(June 4, 2015 at 4:07 pm)wallym Wrote: 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?
We're a "go with the flow" kind of species. Not only are there outside forces, both man-made and natural, trying to steer our behavior, one of those forces is the driving impulse to be accepted as part of the herd. Most people do what they think other people will accept and base their choices on how others will perceive them. Being an individual means saying that you stand for certain things regardless of how others feel, but we're hardwired to desire the approval of others.
As a species, the ideas that drive our actions are extremely malleable, and no individual is completely immune to this. We are so susceptible to the environment around us that it is an easy task to convince a person of anything if the right thinking skills are not in place. At least in America, those thinking skills as a wholeare abysmal across our culture, and when you combine that with such a consumer-centric society, you end up with a large amount of lemmings ready to walk of a cliff at a moment's notice.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
