Dear Friends,
It seems to me, there’s nothing sadder than an adult who has to ask permission to have an idea. Yet, we have huge swaths of our fellows who do just that. They are afraid to think for themselves. Maybe they worry they will think something foolish and be ridiculed, wrong, or right. Conformists tend to conform… even to a warped worldview. Conformity, however, is an evolutionary trait, or so sociologists say. People conform to stay in the middle of the herd. I wonder if this is a mechanism for how people get captured by an idea. The same thinking applies when someone goes to a restaurant because it’s busy (fallacy of popularity), believe something because an authority figure says it’s true (appeal to authority), or act like an NPC (following the crowd). They are all tools of manipulation.
Being an adult is to make up one’s own mind. It is entirely within the rights of someone to follow the crowd, accept appeal to authority, and the fallacy of popularity. That doesn’t diminish them as people. It does, however, diminish their wisdom. It’s been said that people can be stupid, wise, selfish, and self-destructive. We have already described the stupid. The self-destructive will harm themselves, serving others. The selfish will exploit others. Meanwhile, the wise act in ways that benefit themselves and everyone around them. An adult has the option of being any of these kinds of people, simply by dint of adulthood. The question then becomes, what option will you choose? Stupidity is easy, selfishness takes work, self-destruction is self-destructive, and wisdom takes empathy.
There are channeling devices set up by culture and society that push us towards stupidity and away from wisdom. Conformity is the mechanism. The stupid can be found clustering in the middle of the herd. Following the crowd, seeking authority’s permission, and needing popularity to validate their self-worth. Such people are controlled by their need for applause. Meanwhile, the wise have to think for themselves, take in as much information as possible, and weigh it. If everyone is taking a shot, to lose weight, to stave off disease, or to get high, the stupid follow along, the selfish exploit it for profit, the self-destructive will get a dozen while encouraging everyone else to… and the wise will not follow along, accept appeal to authority, nor need to be popular.
Those who need applause, follow the crowd and only believe what an authority tells them to believe are easily captured by ideas. They dare not modify an inputted idea lest they become ostracized. The more vulnerable someone feels, the more easily they are captured. People who feel vulnerable want one thing above all else… safety. That is one thing a crowd feels like it provides. In a throng of people even the weakest feel strong. The camaraderie of shared sacrifice only adds to the attraction. In this way the weak can be marshaled into zealots willing to kill, harm, and die for the bidding of another. Such people hold those who think for themselves in utter disdain. This is because anyone who doesn’t believe as the crowd, authorities, and popularity demand must be evil.
In this way, adults choose to become non-player characters. They join the crowd and serve the ends of whomever is manipulating that crowd… usually central planners. In doing so they feel safe and powerful. They get the applause they need which bolsters their self-esteem. Such people never notice the channeling devices that control even their thoughts. Those that choose conformity become children, dependent on another’s okay to even hold a thought in their head. Could there be anything more sad than that? It’s not their fault though. The system is designed to mitigate human reason, by the media, education, and culture. Central planning requires NPCs, they are not optional. People who think for themselves are unsuited for centrally planned systems, being more suited for freedom instead.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
