"Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day." Bertrand Russell, Sceptical Essays (1928), "Dreams and Facts" British author, mathematician, & philosopher (1872 - 1970)
Societies are not static, they are like pendulums and can swing too far in either direction.
This site is committed to the free exchange of ideas in a civil manner. Leave your flies out of the room. The purpose here is to explore ideas that can lead to solutions that benefit all, if not most, rather than some at the expense of others.
Don’t complain if you’re not willing to make the sacrifice of time to, at least, read about what concerns you. If you abdicate your involvement---you get out what you put in.
To my father---as tough as an authoritarian as he was, he planted the seeds for this work. Did he know what he was doing?
Monday, April 23, 2012
101 Monkeys to Hatred---
The name is a play off the 100th monkey phenomenon as alluded to in Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point. The phenomenon was a myth, as much as people found the concept intriguing. People, like monkeys, will be taught behaviors. It won't spread just because a certain mass of monkeys have learned the behavior therefore the rest will just know.
We all remember the funny looking monkeys in their little hats acting in unison in the Wizard of Oz. 101 Monkeys to Hatred-- is analogous to man's inhumanity to man--just acting according to monkey groupthink for the past 2500 years. The same groupthink of myths and fantasies most of us, unwittingly, pass on to our children, but, in fact, contribute to humanity's problems it faces today.
No Flies !