Tuesday, June 22, 2010

If sheep were meant for heaven, call me a goat

I’m not calling for all out revolution. I’m not recommending Anarchy in the US. I’m just saying that having your own opinions and thought patterns wouldn’t be half bad. That the US has a higher voter to viewer ratio on American Idol than on Presidential elections should be a source of worry. Technology advances with leaps and bounds, but human intellect is stunted.

Why read when I can see the movie? That’s pretty much the general attitude of at least half the population, and you know that’s a kind statement. At best, people might have opinions they share on their blogs, but like many church goers, the love of all mankind and respect to one’s brethren ceases as soon as you exit the double doors, get in your car and are faced with the choice of accelerating or letting someone else pass first. That last bit means that people might be righteous online, but in the real world they are a lot tamer.

It’s quite an interesting contradiction: “I want everything for myself except my thoughts. For that I’ll just read my favorite news source, see where people are trending towards and I’ll mold my personality accordingly.”

Sounds like a stretch, but most people seem to behave in that way. Case in point, the worldwide adoration to Avatar. Don’t get me wrong, the movie is super well made, but best movie of all time? Come on. I don’t even consider it the best movie of 2009, much less the 2000’s and certainly not all time. But people still dress up in blue, tickle themselves in their tender places and insist on regurgitating what they were offered as fact instead of opinion. And don’t get me started on the people who learned the Na’vi and were suicidal because they couldn’t live on Pandora. WTF people.

It may be human nature to gravitate towards like minded people, but that isn’t the problem. The problem is that people are treating opinion like an organized religion. They accept all they’re offered without questioning a single point and when they see dissent, they cry witch and get their tar and feathers ready for a lynching. The worst thing about adopting someone else’s opinion is that you can’t change it directly. That’s why it should be your opinion. That’s why you should desist on being a sheep. You don’t have to wage all out war. You don’t need to be a terrorist threat. You just need a brain and the nerve to stand behind what you think.

Otherwise enjoy the grass and the company.

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