The political philosopher and social theorist Thomas Sowell once said, “It takes considerable knowledge just to realize the extent of one's ignorance.” It is inevitable to encounter an ignorant person around every corner you turn. It is up to the victim to let the ignorant person corrupt him or to let the victim become smarter. One of America's greatest activists, Martin Luther King, believed that "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." With this in mind, “The ignorance of one voter in a democracy compromises the safety of all” (Kennedy). In the novel Kindred, written by Octavia E. Butler, many characters throughout the book display ignorance versus knowledge which, as MLK said, is dangerous. The main character, Dana, time travels from 1976 to the early 19th century. When he travels through time, he enters and exits places at random times; most of the time it happens when people are around. In this novel, many different characters show their ignorance by showing their emotions as if they don't see anything happening. This act can be easily associated with today's society. Hypothetically, if a person sees a ghost, he tells himself that it will never happen again, and this, in most cases, is not the case. Therefore, it is a fact that ignorance and knowledge will always be a problem that society will have due to people's refusal to accept what they see happening right in front of them. There are many things that can happen when something incredible happens. Each person reacts differently to the unusual phenomenon. One way a person reacts when faced with an unusual event is by ignoring it. In the second chapter of the novel, Margare... halfway down the page... asked, “'Well... it happened once. What if it happens again?' 'NO. No, I don't think so...'” (17). In this case, Kevin shows even more ignorance by displaying his rational knowledge. Ignorance played a big role throughout the book. It was believed that it was better for a slave to have ignorance than knowledge because with ignorance slaves have no reason to leave. However, with knowledge, slaves would be able to write their own passes. Furthermore, they would try to escape because they know they could do better. “It was dangerous to educate slaves, they warned. Education made blacks dissatisfied with slavery. He spoiled them for field work” (236). Leaving a black person ignorant about education and such will prevent slaves from developing self-esteem and wanting to leave for a better life. For this reason, leaving the slave in ignorance is what many slave owners do.