COMMENTARY: ‘Amathia’ and willful ignorance in America today

July 8, 2026  |  By John Bossange

A friend of mine shared the meaning of a word I had never heard before: “amathia.” In classical Greek philosophy, the word is often translated as “ignorance.” However, as Socrates implied, amathia is “the ignorance of not wanting to know.” 

The amathic individual lives in a state where beliefs are accepted without examination, where truth is subordinate to a desire, and where learning and evidence are resisted because they threaten identity or comfort.

Do we see amathia in America today? Are there individuals or groups of individuals who believe themselves wise, yet under scrutiny, they only reveal their opinions rather than knowledge? Again, Socrates said that when there is hostility to genuine inquiry, people can cling to unfounded certainty, and that blindness causes a drift into moral and civic failure. Almost 2,000 years later, during the Enlightenment, Voltaire exhorted readers “to dare to know,” and to think for themselves.

More recently, Karl Popper, the Austrian-British philosopher, warned us that reasoning will often “serve ideology and not truth.” Instead of seeking insight, the amathic individual seeks reassurance and illustrates a profound unwillingness to reorient one’s values and assumptions, even when confronted by evidence.

Socrates, Voltaire and Popper offer a wise warning to all Americans today. Dictators rise to power and thrive on an amathic culture of followers. We do not need to look too hard to see this within our own nation, exhibited by President Trump and the hardcore MAGA supporters.

Americans saw the early signs of amathia with phrases like “alternative facts” and “fake news,” first used by President Trump. Since then, his followers have become glaring examples of disregarding the truth and hostility to genuine inquiry, as they insulate themselves from evidence and seek comfort in their opinions, rarely daring to know.

Some have called this age-old behavior “willful ignorance.” Today in America, too many of us have bought into the hundreds of lies and falsehoods promoted by the president and other MAGA leaders. Photos, tapes of conversation, film and eyewitness accounts are all willfully ignored, causing a drift toward moral failure, or as Socrates said, a “blindness of the soul.”

What is it that causes individuals, many of whom are well-educated and intelligent, to willfully ignore clear evidence?

For the wealthy and entitled, their position of power and financial greed are obvious motivators. Clearly, they understand that climate change is real, the COVID vaccine was effective, the January 6 insurrection was not a peaceful protest march, and that immigrants are not taking jobs away from Americans, to use four examples from the misinformation that has become the foundational belief system of the Trump administration and the MAGA party.

But for Trump supporters from all walks of life, I believe racism, misogyny, and antisemitism have also “blinded their souls.”  For too many in the MAGA party, revenge, fear of diversity and the unknown have been used as reasons to hate, and have paralyzed them into a state of mind incapable of receiving new information. It is this refusal to take the sometimes painful journey toward illumination of the truth with supportive evidence that encapsulates amathia. Fear and hate are powerful emotions and have driven willful ignorance resulting in American amathia.

A charismatic populist authoritarian, President Trump has risen to power because amathia has successfully become the common core of the MAGA cult. Their loyalty to him is firm and passionate.  Until the president’s supporters feel the economic pain of his executive actions and policies, their willful ignorance will be driven by the president’s overnight tweets, savvy Heritage Foundation media posts, and other ultra-right-wing blogs and media outlets. Today, unfortunately, opinions obscure knowledge.  

The ignorance of not wanting to know has paralyzed too many Americans.  But history has proven that the truth eventually prevails, and over time, populist authoritarian dictatorships implode. We are seeing signs of that every day now in America, as cracks in the blind loyalty of the MAGA cult are opening wider each day.  

The evidence of the Trump family’s greed and profiteering, the expenses of the foolish and now lost war in Iran, inflation and the cost of living due to unwise tariffs, the billionaires not paying their taxes, the interest on our nation’s enormous national debt, the world-wide financial isolation caused by the mythical “America First” belief, and of course the recent folly of the White House renovations, the reflecting pool, the arch, and the Kennedy Center fiasco have illuminated more indisputable evidence and truth that America is on the wrong track.

I remain hopeful that enough MAGA supporters will want to see and understand the obvious evidence and truths about President Trump. They will not remain willfully ignorant of what the Trump administration has done to them and our nation. That painful journey toward the truth and the realization that they have been wrong will become far less painful when they understand that living under a cruel and self-serving dictatorship driven by fear, revenge and hate will be far worse for their lives and well-being.

A retired Vermont middle school principal who now serves on multiple non-profit boards in the Burlington area, John Bossange lives in South Burlington.