Doesn't it ever scare you how easily people are manipulated? (817 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.5 on 8 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Garrik (View user info) at 2005-10-01 19:09:49 EDT
It certainly scares me. People from all walks of life seem very easily manipulated. From what I understand of the July 7th bombers who struck London they were all born and raised in Britain, mostly educated and above the poverty line and came from apparently stable families who did not nurtur anything other than ordinary family values and decent not-blowing-yourself-up Islam in them. However, it seems a mere few months in Pakistan turned a couple of them into suicide-bombers, what could happen to an otherwise normal person in a few months, whilst on holiday, that could so radically change their values? I certainly would like to think that my priorities and opinions are my own and that I could not persauded out of them into anything nearly so radical, I'm sure most of you feel the same, but maybe those bombers did too before whatever persauded them at their local Mosque or in Pakistan it would be a good idea to blow up some trains.
Another example I once read about that scared the hell out of me was from the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980's; the Iranian government rounded up a lot of villagers in rural Iran and gave them each a plastic key, they told them it was the key to paradise, and if they wore it around their neck when they died they would be guaranteed a place. They then used the villagers to clear the minefields the Iraqis had created, the villagers ran willingly to their deaths, I know perhaps they were not educated, and they had been raised to believe whatever their Imam or Cleric told them, but it certainly scares me people can so easily be persauded to overcome their instinct for survival, just to clear 1 of the thousands of mines so Iran can take back some oil fields.
I guess I seem to be bullying Islam with this line of talk and I certainly do not mean to so allow me to use another example. I find people in the west generally believe they have their own opinions and desires and are somehow more free than people from other parts of the world, but I often wonder how true that is? A lot of things make me question it, and I'm not just talking about anything so mundane and American borderline violent patriotism or the French compulsion to eat invertibrates and cheese. A study performed on tribes and cultures in places such as Africa and the Rainforests showed that human instinct is to find 'fat' people attractive, the deviation from this was very small, but how many of you can say honestly you find 'fat' people more attractive than toned, muscular or athletic folk? I can't. So if something so basic as my taste in women can be warped by what is waved in my face on TV how many of my other tastes or opinions or values are really my own anyway? I certainly don't think I'm a weak minded person, but sometimes it seems on some level everybody is.
User Reviews
Submitted by MrWillard (user info) at 2005-10-03 03:58:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Thats it, I'm moving to Africa.
Submitted by shitfuck (user info) at 2005-10-02 00:02:17 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Yeah, just like lastnight, I told this hooker to suck my dick and she did.
Submitted by krootons (user info) at 2005-10-01 22:51:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Insightful.
Submitted by LamRoKi (user info) at 2005-10-01 22:21:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by mikethescottish (user info) at 2005-10-01 21:06:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Agreed.
Submitted by The_Yellow_Dart (user info) at 2005-10-01 20:18:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
true
Submitted by XFile (user info) at 2005-10-01 19:29:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Well put. It seems that people from all walks of life, all over the globe, are slave to one system or another without realising it.
Submitted by Axolotl (user info) at 2005-10-01 19:17:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I guess the whole "fat" thing means that the person has more bulk to survive on, like an inner store of food.