Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Following the Turd

Our culture has an oft used aphorism - the blind leading the blind. The Old Testament has a variation on the theme - an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. (Gandhi wisely remarked in response to the latter, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.") 

And last but not least, another popular phrase - following the herd - has been reinvented by moi to evoke another paradigm - following the turd.

No, this is not an instruction manual for discovering sewage leaks. It refers to studies done on evil, i.e. acts perpetrated by people who would otherwise have no inclination to rape and murder their neighbors or commit other heinous crimes against humanity...yet nonetheless commit these crimes.

The only explanation offered by the studies is that group-think is contagious. When opinion leaders propagate destructive ideas and gather support through a mind bending lens, the social fabric twists itself into a venomous snake with its members acting en mass. Individual morality is sublimated and a form of mass insanity replaces personal values.

The only solution is the same one that applies to our every act: self-examination and a knowing that we are interconnected - no us and them. Taking responsibility for one's own actions and their karmic repercussions means that we need to grow up. Mindlessly following the turds will only get us into deep shit.

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