Saturday, May 11, 2013

An Anti-Question Culture

I was fed a lot of lies as a kid.  One of the most horrible lies is the lie that asking questions and asking for help is a socially acceptable thing to do.

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: 

It's not.

We live in a culture where asking questions is not socially acceptable.  I'm not saying that people shouldn't be asking questions; we absolutely should.  But it's not socially acceptable.  Kids are afraid to ask questions because they know full well that either their classmates or even their teacher could make fun of them.

Which brings me to my next point.  Adults aren't much better than kids in this regard.  As I venture into healthier eating and self-sustainability, I have a lot of questions to ask.  To someone who has been doing all this for years, my questions might seem stupid.  But seeing as I am asking to get information, there is really no reason to chew me out for it.

I'd like to turn this into a discussion.  What are some positive and negative experiences you've had regarding asking and answering questions?  What do you think contributes to the creation of an anti-question culture?  What, if anything, could be done about it?