Fjord of Lies

Ugly Fish Hat has an eloquent if somewhat lengthy post about human nature. I choked back the urge to skip the essay and actually read the whole thing.

Everything about it is fine until the last paragraph. Not that I agree with the entire post, but that I have no trouble with the stated observations and her interpretations and internalizations of them. I appreciate it when people think things out for themselves. But that last paragraph...

Perhaps we should not ignore our capacity for obedience in our educational system and begin to teach people how to choose better leaders since it is in our nature to look for them. But that, my friends, is a different ball of twine.

I felt it wasn't right to leave a comment about that one paragraph since she specifically states that the statement, for her at the least, is not part of the broader post. But such a statement gets my engines all fired up, so I want to shift into gear and lay down some rubber and smoke.

For starters, I'll ignore the run-on sentence. Blogs should not be held to the fire like more serious literary and journalistic platforms. I would hate for my postings to be picked apart for grammar and semantics. At least a little.

Why would a public education system provided by people who have sought and gained positions of power (elected government) be encouraged to teach people how to choose better leaders? The opposite seems more likely. Teaching people to think is dangerous. Teaching them to answer, sublime.

Personally, I think we would do better to encourage individuals to resist obedience.

You're all individuals!
YES, WE'RE ALL INDIVIDUALS!
You're all different!
YES, WE ARE ALL DIFFERENT!
I'm not.
Shhhh.

If you can't trust yourself, who can you trust?

Thanks for providing a rant platform, Bree. Much appreciated.