Can someone please try to explain to me

[dretceterini]

why the vast majority of people seem to be sheep; followers rather than leaders, unwilling (or unable) to think?

Thoughts please...

[TNOE]

1. Could be:

the flourine in the water
drugs: prozac, etc.
Definitely religion

to name a few.

[carolinalady]

2. Unwilling most often I believe--As long as they have their nice

homes, cars, things and social world, they can't be bothered. I am a volunteer coordinator for my kids middle school that has well over 900 students. I live in a wealthy beach community and I am lucky if I have 40 parents who actually "show up" to help. It is very frustrating!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. It's genetic

if we were all leaders we would have killed each other long before we got a chance to breed.

[whatever4]

8. Well, then there's that. Too true, too true nm

[Ravenseye]

13. yeah genetic

most of the other things here are just symptoms of it. Television sucks people in sure, it's a drug, in some senses no different than valium in certain respects.

Yet that just turns sheep into drooling sheep, and leaders into leaders with lazy minds.

The truth is that most people just aren't risk takers, or leaders, or innovators. We are gregarious primates. We tend to group and follow the alpha male of the moment, not taking any risks. We copy what one innovator does, and while some might say we have a knack for innvention, that spark is sadly rare.

We are followers. We are copiers. It's probably helped us survive so long. Lay low, stay out of the way, don't cause waves.

Hell it's everywhere, even look onto reality television. Even there the alpha males, the strong personalities, the ones working hard, trying new things, all tend to lose. There is the occaional winner, but more often than not in our society if you show your head, you'll get it knocked around, so we just keep our heads down.

When I started my own business a few years ago, some of my friends simply could not understand it. Not what my business did, but that I went into business for myself. Some for months asked me if I had found a job yet. They literally couldn't comprehend not working for someone else. Being a leader was literally byond their comprehension.

So it goes.

[whatever4]

4. When you can tell me why anyone ever bought an Epilady,

and I think we'll be closer to the answer.

Honestly, I think most people like the "idea" of group conformity more than the actual practice. Everyone is weird. We just aren't good at admitting it. That's my theory anyway. Lack of truth with self and others, cause we all think we're not "good enough". Or something.

Tell me why this president of ours is, today, trying to pull off some staged event with troops, when it takes the press less than a day to figure it out. They keep calling him on it. And Scotty. Why do they (BushCo) even try? They sure think we're sheep, they keep treating us that way.

People really aren't sheep. Just reluctant. Reluctant to be honest, I don't know, maybe?

[mestup]

5. T.E.L.E.V.I.S.I.O.N

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/5/14590/3276

Here's a bit from a speech Al Gore gave some time ago.

"Clearly, the purpose of television news is no longer to inform the American people or serve the public interest. It is to "glue eyeballs to the screen" in order to build ratings and sell advertising. If you have any doubt, just look at what's on: The Robert Blake trial. The Laci Peterson tragedy. The Michael Jackson trial. The Runaway Bride. The search in Aruba. The latest twist in various celebrity couplings, and on and on and on.

And more importantly, notice what is not on: the global climate crisis, the nation's fiscal catastrophe, the hollowing out of America's industrial base, and a long list of other serious public questions that need to be addressed by the American people.

One morning not long ago, I flipped on one of the news programs in hopes of seeing information about an important world event that had happened earlier that day. But the lead story was about a young man who had been hiccupping for three years. And I must say, it was interesting; he had trouble getting dates. But what I didn't see was news."

[we can do it]

9. I Agree -

I only turn mine on once in awhile for PBS specials, 60 minutes an occassional sporting event or movie. Some of my friends live their lives around the tube...I can't figure it out. (BTW - these are the same ones who have no time for reading, exercise, basic parenting, etc)


:think:

[BiggJawn]

6. Must See Teeeeeeeeee-Veeeeeeeee!

"Teeee-Veeeee GOOD! Reading Ba-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-d!

[tx_dem41]

7. It takes work to read and do research and it takes guts to buck a group's.

conventional wisdom. You see it in all groups, regardless of ideology.

[Carolab]

10. LAZY!!!! SELF-CENTERED!!! ATTENTION DEFICITED! UNEDUCATED!!!

Pick one.

[radwriter0555]

11. Too much teevee and walmart.

I wish I was kidding... the people who are slaves to their teevees don't bother to think or critically process information.

The minds who don't watch teevee or listen to hate radio and who instead read the fine print are the critical thinkers and tend not to engage idiocy and right wing (lack of) values.

[texastoast]

12. Addicted to convenience

No long-term vision

Feeling of inadequacy to have an effect on the big picture

Naturally lazy

Feeling of disconnectedness

Allowing their childhood teachings have too much of an effect on their adult lives without critical thought as to their continued applicability

Self-centeredness/selfish

Do not wish to take responsibility

Desire to have something/someone to blame

Easier to say "I didn't know!!" (Hitler)

Disinterest

[Ron Green]

14. The one task of life is to change.

To change from a non-thinking to a thinking person, that is, over time, and with the background of the world at large changing all the while. Most people don't want to deal with the fear of such a task, so they go for short-term comfort and convenience.

Maybe they'll have to try it again.

[On the Road]

15. Being Sheep? That's What We Learned How to Do in School

All that regimentation has a profound effect.

Of course, it's deeper than that. Many people adopt a position by looking at the spectrum of opinion they encounter, assessing the people who hold those positions, and staking out a place on that spectrum based on their assessments. When you're not an expert on a subject, it's not always a bad way of proceeding.

But it is open to manipulation à la Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. The range of opinion most people hear on the media or from friends and coworkers is seriously truncated. Not only is it slanted right, the entire left is absent -- when is the last time you heard an avowed communist or socialist seriously interviewed in the mainstream media? And what passes for the left --closer to being watered-down Republican-lite -- is often framed in a way to cause viewers to negatively prejudge even that milder version of leftism. Added to that is the scorn that is heaped upon the left, so that people are often intimidated or ashamed of sharing their beliefs.

The fact that it's a diffuse, implicit arrangement rather than an organized conspiracy makes it more difficult to see.