Bliss - perfect happiness; great joy
So why are these two things connected at all? Perhaps the more accurate, but still heavily flawed, statement is 'ignorance is innocence'. If one knows of nothing, how can one possibly be corrupt? This statement is refuted by the satirical poem "The History Teacher" by Billy Collins. The statement also implies two things:
that retaining knowledge from someone, making them ignorant, somehow to protects 'innocence', and that knowledge leads to corruption.
For the former statement: “Ignorance is not innocence, but sin." - Robert Browning. Although the reality isn't as harsh as this, ignorance is by and far not true innocence. Here we look at the connotations of the two words. One is obviously positive and the other is likewise negative. Now consider the type of people society generally applies these words to. 'Innocence' is the word which we use for children - those who are to young to know anything - and 'ignorance' is the term which we use for adults - who refuse to know anything. Children must be educated so that they do not become ignorant, trapped in their own well and unable to see the ocean beyond them.
For the latter statement, a logical fallacy was probably put into place to achieve this. It may have gone something like this: knowledge is power, and power corrupts, so knowledge corrupts. This is, of course, a logical error. The true quote is "Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely". Since knowledge is never absolute, it can never become 'absolute power'. Also, with knowledge comes humility, so learning should never lead to corruption.
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