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In my experience, most people are reactionary, tribal and unwilling to say anything that goes against the general public consensus. That's why I think a "majority rules" approach to issues is a bad idea, because the majority of people out there are unthinking morons, and policy decisions shouldn't be up to them, as they care more about pushing their own dumb beliefs into law rather than maximizing freedom for all, even those they don't agree with.
The founding fathers spoke about "the tyranny of the majority" and the fact that the common man (or woman) isn't informed enough to make policy decisions, and I 100% agree. The average person rarely cares about anything outside of their life and their own "little world" and are only interested in doing the bare minimum to barely scrape by without doing a thing to improve their lot in life. These aren't the types of people that should be making decisions IMO.
And I also don't believe that "normal" even exists, it's just a concept created by people to exclude those that don't go with the group and ostracize them into compliance. People are more worried about enforcing conformity than what's in the best interest for everyone.
In my experience, most people are reactionary, tribal and unwilling to say anything that goes against the general public consensus. That's why I think a "majority rules" approach to issues is a bad idea, because the majority of people out there are unthinking morons, and policy decisions shouldn't be up to them, as they care more about pushing their own dumb beliefs into law rather than maximizing freedom for all, even those they don't agree with.
The founding fathers spoke about "the tyranny of the majority" and the fact that the common man (or woman) isn't informed enough to make policy decisions, and I 100% agree. The average person rarely cares about anything outside of their life and their own "little world" and are only interested in doing the bare minimum to barely scrape by without doing a thing to improve their lot in life. These aren't the types of people that should be making decisions IMO.
And I also don't believe that "normal" even exists, it's just a concept created by people to exclude those that don't go with the group and ostracize them into compliance. People are more worried about enforcing conformity than what's in the best interest for everyone.
When I speak of people going with the group on issues, I mean that they don't take time to think things through for themselves and just go along with the popular opinion of the time when asked about it. And as we've seen, what's "acceptable" in the public eye changes over time, so the ever changing whims of public opinion mean nothing to me. I base my beliefs on facts, logic and reason over emotion and the desire to fit in.
On the other hand, when I talk about people not caring about anything outside of "their own little world" I'm referring to people who don't care about anything besides themselves and their SO/immediate family, don't keep up with what's going on in the world, and think that what others are doing has no effect on their lives, or they only care when it does.
Two totally different concepts at play here. Basically the point of this thread is I value intelligence and free thinking over the desire to fit in and be "normal" and be "accepted". Frankly don't care if I'm accepted by the dumb, unwashed masses.
When I speak of people going with the group on issues, I mean that they don't take time to think things through for themselves and just go along with the popular opinion of the time when asked about it. And as we've seen, what's "acceptable" in the public eye changes over time, so the ever changing whims of public opinion mean nothing to me. I base my beliefs on facts, logic and reason over emotion and the desire to fit in.
On the other hand, when I talk about people not caring about anything outside of "their own little world" I'm referring to people who don't care about anything besides themselves and their SO/immediate family, don't keep up with what's going on in the world, and think that what others are doing has no effect on their lives, or they only care when it does.
Two totally different concepts at play here. Basically the point of this thread is I value intelligence and free thinking over the desire to fit in and be "normal" and be "accepted". Frankly don't care if I'm accepted by the dumb, unwashed masses.
Meh, that's just moving the goalposts. The average person who is "tribal," as you said in your OP, can't care ONLY about his own, as you said. Those are two opposing concepts that can't exist as you first laid them out.
Lots of young people flush with arrogance like to think they are SO different from the unwashed masses. Then time reveals their disappointing sameness.
What is an example of one of your radical beliefs that sets you so far apart from the rest of the sheep?
If I were normal I would have perished long ago
The people I worked with 13 years ago - club med buy new cars got lots of credit cards
They are normal
I’m not like that
Signed retired and debt free
First of all, being just normal is actually a calm place to be, depending on your definition. But, I really disagree with any notion that someone who just accepts their circumstances - and is okay with them - that there is anything wrong with them.
As to anyone simply going along with popular opinions, that is human nature. People don't want to be ostracized, so it's a really scary place to be if you want to break out of the norm. Those are the people we call heroes.
On any issue, there will be different opinions. We need to listen to each other and come to a middle ground. This is the nature of democracy. It's messy and everyone doesn't get everything they want. But, we can usually hammer out something that will be a fair compromise.
That's what we need to look for. And we can't even get that if there is a hint of corruption in the system. So, we need to cut out the corruption, too. And understand the true definition of corruption. It doesn't mean anything anyone else says is wrong with you or that you disagree with.
I think we need to get back to using our own brains. Step back from Twitter and Facebook, etc., and just think for a minute - does that really make sense to you? If not.....if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...it's probably a duck.
First of all, being just normal is actually a calm place to be, depending on your definition. But, I really disagree with any notion that someone who just accepts their circumstances - and is okay with them - that there is anything wrong with them.
As to anyone simply going along with popular opinions, that is human nature. People don't want to be ostracized, so it's a really scary place to be if you want to break out of the norm. Those are the people we call heroes.
On any issue, there will be different opinions. We need to listen to each other and come to a middle ground. This is the nature of democracy. It's messy and everyone doesn't get everything they want. But, we can usually hammer out something that will be a fair compromise.
That's what we need to look for. And we can't even get that if there is a hint of corruption in the system. So, we need to cut out the corruption, too. And understand the true definition of corruption. It doesn't mean anything anyone else says is wrong with you or that you disagree with.
I think we need to get back to using our own brains. Step back from Twitter and Facebook, etc., and just think for a minute - does that really make sense to you? If not.....if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...it's probably a duck.
1. Shouldn't we strive to improve ourselves and our lot in life each and every day though? If you're not working towards building a better life, WTF are you doing with your time? There's a difference between being in bad spot in life and actively aspiring to be a "loser" who just wants to scrape by with the bare minimum and never improve themselves or attempt to get out of their bad situation, resigning themselves to their "fate". Sort of like Al Bundy on Married with Children.
2. People care too much about what others (often dumb people) think and need to realize that's all they are. It's like the scene in Back to the Future Part 3 where Mad Dog Tannen calls Marty a chicken and Marty just says "He's an A**hole, I don't care what he says, and I don't care what anyone else says either.
3. The problem with taking the middle ground is often neither side gets what they want. People need to take more of a hard line on issues instead of capitulating out of some notion that "We all just need to get along". I judge that by whatever side is wanting to take away freedom from someone else and actively fight against them.
4. Too many people let others do their "thinking" for them.
In my experience, most people are reactionary, tribal and unwilling to say anything that goes against the general public consensus. That's why I think a "majority rules" approach to issues is a bad idea, because the majority of people out there are unthinking morons, and policy decisions shouldn't be up to them, as they care more about pushing their own dumb beliefs into law rather than maximizing freedom for all, even those they don't agree with.
The founding fathers spoke about "the tyranny of the majority" and the fact that the common man (or woman) isn't informed enough to make policy decisions, and I 100% agree. The average person rarely cares about anything outside of their life and their own "little world" and are only interested in doing the bare minimum to barely scrape by without doing a thing to improve their lot in life. These aren't the types of people that should be making decisions IMO.
And I also don't believe that "normal" even exists, it's just a concept created by people to exclude those that don't go with the group and ostracize them into compliance. People are more worried about enforcing conformity than what's in the best interest for everyone.
Thoughts?
*I agree that most people are reactionary, tribal, and unwilling to say anything that goes against general public consensus...at least until they're in anonymous environments like the internet. Here's it's pretty much the opposite. We like to brag, in all caps, about how unusual our opinions are here. You know always know when someone is an anarcho capitalist, a communist, or someone who desires the destruction of humanity online because it's usually the first thing they post every morning. Part of me wishes there were more discussion of actual ideas offline...but another part of me thinks the reason people don't do that stuff is because they're being polite. Usually to get into those sorts of conversations someone has to take the risk of being an ass.
*Regarding the part about ideally maximizing legal freedoms...the only laws I can think of that come closest to causing nothing but harm seem to be the ones about social controls...but how much I agree with you depends on what you mean by that.
*If you people would let me be world dictator...I'd prefer that to the current legal system. Unfortunately, if we had a world dictator someone would probably be placed in that position who I like considerably less (because they are not me)...so until everyone's willing to elect me Lord of Earth, I don't see many viable other options besides majority rule.
*I agree that most people live in their own little worlds. I think this is, to varying degrees, the natural human state. We're tribal. We're evolved to care about our own little tribes and not much about foreign ones. We have ideas that expand our instinctive desires that let us care about bigger concepts, but they're not innate. To advance these sorts of thought processes we need sufficiently successfully spreading memes - virulent ideals, often entertaining or appealing ideas. We have to "evolve" ourselves to achieve that, because it doesn't come nearly as naturally as only concerning ourselves with our own group.
*If you have an idea that accomplish something big...I'll be interested in whether or not you can achieve it. Our people certainly have a lot of room to grow. If you don't though, that's fine too.
*I had a dream of becoming a kind of celebrity to spread some of those memes I've thought of that I think could improve the species. I don't think I have the power to become a celebrity though. I think the most I'm going to get is ranting on Citi-Data. I've gotten a lot more views on my posts here than on my rotting YouTube channel. Maybe I'll do more work on it though. We'll see...or maybe I'll spend more time on other things.
Jimmy, God bless your heart, you are not the rebel you think you are. And, sad to say, you are a part of the unwashed masses you so despise.
I say this based solely on your posts in this thread
As the saying goes, "you are unique, just like everyone else."
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Our people certainly have a lot of room to grow. If you don't though, that's fine too.
