True wisdom is knowing what you don't know. - Confucius
Once upon a time, I was stumped for a blog topic. (I'm sure I'm probably the only blogger that happens to.) Falling back on the last refuge of the blogger who can't decide what to write about, I checked to see what was trending on Twitter. It changes constantly, of course, but here's what was listed when I checked.
#HappyBirthdayBeliebers
#LiamWeStandByYou
#AquariusComeBack
#NionerAndRemaja
#Balqis
#BuZulumArsiTitretir
#GustavvoLimaNoDomingoLegal
The Bat Cave
TheApprenticeAsia
AngkaYangkamu
Eriksen
Three Musketeers
Talk about a lesson in humility. Of the twelve topics listed, how many did I know with certainty what they were about? Exactly one. I could hazard a guess or at least give the definition of the words on a few. After Googling all of them, I discovered that just because I knew the definition of a few words, certainly did not equate to knowing what the heck the hashtags or trends were about. Before you continue reading this post, take a moment and see if you can predict what each one is about.
Okay. Let's see how you did. No pressure.
- The Apprentice Asia is obviously about the reality show. My confidence is so high on that assumption I didn't even fact-check it.
- The Beliebers one wasn't too difficult to guess - it had something to do with the Canadian pop singer. But if you guessed it was his birthday, you would be wrong. I think the fans were celebrating his 7 year anniversary on Twitter?? Still not sure about that one.
- Speaking of heartthrobs, Gusttavo Lima is one in Brazil. And 'Liam' is someone from American Idol.
- Indonesian topics dominated the list of 12. I know what Three Musketeers are - book/film or candy bar. But I could not have guessed why that was trending. Apparently one of the movie versions was broadcast on telly in the Phillipines recently. This was a big deal because it was broadcast without being 'tagalized' (translated into Tagalog). The Angka appears to be something about lucky numbers.
- The Aquarius thing is an analysis of the traits of men with birthdays around this time of year.
- BuZulumArsiTitretir is Turkish and looks like something that if I click on through, I will land on a terrorist watch list. Not kidding.
- It is a shame The Bat Cave was a broken link. Apparently it was a cool home theater setup.
- Eriksen is soccer (football) related.
- Balqis may possibly be a musical group/artist.
- And the Nioner-and-Remaja I could not figure out, even with the aid of Google's translating tool.
Being in the dark about some topics was understandable in the Dark Ages, when our ancestors had fewer options for staying informed. For example:
- The Chinese invented gunpowder about the same time Leif Ericson discovered America (1000 A.D.). But it was hundreds of years before gunpowder became commonplace in the West.
- Christopher Columbus' Spanish sponsors had to wait eight months to hear whether or not his gamble on sailing west amounted to anything.
- The last battle of the American Civil War was fought a month after Confederates surrendered at Appomattox in April of 1865 because Texas troops hadn't gotten word it was over.
Today we have the technology to stay informed. But so many people are overly preoccupied with their own little worlds, they don't bother. Even when we are interested in the world around us, parsing the torrent of information available is a tall order.
I'm not arguing for even more screen time so we can all know what lottery numbers are trending in Indonesia today. But just realizing how much there is out there that we don't know serves as a healthy reality check.
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