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| Richard Wallich |
11/21/19 1:54 AM
My mom & I went on a road trip that had Yellowstone National Park as one of its pit stops. We stayed in a tiny cabin about half an hour way in Montana. The view was breath-taking. Our neighbors were a herd of about 20 cows who grazed freely, to a point. Around dusk, one cow would stand in a certain position, & all the other cows would line up behind her. In almost a single file line, every single cow on the property would follow this one cow off into the abyss until the next morning. It was bizarre to me; I had no idea cows behaved that way in the absence of human direction (though they may have been trained). Whatever the purpose may be, not one, single cow went rogue & wandered off any of the evenings my mom & me watched them. Not. One. Cow.
I have always found the way people tend to similarly behave in group settings fascinating, not in a good way, but in a disturbing, frightening way. It scares me how quickly people are willing to set their morals & values aside to conform to group standards, whatever those standards may be. The danger comes when a group leader, whether formal or informal, is of questionable character or is in charge more because of their desire for power & control than their innate leadership abilities. Manipulative behavior accompanies the desire for power & control as a means to an end. Let me give you one of the most disturbing examples I've experienced to paint a clearer picture.
I was selected for a jury once, & the trial involved a man charged with raping an adolescent girl. Upon starting deliberation, this one guy kinda hijacked the conversation, insisting that the evidence wasn't there, & the lack of DNA evidence was particularly important. This was what he sold & the rest of the jury bought, despite clear direction from the prosecution & judge that DNA evidence was NOT necessary to convict. There was also a perfectly good explanation for this missing piece; there was a substantial delay in getting the victim to a provider to be examined. Even though the vast majority of the jury acknowledged that they felt sure he did it, he was found NOT guilty by 11:1. You can bet I was the lone juror, & you can bet I caught lip from the guy who persuaded the rest of the jury to vote his way.
And let’s not forget the Jonestown Massacre that gave us the adage, “Don’t drink the koolaid”. “Until the September 11th attacks, the tragedy in Jonestown on November 18th, 1978 represented the largest number of American civilian casualties in a single non-natural event. It is unfathomable now, as it was then, that more than 900 Americans – members of a San Francisco-based religious group called the Peoples Temple – died after drinking poison at the urging of their leader, the Reverend Jim Jones”. Rolling Stone Magazine
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| BBC.com - Jonestown Massacre |
Jim Jones Cult Video - Rolling Stone
Here's another small example. It was the year 2000 on Columbus Day, & I was sitting in my Philosophy & Methods of Political Science course waiting for class to start. I started running my mouth about how ridiculous it was that a man who mutilated, murdered, & enslaved Natives was honored with his own federal holiday. Another student in the class defended him by stating that it was socially acceptable to do that during that period in history, & that made it okay. The professor made his way in the classroom, so that's where the discussion ended. I wish it hadn't ended. I was at a conservative Southern Baptist college surrounded by Fundamentalist Christians. I wanted to ask him if, since attacking & killing Jesus was socially acceptable at the point in history when he was thought to have lived, did that make it ok?
Let me be clear. I feel strongly that social conformity is not always the way to go (that's really my point), but I have no idea how to go about thinking/acting independently safely or how to decide that conforming would require too much of a deviation from the morals & values I at least TRY to live by. I have always marched to the beat of my own drum. It worked for me growing up; some people actually think it's cute or charming when you're young. As an adult, however, these same personality characteristics come across as strange, awkward, & obnoxious. I wouldn't really care except for the fact that, in recent years, it has resulted in me being an easy target for that manipulative, power-hungry narcissist at work & in social settings. Whether out of fear or ignorance, people tend to follow their lead in giving me hell. It's not to say I didn't earn it. Instead of trying to fly under the radar or do what it takes to get along with this informal head of the herd, I tend to, metaphorically speaking, give them the middle finger by giving them no reason to believe I approve of their behavior or would follow their lead. Stupid strategy. It causes chaos, bitterness, & failure in your relationships & career. You have to find a way to coexist sometimes because not every cringe-worthy move they make should make you feel compelled to stand your ground; it needs to be a worthy cause. Looking the other way or trying to keep the peace in my life would have been in everyone's best interest at times.
For other people in history, the choice to blindly follow led to the decimation of 6 million Jews or the capture & enslavement of African Americans for centuries. I guess the only thought I can conclude with is that you do need to choose your battles, but don't be the heifer who compromises your values when it really counts. Being a follower can be horrifyingly disastrous for humanity in general. "If the blind lead the blind, they shall both fall into the ditch". -Matthew 15:14. We all need to be courageous when it counts.
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