““Information about toxicity in food is widely available, but people don’t want to hear it. Once in a while a story is spectacular enough to break through and attract media attention, but the swell quickly subsides into the general glut of bad news over which we, as citizens, have so little control. Coming at us like this — in waves, massed and unbreachable—knowledge becomes symbolic of our disempowerment—becomes bad knowledge—so we deny it, riding its crest until it subsides from consciousness. . . . In this root sense, ignorance is an act of will, a choice that one makes over and over again, especially when information overwhelms and knowledge has become synonymous with impotence. I would like to think of my “ignorance” less as a personal failing and more as a massive cultural trend, an example of doubling, of psychic numbing, that characterises the end of the millennium. If we can’t act on knowledge, then we can’t survive without ignorance. So we cultivate the ignorance, go to great lengths to celebrate it, even. The faux-dumb aesthetic that dominates TV and Hollywood must be about this. Fed on a media diet of really bad news, we live in a perpetual state of repressed panic. We are paralyzed by bad knowledge, from which the only escape is playing dumb. Ignorance becomes empowering because it enables people to live. Stupidity becomes proactive, a political statement. Our collective norm.”” [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. When information overload overwhelms, people deny knowledge, turning ignorance into a cultural coping mechanism. **In simple terms:** Too much bad news makes us ignore facts and choose blissful unawareness. Key Takeaway Recognize and confront overwhelming information rather than retreat. Themes media saturation psychic numbing collective denial empowerment through ignorance Mood anxious reflective Type critical philosophical When to use this quote - political activism - personal media consumption - public discourse - media literacy Key Concepts information overload cognitive dissonance cultural trends Questions to Reflect On - How do you decide which information to engage with? - What habits help you stay informed without panic? A Different Perspective Ignorance can also perpetuate harmful systems if not challenged. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bad news](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-news/) [Cultivate Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/cultivate-ignorance-4418822/) [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Ignorance Cultivate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance-cultivate-4418823/) [Ignorance Empowering](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance-empowering-1685348/) [Knowledge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/knowledge/) [Playing dumb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/playing-dumb/) [Political statement](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/political-statement/) [Think Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/think-ignorance-1026321/) ## Related quotes > [“Fed on a media diet of really bad news, we live in a perpetual state of repressed panic. We are paralyzed by bad knowledge,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/fed-on-a-media-diet-of-really-bad-news-we-live-in-a-perpetual-state/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [“Coming at us like this--in waves, massed and unbreachable--knowledge becomes symbolic of our disempowerment--becomes bad knowledge--so we deny it, riding its crest until it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/coming-at-us-like-this-in-waves-massed-and-unbreachable-knowledge/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [“I would like to think of my 'ignorance' less as a personal failing and more as a massive cultural trend, an example of doubling,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/i-would-like-to-think-of-my-ignorance-less-as-a-personal-failing-and/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [I don't think ignorance is a way that you gain distance on something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/i-don-t-think-ignorance-is-a-way-that-you-gain-distance-on-something/) [Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/) > [I think ignorance is not bliss at all. 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But like everything else that has survived thousands of years of human evolution, ignorance - like denial,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/scott-spencer/i-surely-don-t-think-ignorance-is-bliss-but-like-everything-else-that/) [Scott Spencer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/scott-spencer/) > [There's just so many facets, I think, of the ignorance in our society that have to be corrected if we're really going to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dolores-huerta/there-s-just-so-many-facets-i-think-of-the-ignorance-in-our-society/) [Dolores Huerta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dolores-huerta/) > [I dont think ignorance is a way that you gain distance on something.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-sebold/i-dont-think-ignorance-is-a-way-that-you-gain-distance-on-something/) [Alice Sebold](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-sebold/) > [“I thought you knew that." "I didn´t." 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The only difference is how much we know we feel it, how in touch we are with our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/claire-messud/don-t-all-women-feel-the-same-the-only-difference-is-how-much-we-know/) [Claire Messud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/claire-messud/) > [“Back in Tahoe, when he had broken the news to her that they had to go home, he had been put on the defensive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sharon-sala/back-in-tahoe-when-he-had-broken-the-news-to-her-that-they-had-to-go/) [Sharon Sala](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sharon-sala/) > [“ You’re…you’re what? Where? ” I stood up and glimpsed myself in the mirror. I was a vision, having changed into satin pajama pants,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ree-drummond/you-re-you-re-what-where-i-stood-up-and-glimpsed-myself-in-the-mirror/) [Ree Drummond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ree-drummond/) > [Playing dumb is not for me. If I say that I don't understand it, it means that I don't understand it. Period.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-paul-malfatti/playing-dumb-is-not-for-me-if-i-say-that-i-don-t-understand-it-it/) [Jean-Paul Malfatti](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-paul-malfatti/) ## More by Ruth Ozeki > [“Time plays tricks on mothers. 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Don't waste a single moment of your precious life. Wake up now! And now! And now!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/life-is-fleeting-don-t-waste-a-single-moment-of-your-precious-life/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [“Do not think that time simply flies away. Do not understand “flying” as the only function of time. If time simply flew away, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/do-not-think-that-time-simply-flies-away-do-not-understand-flying-as/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [“INSTRUCTIONS FOR ZAZEN First of all, you have to sit down, which you’re probably already doing. The traditional way is to sit on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/instructions-for-zazen-first-of-all-you-have-to-sit-down-which-you-re/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [The wondrous thing about nature, her gift to us, is her wanton promiscuity. She reproduces herself with abandon, with teeming infinite generosity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/the-wondrous-thing-about-nature-her-gift-to-us-is-her-wanton/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [“this feeling of alive is not so easy to experience. Even although life is a thing that seems to have some kind of weight…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/this-feeling-of-alive-is-not-so-easy-to-experience-even-although-life/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [Writing is solitary. You spend so much time alone and in your own mind, telling stories.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/writing-is-solitary-you-spend-so-much-time-alone-and-in-your-own-mind/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [It was really a means-of-production problem. It costs so much to make films. With a novel, you can write the whole thing on a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/it-was-really-a-means-of-production-problem-it-costs-so-much-to-make/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [My mind is like a gyre, and odd juxtapositions happen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/my-mind-is-like-a-gyre-and-odd-juxtapositions-happen/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [“Adjunct teachers are the professorial equivalent of the migrant Mexican farm laborers hired during harvest. If you can get a good contract at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/adjunct-teachers-are-the-professorial-equivalent-of-the-migrant/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) > [She missed the built environment of New York City. It was only in an urban landscape, amid straight lines and architecture, that she could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ruth-ozeki/she-missed-the-built-environment-of-new-york-city-it-was-only-in-an/) [Ruth Ozeki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) [Explore all 145 Ruth Ozeki quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ruth-ozeki/) ## More Bad news quotes > [In the wake of such bad news, it was heartening to know that what 'Sense8' stood for meant so much to so many people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brian-j-smith/in-the-wake-of-such-bad-news-it-was-heartening-to-know-that-what/) [Brian J. 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You…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrei-codrescu/the-real-secret-though-is-that-nobody-belongs-whether-they-are/) [Andrei Codrescu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrei-codrescu/) [Browse all 691 Bad news quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bad-news/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Information about toxicity in food is widely available, but people don’t want to hear it. Once in a while a story is spectacular enough to break through and attract media attention, but the swell quickly subsides into the general glut of bad news over which we, as citizens, have so little control. Coming at us like this — in waves, massed and unbreachable—knowledge becomes symbolic of our disempowerment—becomes bad knowledge—so we deny it, riding its crest until it subsides from consciousness. . . . In this root sense, ignorance is an act of will, a choice that one makes over and over again, especially when information overwhelms and knowledge has become synonymous with impotence. I would like to think of my “ignorance” less as a personal failing and more as a massive cultural trend, an example of doubling, of psychic numbing, that characterises the end of the millennium. If we can’t act on knowledge, then we can’t survive without ignorance. So we cultivate the ignorance, go to great lengths to celebrate it, even. The faux-dumb aesthetic that dominates TV and Hollywood must be about this. Fed on a media diet of really bad news, we live in a perpetual state of repressed panic. We are paralyzed by bad knowledge, from which the only escape is playing dumb. Ignorance becomes empowering because it enables people to live. Stupidity becomes proactive, a political statement. 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