Puck on... Ignorance

You enjoy their ignorance.

I profit by it.  Why shouldn’t I enjoy it?

That does bring us back to the question of why?  Why are you doing this?

I thought I told you not to ask me that question.

I would say you brought it up.

Ah, my boy, you are learning.  Well, my reasons are my own.  And what would it profit you anyway from learning them?  Oh, come now, let’s be open and honest.  Are you not of the mind that I can be… overcome?  That this is some sort of “battle of wills”?  A contest?  A debate, at least?  It’s not curiosity that drives you to ask: why?  It’s competition.  You want to beat me.  You want to figure out my game.  You want to know what makes dear, old Puck tick.

Let me ask you this: knowing who am I, what I am, do you really think I would give it up so easily?  Always remember and never forgotten, dear little one, who you are dealing with.

But, I’m in a charitable mood.  So, tell you what, I’ll let you in on a little secret.  You say that I like ignorance.  True.  Very, very true.  I love it.  It’s bliss, after all.  And quite entertaining.  It’s much easier to manipulate someone when they don’t know they’re being manipulated.  And it’s very easy to tempt someone to wrong when they don’t believe it’s wrong that they’re being tempted to.  True, true, all true.

Then why this?  Wouldn’t you just want them to stay ignorant?  Why educate them? 

Because it’s more fun.

More fun?

Absolutely.  That’s the real kicker, you see.  Sin is great.  Any sin.  Big, small, doesn’t matter.  Rebellion in any form has that sweet, tangy flavor.  But, you know what’s even tastier?  Hypocrisy.  Oh, yes.  To wrong is one thing, to wrong when you know it’s wrong, is something else entirely.  An honest mistake can be honest.  Duplicity knows no excuse.  It very literally doubles the fun.  When you know it’s a sin and yet you still sin, you cannot imagine how much more destructive that is; because it carries that extra weight of false testimony.  To lie because you don’t know any better might garner leniency.  To lie when you know it’s a lie, that is straight from Hell, my friend.

So, you want to tell people the truth, so that their sin will be all the worse?

Something like that, yes.  Ah, but I can already see the little wheels turning in your head.  That little train of thought that says: “don’t worry, it won’t work on you.”  That’s what you all think.  Damn the world, but you’re the exception.  That’s the beauty of hypocrisy.  It lies even to itself.  So, go on, say it.  I know you want to.  Say that thing that even now sits on the tip of your tongue.  That I may be right about most things, most people, but some won’t fall for it.  That me telling them about it means they will be able to avoid it.  Come on.  Say it.

Knowledge is power.

And that’s where you’re wrong, my dear boy.  Knowledge is not power.  Knowledge is just knowledge.  And like everything else, it really all depends on how you use it.