Gawain stood on top of the rock, watching the withdrawn and indifferent faces below, and he took a deep breath.
The people were not stupid, but this did not mean that they were not ignorant.
One would call someone stupid out of prejudice and contempt, but to call someone ignorant would only be stating facts.
The civilians and the serf class in this era were ignorant. The social structure restricted them from having hardly any channels where they could gain knowledge and experience. The high cost of living also left them with no energy to focus on things other than survival. And having to survive through such circumstances resulted in them appearing as though they were not using their heads, thus creating the illusion of "stupidity". But in fact, they could use their heads. It was only that their lack of knowledge made it hard for them to understand things that were too far and unrelated to their lives.
