This isn't being presented as an elegantly polished piece of Pulitzer-worthy prose. (Gaudy alliteration intended for sarcastic effect!) Instead, this theme--intellectual conformity and our tendency toward tribalism and the groupmind--is part of a near-future podcast and an example of some old writing that has not only stood the test of time (2013), but enhanced itself over 7-years. What's changed: gaining a better understanding of the evolutionary and social psychology leading to it. And its exploitation.
Still wondering why my comments are off? This might help. The pickup LeBon!
July 25, 2013
Tucson, Arizona
Call me arrogant (you'll be neither the first nor last!), but I’ve decided that I’m no longer interested in conversations with anyone identifying themselves as part of a Culture Mob.
Christians. Muslims. Atheists. Spiritualists. Conservatives. Liberals. Progressives. Soldiers. Vets. Patriots. Gay. Straight. African/White/Mexican/Native/Incontinent & Erectionally Impaired Americans™ and, especially, Republicans, Democrats, and those amusingly abundant and ridiculously self-proclaimed “Independents” whose opinions are exclusively in lock step with one group's or the another!
Perhaps I misunderstood and they meant “independent” in a Tea Party/Occupy/Fair & Balanced sort of way, but downloading porn is more productive than navigating second-hand dogma and dismantling third-hand propaganda peddled as debate.
Typically, members of the mobs, Mobsters, avoid anything authentically original and follow the intellectual marching orders as dictated by their chosen myths & apostles; the Holders of the Holy Doctrine. The Bible, Hitchens, Dawkins, Ayn Rand, Limbaugh, NewsMax, Huffington Post, etc. Worst of all, they eagerly ingest their chosen television pundit’s propaganda (O’Reilly, Maddow, Matthews, Hannity…you know the names) and then simply “regurgitate” it, proudly puffing out their chests thinking they're “educated” and “informed” when "drugged parrot" is closer to the truth.
Offended, Mobsters? Who fucking cares? Who, pray tell, have I offended? Someone afraid of their own words? Someone preferring to follow because it’s easier than constructing, and safer than embracing responsibility and accountability for, your own thoughts…especially if “honesty” would prove to be uncomfortable to, or unpopular with The Mob? Sure, no one wants to be publicly crucified or lynched, but what if you may have been right...about anything? Who may have benefited? Silent conformity, cowardice & selfishness are often conjoined traits. Neither ever offers a rightful claim to moral high ground or righteous offense.
People making up your Culture Mobs are akin to obnoxious, chanting children. You’ve stopped thinking and started copycatting. You’re preoccupied & obsessed with defending your herd’s place on the playground…blatant falsehoods and all… while attacking any and all conflicting facts or opinions threatening your comfy narrative. Within the Mob, truth is sacrificed for a sense of bubbled security & superiority and a cracked perception of victory.
Detecting a Mobster:
** If I can predict when you’ll chime in to pronounce offense or predict your standardized “argument” before you make it? You might be a Mobster.
**If I can guess with certainty who you voted for? You might be a Mobster.
**If you’ve only demonstrated the capacity to claim someone else’s popular or, worse, a politically correct opinion, as your own, not only are you a Mobster, you’re worth little more in these decaying conversations than the aforementioned parrot.
Original thinkers, you’re becoming increasingly rare and worth many times your weight in gold. I don’t ask much from my friends, but if you’re going to engage me in anything deeper than Jim Leyland’s status, traveling, or what’s for dinner, authentic thought, even if I disagree, is something I demand. I expect people prioritize aiming for the truth ahead of imposing agenda, even if that truth may be uncomfortable & unsettling.
If I've tagged you, Thanks! You're an endangered & increasingly precious breed. If you think I've missed you, tag yourself. Don't worry, if you're a dipshit, I'll remove it! Think for yourself, Fuckos!
[2019 EDIT: all tags removed!]
