13.5x20.5 inches; Pen drawing on handmade paper with watercolour wash (Click on image to enlarge)
SOLD. In private collection
‘Ostrich
Syndrome’ is a term used in psychiatry to define a situation of willful ignorance towards uncomfortable situations. It is the refusal of acknowledging
something which is blatantly obvious, because one does not want to deal with
it. The syndrome is so named because one human, somewhere, believed that an
ostrich sticks its head in the sand when faced with danger and the rumor spread
like wild fire! Historians believe the saying may have risen from the writings
of Pliny the Elder who wrote "...they imagine, when they have thrust their
head and neck into a bush, that the whole of their body is concealed" Yet,
there is evidence that this is not true. Fact is Ostriches do not stick their
heads in the sand or bush to ignore danger (They might do so while looking for
food!); we humans do, metaphorically speaking. We are equipped with a defense mechanism called ‘willful ignorance’ which kicks in whenever we are faced with
something which threatens our position of power, control or invades our comfort
zone. We ignore and wish the threat away and when this does not work, we find a
scapegoat to dump the blame on for all the misfortune that has befallen us and
scream for retribution. The ostrich surely does not care (And for all we know it
might be laughing at our dim-witted behavior) but what about other humans who
become victims of stigma, violence and prejudice due to such ignorance? In this
era of communication and information boom, it is criminal to remain willfully ignorant. It does not hurt to say, ‘I don’t know but I can find out!’ Awareness
is just a click away, and all we do is withdraw more into our wells of ignorance.
When we should be inspired to reach out and form more strong human bonds
through informed human interactions, all we do is isolate ourselves more within
our own castles protecting ourselves from imagined demons! Curiosity seems to
have given up its ghost because the answers are so readily available! The power
of our collective willful ignorance cannot be overstated and the poor ostrich (along
with many other species including humans) is still victimized due to this ‘Human
Ignorance Syndrome’! Ironic, isn't it?
