Comignorant: (n) (adj.) A person or persons who make a statement in response to an issue they know very little about, or have not properly researched. May also be used as an adjective to describe said person.
For example, “Don’t be comignorant, study up before you say something!”
Comignorants are symptomatic, I think, of our Internet age. Never in human history has there been such a forum to showcase lack of knowledge. But comignorants are not to be confused with stupid people, or informed ignoramuses; rather, their uninformed statements have everything to do with laziness, as the anti-knowledge they wish to impart can easily be dismissed with a simple Google search.
I recently had the misfortune to run into such a person, after my Ages of Aenya Kickstarter failed to succeed. We managed to raise just $1300 of the $10,000 needed. But as heartbreaking as this was, considering I have worked 15 years to promote my book, it’s even worse when a comignorant drops by, just to kick me when I am down. It is both amazing and depressing, that people always find the time and energy to criticize, but never to give their support. And the worst part is, they rarely put in the effort to properly criticize. When I give poor book reviews, I make sure to read from cover to cover. It would be disingenuous of me to report to give honest feedback, even if I had read everything but the last page. Sometimes, as in the case of Life of Pi, the final chapter can turn everything around. The same can be said for writers, their blogs, and their Kickstarters. If you want to criticize what I did wrong, make sure you know what you’re talking about. Do a little research first. Take the extra time and effort to click on a few links. Don’t be comignorant!
Case in point, an anonymous commentator suggested that the reason for my failed Kickstarter was this video. Of course, what he didn’t know was that my Kickstarter launched on July 18th, and that video was posted on September 5th. That’s more than a month later! OK, so maybe after getting my ugly mug on YouTube, all my supporters pulled their pledges in horror and disgust? Right? Nope. Actually, the video accounted for the single biggest boost in supporters, including high profile names, like World Naked Bike Ride organizer Lady God1va, who pledged $100 and notified her 15,000 Twitter followers.
What is perhaps most infuriating, is that Mr. Anonymous Commentator also made this suggestion, and I quote,
The good news is that there are video artists online that would cut a video with a script for you for a fairly decent price… maybe give that a try next time if you try again? A semi-professional video with perhaps a montage of Aenya illustrations just might do the job.
You mean like this video here,
which I posted to my Kickstarter four days from launch, on July 22nd?
The Art of Storytelling 