Large Scale Conditioning
June 4, 2015 at 4:07 pm
(This post was last modified: June 4, 2015 at 4:07 pm by henryp.)
So the idea of being controlled/manipulated came up in the "Being Good" thread. Where I somewhat equated social morality with Nationalism and Religion as avenues to get the masses to not behave in their own best interests.
Nationalism is the easiest one, so I'll maybe lay out what I see there, and perhaps we can discuss if there are some parallels between that and "being good" in general.
My kid starts Kindergarten in the fall, and one of the first things they are going to do is teach her to pledge allegiance to a flag. A concept that the majority of the kids can't comprehend. I take her to a hockey game, and we all stand up and stare at a flag while they sing a big bombastic song. During almost every game, some soldier has come back, and everyone in the arenea stands and applauds. They have Military appreciation day, where the star hockey players she likes all say "Thanks for your service!" on the jumbotron. She sees them in Parades. She'll see people thanking them on the street. Likely, most kids hear their parents speaking highly of them. She'll see commercials with catchy slogans. She'll see them glorified in movies. She'll see the president thanking them.
And when these kids turn 18, some Military recruiter is going to come and offer them shit money to go risk their life in some country far away for some ambiguous motivations. And many of these kids will say yes. And the reason for more than a few will be that they've basically been living in a propaganda piece there whole life.
It's diabolical, right?
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Are there similarities in terms of teaching people what is good when young? Certainly, the military would probably fall under that umbrella. We teach them (many of us without realizing it) it is good to be a soldier. But there isn't a clear 'bad guy' in the more generic being good like there is in Nationalism. But there is definitely a concept of controlling how the people think and act, and I'm not convinced it's purely an evolutionary social deal. It seems like a lot of rich people have their fingers in it. Whether it was just a matter of keeping poor people from storming the castle, or the formation of a bunch of holidays to drive sales by telling people good sons and daughters buy Mom a card and some flowers.
This is still a an incomplete thought it my head. But watching advertising, politics, social movements, religions, etc..., there is definitely a lot of forces trying to steer our behavior, and it seems like we go along pretty easily by not putting much thought into it?
Takes on this?
Nationalism is the easiest one, so I'll maybe lay out what I see there, and perhaps we can discuss if there are some parallels between that and "being good" in general.
My kid starts Kindergarten in the fall, and one of the first things they are going to do is teach her to pledge allegiance to a flag. A concept that the majority of the kids can't comprehend. I take her to a hockey game, and we all stand up and stare at a flag while they sing a big bombastic song. During almost every game, some soldier has come back, and everyone in the arenea stands and applauds. They have Military appreciation day, where the star hockey players she likes all say "Thanks for your service!" on the jumbotron. She sees them in Parades. She'll see people thanking them on the street. Likely, most kids hear their parents speaking highly of them. She'll see commercials with catchy slogans. She'll see them glorified in movies. She'll see the president thanking them.
And when these kids turn 18, some Military recruiter is going to come and offer them shit money to go risk their life in some country far away for some ambiguous motivations. And many of these kids will say yes. And the reason for more than a few will be that they've basically been living in a propaganda piece there whole life.
It's diabolical, right?
---
Are there similarities in terms of teaching people what is good when young? Certainly, the military would probably fall under that umbrella. We teach them (many of us without realizing it) it is good to be a soldier. But there isn't a clear 'bad guy' in the more generic being good like there is in Nationalism. But there is definitely a concept of controlling how the people think and act, and I'm not convinced it's purely an evolutionary social deal. It seems like a lot of rich people have their fingers in it. Whether it was just a matter of keeping poor people from storming the castle, or the formation of a bunch of holidays to drive sales by telling people good sons and daughters buy Mom a card and some flowers.
This is still a an incomplete thought it my head. But watching advertising, politics, social movements, religions, etc..., there is definitely a lot of forces trying to steer our behavior, and it seems like we go along pretty easily by not putting much thought into it?
Takes on this?
