Problem One

Failings of the intelligence are incorrigible, since those who do not know, do not know themselves, and cannot therefore seek what they lack.

Baltasar Gracian - The Art of Worldly Wisdom (1647)

The thinking behind this Gracian quote is both well known and well disguised because of the difficulty we have admitting what may be our number one human problem. Apart from things we know we don't understand, we cannot know what we don’t know because we cannot know that we don’t know it. Otherwise we’d know it wouldn’t we?

This is why so many people are equipped with crap blinkers. I don’t mean blinkers bought off eBay that don’t work, but blinkers which obscure the crap.

There is so much crap out there but people don’t see it, or they see this little pile over here but not the great steaming heap in their back yard. Even humongous piles of crap fade into the background when those who do not know, do not know themselves. We cannot see what we cannot see because we cannot see ourselves not seeing it.

Move along there - nothing to see.

Or maybe not. Perhaps we see ourselves more clearly now social media are such an important aspect of our lives. If so then the future may be much brighter than we tend to assume. We may be learning to know ourselves better than the political classes assume and the consequences of that could be profound indeed. Brexit may be more than an isolated victory.