A month or so ago I joined a Facebook group. I learned after a short time that the admin of the group had left, and it was more or less a free for all. Cretins were posting porn (really nasty porn) scams, ads and pretty much anything regardless of the intended topic of the group. However, the group members, still numbering almost 50,000, did nothing but complain.
So, I took it upon myself to begin reporting the porn each day (FB seems to take porn almost a seriously as it does political thought it disagrees with) and within a week it had almost vanished, those posting it giving up, to annoy other groups. But still the group members complained. I pointed out that, Collectively, we as members, could report the scams and off-topic spam and if enough people agreed, the FB bots would remove them, admin or not.
The response?…
[cricket noise]
The group members were entirely passive to whatever was given to them and had no interest in working Collectively to modify the environment they had voluntarily subjected themselves to.
That is human nature.
First century Roman historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus once said, “Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.”
Thus the foundation of all politics. A few desire to actively control and shape society while the rest whine for more bread and circuses.
Evil leaders promise the bread and circuses and deliver slavery.
Good leaders promise discipline and hard work, and deliver prosperity.
Most people listen only to the promises and thus remain slaves.
As I’ve said repeatedly, politics boils down to one of two core political ideologies: Collectivism and Individualism.
The Individualists wants the freedom to determine his own life, future, wealth, safety and prosperity.
The Collectivist (followers) are—as Sallust put it— concerned about a “just master”.
However, the Collectivist leaders see the Collectivist followers as cattle to be herded, sheared, milked and exploited for the pleasure and prosperity of the Elite leadership. It’s never about the Collective to them, but about what they can squeeze out of the Collective for themselves.
It only takes a while dealing with the Sheep to understand why, even initially-good-intentioned men, will often give up trying to better the environment and simply exploit the Sheep.
