W
e’ve all been guilty of willful ignorance at
one time or another. “I don’t like brussel
sprouts,” even though you’ve never
come close to eating them. “That book is
boring”, though you’ve never actually cracked the cover.
“I don’t think the heavy stuff’s gonna come down for quite
awhile,” even as a torrential downpour tears at your face.
Willful ignorance is about burying your head in the sand
– believing what you want to believe and refusing to open
your mind to the alternative.
When we engage in willful ignorance, we can’t expect
much sympathy from others if the tide turns against us.
Ignore reality at your own peril.
But to my mind, Tibble v. Edison International isn’t about
willful ignorance. It’s about sheer ignorance. Naḯveté.
“What, me worry?” à la Alfred E. Neuman. (That’s a
Mad magazine reference for you young’uns. Go Google
it.) And that’s why I can’t help but feel a tad sorry for the
members of the Edison Investment Committee.
What if they truly didn’t know what they didn’t know?
They certainly seemed to hav