The most interesting things are always those which are unexpected, or even taboo. Wow, Bill Clinton is a sociopath. Wow, Barack Obama is a homosexual. Wow, sasquatch might actually exist.
A lot of people are very uncomfortable going outside mainstream thought: they are afraid that others will think them foolish, and laugh at them. For some reason, I don't have that fear. (Maybe I should, but I don't.) So I don't mind stating my opinions like those cited in the first paragraph.
I've certainly been scoffed at, and I'm sure an even higher number scoff at me behind my back. But ever since I was told my IQ was high when I was a kid, it's just never occurred to me to worry about my intelligence. I may not be as smart as I think I am, and there are certainly plenty of people who are smarter, but I know I'm smarter than most. So I don't worry about others thinking I'm dumb. Or even crazy.
It's not that I don't have insecurities. I worry that I'm weak, or soft. (Probably because I am.) So I try to act macho. If anything, that sort of behavior probably makes me appear even weaker, and softer.
A lot of people are that way about their intelligence: they never express an original opinion for fear that people might laugh at them, or think them off in some way. They cleave to the middle of every road in an almost desperate attempt to seem "balanced" and avoid any sort of public censure.
They don't realize that this just betrays a second rate intelligence -- at best.
This is exactly what the enforcers of political correctness count on: peoples' intellectual timidity. They know that with enough intimidation, people won't stray to conclusions the facts lead them to, but rather will stay within the boundaries of what's deemed respectable to think.
When you have a population which is too insecure to believe the evidence of their own eyes and come to their own conclusions, and which is too intimidated to speak their minds, then you have a politically correct, easily manipulable society. It's what our media masters want -- and it is, for the most part, what they've gotten.
So go ahead and be as timid in your opinions as you like. You'll actually be making your life much less interesting by limiting your thinking to what's generally considered "acceptable."
And be aware that acting like a sheep doesn't make you look intelligent.
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4 comments:
One thing I have certainly discovered: the vast majority of people are utter cowards. Utter, pathetic cowards. They are incapable of an unfashionable thought, not because they are stupid but because they are afraid.
Put another way, people crave the approval of others about as strongly as they crave food and sex. It is part of human nature, so I should not complain about it.
Anon --
Yes, exactly, they crave the approval of others, and they fear the censure. Not sure which is stronger. I feel both of these emotions too. But not so strongly that I'm about to lie in order to fulfill them.
What I find curious and despicable is the malleability of people's opinions. They can be shaped with images, appeals to their sensitivity (or intelligence), and by the crush of 'consensus'. Individuals using logic and reason coupled with observation are quickly 'corrected' by those who have agendas, like those who are part of corporate academia, climate science or the allopathic
sickness community.
If the general public were less impressionable, less politically correct and less ideologically fashionable, then the world would be a better place.
Gyula --
Amen. I see the media as the worst culprits in all of this.
But, I suppose, human nature is the way it is for a reason.
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