Absolute authority of any thought/idea/philosophy over a human being; kills independent thinking and promotes herd mentality. The result? Unconditional loyalty to that philosophy with passionate , zealous commitment and promotion of the same; to the extent of overlooking the flaws and hidden agenda it contains therein.
When does a human being let an authority dominate him/her? I believe that it is when that authority has proven to be a balm for sore points and profitable for one's personal progress. There can be no other reason because unconditional loyalty and passion comes from love and love is innately a selfish emotion.
Hitler's ideology is the epitome of the same. Google some reasons why he hated Jews the way he did. There has to be some personal agenda of hatred and the need for personal progress (i.e. progress of the Germans)
In India, we can see that quite often. When herd mentality goes beyond mere adherence to fashion; it is dangerous. Herd mentality in fashion too reflects a way of thinking.
Herd mentality 'manufactures consent' and generates evidence and circumstances to support it. For example: Since the Ayodhya verdict is due any time; there are discussions about the same in many places. People who are in favour of it; choose pieces from the history that supports their persepective and present that as evidence while arguing. The same happens to people who are against it. The only difference while going against the tide; is giving history another thought or giving a minority mindset a place in your head to think.
We all know what kind of a mess history is. I think history exists so that it can be distorted. When people use random facts to validate their ideology; they not only misrepresent history but they dangerously talk themselves into believing the same.
2 comments:
Nice flow of thots.. I pariticularly like the comment about History that people who start going into granular levels endup believing irrespective of it being truth or myth/ misconception.
I beleve end of the day History is written by somebody and he might go wrong even if he has witnessed it and will always put his thoughts in the writing that may or may not be true.
i absolutely agree with you... what is truth in that case.. i think there are just persepectives in life :) by the way.. u blog!! i am going to follow your blogs from here on! :)
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