Evolutionary Ethics.
Just as we're conceived and killed, we divide and conquer. It's okay. This is a
One piece of my personality that prevents me from having long term friendships is my independent belief system. I witness so many people who believe something because another source told them. And the sourcing of the information is not based on reputation or clout, it's based on how badly that person wants to satisfy the source – often for their own validation from the source to feel accepted.
I ask people I know "why do you believe that?" and the answer I get dictates the worth of continuing the conversation.
... because [source] told me
... because I read it on [source]
... because [source] had the same experience
Eventually, you call someone out enough on it, and they get tired and defensive, so they adapt into "because I believe so."
It's still quite easy to detect when they insert defensive branding or advertising diction into their speech.
... nootropic boosting ...
... it was started by a Former Tesla Engineer who ...
... makes money while you sleep
... former CIA officer predicts ...
These guys made 10 million dollars in 2019 just by ...
People fall for these traps all of the time. It feels like it's become worse even, with a short attention span community who mindlessly taps like (quid pro quo) while skimming photos or short headlines. People don't have as much time to develop their own beliefs. They increasingly look to who they aim to please for guidance and mimic.
The beliefs don't matter even. It's the approval that means more.
Consequential megastars have trended toward inconsequential microstars. The internet helped with developing doltish lemmings who vie for acceptance from the inconsequential in their lives. Better them than none.
They have no concern for facts, ideas, work. They’re concerned only with people. They don’t ask: “Is this true?” They ask: “Is this what others think is true?” Not to judge, but to repeat. Not to do, but to give the impression of doing. Not creation, but show. Not ability, but friendship. Not merit, but pull. What would happen to the world without those who do, think, work, produce? Those are the egoists. You don’t think through another’s brain and you don’t work through another’s hands. When you suspend your faculty of independent judgment, you suspend consciousness. To stop consciousness is to stop life. Second-handers have no sense of reality. Their reality is not within them, but somewhere in that space which divides one human body from another. Not an entity, but a relation—anchored to nothing. That’s the emptiness I couldn’t understand in people. That’s what stopped me whenever I faced a committee. Men without an ego. Opinion without a rational process. Motion without brakes or motor. Power without responsibility. The second-hander acts, but the source of his actions is scattered in every other living person. It’s everywhere and nowhere and you can’t reason with him. He’s not open to reason.
― Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead
They don’t ask: “Is this true?” They ask: “Is this what others think is true?”
This whole obsession with "Fake News" was spawned by microstars who are able to establish a foothold in microcommunities. It spreads to then become widely accepted belief in a community or group. The phrasing people use show their hand in how they get their information. And then Trumpotus grabbed the term, spun it around and pointed it the other way. The dossier says he may have urinated on it too.
Not to judge, but to repeat.
To the one who peddles others shows and shares it with others. One of the saddest forms of puppetry.
Not to do, but to give the impression of doing.
This goes to people who go to the beach with their adorning Resting Bitch Faces. They strip down into a bathing suit, and put on their fakest smiles for a camera – then dress up and leave, Resting Bitch Faces returned. Their straining eye wrinkles are baked into their face due to their overexuberant smiling.
Not creation, but show.
The Latent Sagging Artist who is always working on some form of art with nothing to show for it. It's not a lack of talent, but a lack of confidence and insecurity in their talents and the market and a lack of discipline and perseverance.
Not ability, but friendship.
To the people who start a business and beg their friends to like it on Facebook. To the people who have a band and invite you to like and follow them. Perhaps they send a pleading message to you expecting you to like something of theirs out of loyalty.
Not merit, but pull.
How many times have you heard: "This person has 4 million followers so they are really good at [singing/dancing/eating/sewing]." All of that can be faked, bought, manipulated with guile and motivating drive that lemmings fail to understand. It's not always the case, of course. But how many talented people do you know who don't have millions of followers?
The rule of thirds
Bottom Third: Dolts/ Lemmings
These people are pitiful. Not free thinkers. Not engaged in free spirited exercise. Avoid indulgent imaginations. The need a leader in life or they are lost. But they tend to be happy!
Middle Third: The Strugglers who lack discipline
They want to be good. They want to be leaders. They lack discipline and the mindset to fall flat and take it like a good ol' lickin. You know when you trip on the sidewalk in public? These are the people who stiffen up, start to sweat, and walk another direction from the people who saw them fall – instead of just laughing it off and accepting it.
Top Third: Leading the Bottom and Middle
They understand the world with a bit more clarity. One my view them as falling into some gradient of psychopathy.
How do they fit together?
Society needs these thirds. The Bottom Third are the trash that the Top Third can in pure conscience take advantage of without feeling bad. And they'll be happy regardless. This Middle Third struggle to be something, but usually end up lacking. The Top Third has to be more careful with pushing these too hard, because a Middle Third can be triggered into sabotage, whistleblowing, or irrational aggression in an attempt to level up. Leave the Middle Third always wanting and just a few steps away from what they want. They'll never be leaders, and they shouldn't be. They are Lemmings who want to be Leaders.
