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#15195824
While individual acts of stupidity are well publicized, groupthink holds a special appeal for the stupid, notes Garret Zeizer in the article “The Third Force: On Stupidity and Transcendence” in the Sept. 2021 issue of Harper’s.

As a teacher, he recalled how the druggie segment of the student population was very inclusive. “Looks, grades and athletic prowess were of no account; the only requirement was that you do dope. There is an even more welcoming social circle when the only requirement is that you be a dope . . . If COVID-19 has highlighted anything . . . it’s the utter and often poignant inability of many people to endure solitude—or even, in some cases, to avoid a large crowd. If they can’t be in a packed bar, gym, or banquet hall, they’d just as soon be dead.”

He quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor who was executed for his role in a plot to overthrow Hitler: “. . . people who have isolated themselves from others or who live in solitude manifest this defect [stupidity] less frequently that individuals or groups of people inclined or condemned to sociability. And so it would seem that stupidity is perhaps less a psychological than a sociological problem.”

I recall a study suggesting that drug users were better adjusted socially, but I saw the opposite side: the loner faced less peer pressure to use drugs.
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By QatzelOk
#15197851
Robert Urbanek wrote: . . . it’s the utter and often poignant inability of many people to endure solitude—or even, in some cases, to avoid a large crowd. If they can’t be in a packed bar, gym, or banquet hall, they’d just as soon be dead.”


They might get their wish.

The manufactured loneliness of industrial society causes a major problem for many humans. But rather than remedy this, the elite utlize the alienation of most people in order to "sell them" ways for them to "belong" to a group.

The standard way to sell something as "group adherence" is to call it *a trend.*

I once said (quote) that the best way to kill people is to start a cyanide-capsule trend.
By late
#15197852
Robert Urbanek wrote:
While individual acts of stupidity are well publicized, groupthink holds a special appeal for the stupid, notes Garret Zeizer in the article “The Third Force: On Stupidity and Transcendence” in the Sept. 2021 issue of Harper’s.

As a teacher, he recalled how the druggie segment of the student population was very inclusive. “Looks, grades and athletic prowess were of no account; the only requirement was that you do dope. There is an even more welcoming social circle when the only requirement is that you be a dope . . . If COVID-19 has highlighted anything . . . it’s the utter and often poignant inability of many people to endure solitude—or even, in some cases, to avoid a large crowd. If they can’t be in a packed bar, gym, or banquet hall, they’d just as soon be dead.”

He quoted Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German Lutheran pastor who was executed for his role in a plot to overthrow Hitler: “. . . people who have isolated themselves from others or who live in solitude manifest this defect [stupidity] less frequently that individuals or groups of people inclined or condemned to sociability. And so it would seem that stupidity is perhaps less a psychological than a sociological problem.”

I recall a study suggesting that drug users were better adjusted socially, but I saw the opposite side: the loner faced less peer pressure to use drugs.



Expecting children to cope with extreme circumstance is to expect the impossible.
#15197973
Humans are social creatures, as Aristotle pointed out. Much like wolves and cattle, humans feel comfortable being in groups. There is safety in numbers.

It seems against the grain to live in isolation. As a child, I felt hurt when kids excluded me from their cliques. We feel the need to belong to a group or society. This explains why people will bend over backwards to fit in, even if they have to act stupid or deal with discomfort. I tried to fit in but I gave up after awhile.

People can learn to think for themselves and be loners, but it takes much time and effort. I spent years finding myself and recognizing that I do not need to be part of any clique to be happy. It was unpleasant but very necessary.
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By QatzelOk
#15198038
MistyTiger wrote:Much like wolves and cattle, humans feel comfortable being in groups. There is safety in numbers.

Cattle can never leave the group to be alone, whereas wolves are often alone, getting together in order to hunt or raise kids. Normal wolf life is a combination of social and asocial.

Humans used to more like wolves (and many other wild mammals), but have been fenced in like cattle over technological history. Wolves aren't strapped to milking machines while trapped in a cage, so there are quality-of-life differences between *wild* and *caged* mammals that you have not acknowledged in your post above.
#15198056
QatzelOk wrote:Cattle can never leave the group to be alone, whereas wolves are often alone, getting together in order to hunt or raise kids. Normal wolf life is a combination of social and asocial.

Humans used to more like wolves (and many other wild mammals), but have been fenced in like cattle over technological history. Wolves aren't strapped to milking machines while trapped in a cage, so there are quality-of-life differences between *wild* and *caged* mammals that you have not acknowledged in your post above.


Oh, I did not realize that about wolves. My thoughts on wolves were that they travel in packs.
#15198211
MistyTiger wrote:Oh, I did not realize that about wolves. My thoughts on wolves were that they travel in packs.

They travel in families, and hunt in packs.

But they have lots of free time in which to be alone between those moments.

Land mammals are all a bit like this. We're land mammals as well.

But by spending too much time in groups, we become dumb. Wolves, if they spend too much time in packs, probably become dumb wolves.

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