The slavery of minds

Frequently discussions with people revolve around their analysis of virtually everything at the mere surface, with deeper contemplation of any underlying issues left to some unknown power and any cogent conclusions dismissed as nothing of their concern. If mediocrity were to feed on itself and breed like a hermaphrodite then its mere existence would be explained.

Acknowledgement of a fact comes with greater ease than its analysis and criticism, and its acceptance as a simple truth on which to base assumptions which in turn hold as true without verification is the haven in which the ignorant, the mediocre and the deceivers seek refuge. The reason why history repeats itself is not because people lack knowledge about it but because there's a general lack of understanding of historical events. What however is most disturbing is the more and more widespread encouragement not to seek understanding but to agree to be spoon-fed information to build knowledge and understanding.

A new slavery is emerging, subtler than the old kind, but ten times deadlier. More and more people are relying on spoon-fed information rather than digging for it themselves. Relying exclusively on the facts and opinions advocated on television and in the press can in no way contribute to the creation of a critical mind, let alone a reasoning one. Ergo mankind is slowly and non-uniformly but inexhorably drifting towards total surrender of individual thought, replaced by a carefully planned and thought-out collective mentality.

Despite this objective being inherently socialist in its nature, parties on all sides of the political spectrum contribute to it with equal gusto. Among the many reasons that can lead a short-sighted person to endorse such aberrations is short-term gain: dumbening the electorate helps keep the voting pattern stable, whereas critically thinking voters are more likely to cause greater swings were politicians to fail in the fulfilment of their promises.

What we urgently need is a movement to advocate the right of every individual to think for himself and to push for appropriate changes in both education and information delivery. Although I maintain that individuals must be able to make the wrong choices I firmly condemn the systematic denial of choice in the first place. There is no clear indication to the individual of making a choice to be spoon-fed information, but he is expected to "think outside the box" out of his own initiative.

We need to foster this initiative in the first place, otherwise every day more and more individuals will go down the road to slavery without having contemplated the broad range of choices available to them.