If Only We Knew: How Ignorance Creates and Amplifies the Greatest Risks Facing Society

If Only We Knew illustrates why and how a group of ultra-wealthy Americans-the "elite class"-have been able to leverage their influence over the media and political spheres to intentionally spread false ideas among the public. This book explains how the widespread acceptance of these false ideas leads to the creation and amplification of risks posed by social problems.

Why would the elite intentionally accentuate the risks of social problems? In If Only We Knew, Peter S. Baron answers this question by demonstrating that while this creation and amplification of the risks posed by social problems endangers and exploits the public, it deliberately serves the socioeconomic interests of the elite.

The survival of the elite class wholly depends on the existence of widespread ignorance. Illuminating the malicious intentions of the elite is the first step to reversing ignorance and eliminating risks. To create a society in which all can thrive, Baron calls for a national commitment to the values of forgiveness, compassion, long-term "infinite-thinking", and selflessness. If Only We Knewoffers a refreshingly bold framework within which we can understand and solve the problems facing society in the 21st century.

PRAISE FOR

IF ONLY WE KNEW

"While the issues he addresses in If Only We Knew are not new, Baron's voice is, and remarkably, it's a voice that's 'just' twenty years old as the book is released."

- Reggie Marra, cofounder, Fully Human at Work, and author, Enough with the Talking Points, Killing America, and (forthcoming in 2022) Healing America's Narratives: Owning and Integrating Our National Shadow

"Peter Baron's work provides hope that a better way is possible if we think more deeply about our own relationship to information, language, and knowledge."

- Dr. Tiffany Wilgar Professor of Rhetoric and Composition Fairfield University

"Baron's well written exploration for what is just, leaves us all thinking about one critically significant question: have we all been manipulated to contribute to society's flaws or inspired to reengineer old standards and modernize systems that give rise to humanity and individual capacity in today's age of personalization?"

- Glenn Llopis, President of GLLG, Founder of the Age of Personalization Movement and Leadership Strategy Contributor to Forbes

Peter S. Baron wrote If Only We Knew as an upper-class Dean's List student in the Honors Program at Fairfield University. Peter decided to personalize his education by designing his own major through the Individually Designed Major program offered by Fairfield. This interdisciplinary major is centered on a guiding question: are socioeconomic inequities an inevitable product of human evolution or an avoidable product of the development of human culture and civilization, and is it possible, and in society's best interests, to seek to eliminate inequities? Through his studies, Baron aimed to examine the causal relationship between a culture that fosters greed and the existence of socioeconomic inequities. In the summer of 2021, Baron started his blog, Pondering with Pete, where he discusses the benefits of applying philosophy to our daily lives. Outside of his academic and professional pursuits, Peter loves the beach, spending time with family, friends, and his dog, Julien.