People Are Suggestible

I don't remember what my original idea behind this post was, but it definitely wasn't religion. As I considered what I might say, my thoughts kept returning to religion and now I can't remember where my train of thought really began. So I'm starting with religion...

I find religion fascinating. For me, the fact that religious beliefs depend almost entirely on where in the world we're born, the community we're brought up in and the ideas we're exposed to, is all I need not to believe in anything (other than humanity). Religion is a very human thing, unique to us. I'm not going to pretend to be open minded about the existence of God. I concede that it/she/he may or may not exist, but I do not believe in it. Even that's a bit consolatory... I believe in God about as much as I believe in unicorns.

But I have nothing against religion. I suspect religion came about more as a way of organising ourselves than anything else. A kind of government maybe? Certainly a way of dealing with our mortality. Our consciousness developed, we opened our minds to this amazing world... And we didn't have a clue what was going on. More than a government then, a kind of science, a way to explain things.

Many religions are built on a hierarchical structure and I would describe discrimination between races, genders, appearances etc. as an early feature of religion, with social class creeping in as we further organised ourselves. But as our understanding of each other developed, a significant amount of discrimination withdrew from religious context. In recent (and not so recent) years, discrimination seems to be a tool; used by individuals or a group of people intent on power. In this sense it has very little, if anything, to do with religion; that's why I have an issue with people blaming wars on religion:

A leader can encourage us to discriminate against other people for all kinds of reasons; ultimately leading us to despise other people for their different religious values. That isn't RELIGION. That's someone who knows that the best way to take over is to divide people. We see it politically, socially, culturally (and lots more callys, ciallys and urallys, I'm sure). They're using religion as an excuse because they know people identify with it. I think it's safe to say that this kind of thing happens whenever we try to organise ourselves. It can spawn from religion, just as it is can from monarchy, government etc. but isn't that telling you something about us? Some of us are greedy, some of us are power hungry, but we are ALL suggestible.

Moral code is one of the greatest things about religion. All the religions I've looked at have very basic and effective methods of distinguishing right from wrong, and all the religions I've looked at are able to adapt as our social values change. Fundamentalism is an example of this not happening but it is the exception, not the rule.

Religion also creates a strong sense of community, it's a way to meet new people and to bring various age groups and backgrounds together. It unites people through a common interest, and together these people do some really good things. I've never resented religious people for volunteering their time to help other people just because I don't believe in God. Yes, non-religious organisations do similar kinds of things, but it is predominantly religious groups that I see on the streets; helping the homeless; the hungry; the drunk; the list goes on. Helping people to help themselves and helping people who can't help themselves. I have nothing but respect for that.

I [think I] was brought up as a Christian and for a very long time I believed that both my parents were Christians. We would go to church on Sundays; I would run around; rummage through peoples shopping; break their eggs; hand out those cards with numbers on for the hymns to everyone in the church; collect them back; rip them up; climb everything in sight and fall off a lot of it; have tugs of war with that cloth thing that goes over that table thing where they have the wine and the bread. Don't ask me for the technical terms, I have no idea. I just went to create havoc (I think that summarises my entire childhood really).

Mum stopped going to church because she wanted a lie-in on Sunday mornings, and shortly after that we all stopped. I remember being a bit disappointed but I got over it. I still believed in God though and what that meant to me at the time was: a bloke in the sky made the universe, the world, animals, people etc. He doesn't like it very much when we do stuff wrong so he threatens to send us to hell for being naughty, and if we're good we all get to go to heaven. And feeling guilty definitely counts as being good. At least, I really hope it does.

Then in year two I had an argument with a boy about God. We must have been what, 6? 7? Anyway, he was adamant that God didn't exist and I was insisting that he did. His argument was very convincing, and mine was... well... 'my parents say he does, and they're older than you'. Probably the worst case I've ever argued in my life. And just like that, I became agnostic.

I'm not sure how long my agnosticism lasted. I suppose the sudden disposal of everything I believed seemed a bit irrational, so I put a bit more thought into it. That's when I became an atheist. A pre-teen, self-righteous, aggressive one: Anyone who believed in God was clearly an idiot. Anyone who wasn't sure was clearly weak-minded. Anyone with an opinion different to mine was clearly wrong. (I can almost hear you thinking 'she hasn't changed much').

Vegetales changed me. Yes, that cartoon about religious vegetables. Top class. Our religious studies teacher played it to us once. I have no idea how it was relevant to the class, but my equally aggressively atheist friends and I were hooked. So hooked we joined Christian Union.

Everyone at CU seemed a bit scared of us at first. Probably because we were clad in satanic symbols and we'd made a reputation for ourselves. I suppose we initially went to watch Vegetales, get free drinks and biscuits, and to play devil's advocate. Turned out everyone was really nice, the discussions were interesting, and I kept going until I left school. I never started to believe in God, but I did change my attitude towards religion. I'm not saying it was all a bed of roses; lots of comments were made that got my back up, lots of times I wanted to smash heads against the wall and ask WHY, FOR SOMEONE SO INTELLIGENT, ARE YOU SO STUPID?!! But for the most part I restrained, and I became marginally more tolerant of other people.

I found Islam fascinating too. I read the Koran, I spent a lot of time asking Muslims difficult questions. I went to debates and argued that the headscarf was a symbol of female oppression and that it's wrong. I wore the headscarf. I changed my mind. There's something very right about covering yourself up when you live in a society that demands you have your goods on display all of the time. I learnt nothing has a simple answer, everything is contextual, and although I can have an opinion on something without experiencing it, I can better my understanding if I do experience it.

When I say I'm an atheist, 'fellow' atheists always ask if I've read The God Delusion. Yes, I have. And I think Richard Dawkins is an eijit. Within the first few pages (I think? Haven't read it in a while) he started making all these cases against religion, about how it's wrong to send your children to church and thereby influence them. They'll be more likely to BLAH BLAH BLAH. Every example he came up with has an atheist parallel. Why is it worse to brainwash your child as a Catholic, than it is as an atheist? Why does NOT believing in God mean you've got one over on the people who do? I wish I DID believe in God. I wish I didn't live in a permanent existential crisis: paralysed by my mortality and TERRIFIED of dying. I want to go to heaven! I want there to be a creator, an all-loving guy who appreciates the small things I do. I just don't believe it, not at all, in fact I think unicorns are more likely. Anyway, I found the whole text offensive to religion and offensive to atheism.

But I've gone off on a tangent (I knew I would if I started with religion). This is supposed to be about suggestibility, and if you're stiiiill reading, I've remembered what it was that inspired this blog. You lucky, lucky people:

''Asha, you are full of it. You are the height of ignorance right now. I'm very surprised :("

Why? Because I said people can change things. I dared to imply that we can find inspiration in someone elses ideas and interpret them in our own way, to rally for social or political change. I suggested these things are important because as nice as being one with the universe sounds, we're still human beings so why are we wrong for caring about human issues?

I said I'm not convinced by Keshe (www.keshefoundation.org) or electromagnetic phase wave plasma. I couldn't find the papers he refers to, I don't consider patents to be proof of anything because you can patent ANYTHING, other scientists haven't tested his research (nor do they seem to be interested in doing so), aaand he hasn't made any prototypes. Apparently his prototypes are lost in space. Wait, no, the technology belongs to the world and Iran have been using it.

Defending his belief with 'religious' conviction, the person spouting this controversial theory says I'm at 'the height of ignorance'. If, by virtue of being so 'enlightened', it becomes okay to be insulting then I must make my apologies for not buying into something that's going to turn me into a prat. And did you notice how, although we have the term 'religious conviction', it's not applicable solely to religious people, it's very relevant to everybody. We do not have an issue with religion, we have an issue with humans.

People are suggestible. People are sponges, soaking in the words of our leaders, the values of our parents, the stories in the newspapers, the garbage on TV, the tales in books, the research in journals, science, history, maths, religion. We absorb it all, and different people are going to hold on to different things. If you want someone to believe something specific, there are definitely ways of going about doing it. If you want everyone to believe something specific, you will have difficulties.

We're not merely suggestible: we are highly suggestible. We function on suggestion. You can see where the term 'sheeple' comes from: I rebuked it two posts ago because I don't think you have the moral high ground if you talk about human nature with negative connotations, just 'cos you consider yourself more conscious of suggestion, or because you're suggestible to different things than most other people. Maybe you are more aware, and they are mindless followers. Maybe they're onto something and you're totally ignorant. Maybe we can't even be right or wrong? Maybe we can. Maybe it's not important. MAYBE we should encourage discussion rather than insults and fatalism.

If you don't consider yourself suggestible, please explain to me how you learnt to speak, read, write, have social interactions, have opinions etc. etc. etc. It's not all 'instinct'.

And just before my family and friends think I've gone mad. Sorry Dad, it's very nice of you to allow everyone their opinions, to see merits in two opposing arguments, to insist that no-one is 'more right', and all that namby pamby, Mr. Nice Guy stuff where we occasionally look to ourselves for solutions, but... I am right and everyone else is wrong.

People Are Lethargic

I had a change of heart since my last post, fuelled by the latest piece of eco-propaganda I divulged in. You know, cos we're all influenced by the media. That doesn't need to sound like a conspiracy theory - we need influences.

Anyway, I came round to the idea that economy does not mean money. With the computer technology available today, we could create an inventory of the world's resources, survey the needs of people, and deliver what they need in a way that's renewable and sustainable. If you have even the slightest interest in what I'm on about, watch: http://m.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D2qe03mYVfmg&h=0AQE2HwyJ&s=1

Obviously there's a bit more to it than I described, but it essentially removes the need for government. Kind of. The video explained that capitalism is dependant on inequality (fact) but it suggested that if we removed our monetary system, we would have equality. I'm not so sure. Inequality runs deep, you can't take away money and find that women are suddenly allowed to be Bishops. Wars, gang warfare, all that kind of thing is going to be pretty hard to recover from. And what would we do with all our prisoners? Set them free because there's nothing to steal anymore? The criminally violent are still criminally violent, even if they are a product of our society, and even if this potential society doesn't create the same kind of people. We can't just kill the ones that do exist. Okay, maybe some kind of government's not a bad idea.

And our old houses? We're talking about rebuilding cities here, new infrastructure etc. etc. I'm all for it if it means world peace, the end of poverty and sustainability... But I really like my old house.

So yeah, it raises a lot of difficult questions but I think they can all be answered. Not be me. By us. And I think we should be facing them sharpish.

I was all frothy and inspired by Fresco after the video, so much so that I was dumb enough to express it to a friend of mine. His response was:

Fresco is funded by Rothschild and rocker fellas. They are attempting a communist state. Also war and military, he just talks. No do no actions big enough. Also zietgiest is funded by Rothschilds and linked to very notorious NGOs and corperations. Being awake and aware is more than documentaries x

Well the video didn't say that, so how was I supposed to know? If it's true, which it probably isn't. And even if it IS true and this well-meaning video is actually evil propaganda, it had some pretty nice ideas and I think we should be seriously considering them.

I was going to end this right here.

But then another guy started messaging me on Bookface about my last post. He said I might want to reedit everything I said about the economy/tax because it doesn't really make sense because if the whole economic system collapses in a country you can't just rebuild it by carrying on work because there won't be any jobs. Look at the great depression.

Maybe I didn't express myself clearly. Ireland is bankrupt. People are still working and generating money. I think they could do, and are currently doing, great things with the money they are generating by having a bit more control over it. In my mind, bankruptcy and economic ruin are not the same thing, although economic ruin is fast approaching. How can it not be? If all the countries in the world paid off all the debt that is owed with all the money that exists... The world would still be in debt.

Debt means interest rates. So now we owe so much money that most of it doesn't exist. We're going to be crippled by a thing called debt, which isn't a physical thing, it's a concept, and we're all gonna be a bit stuck really. How stupid is that? We've invented something invisible that's going to starve us, and billions of people will probably die. Maybe not here. And if we can't see them or don't know them, who cares?

I bloomin' do. Wake up. Sure things are tight at the moment, but wouldn't you rather change the world and help the starving children in Africa get food than buy Christmas presents? It's not impossible that your children, or the children of the next generation will be starving, but let's not focus on us. We're a world full of people with great technology, it's about time we used it.

I think the cure for cancer would generate something like £60,000 a year if it were discovered? Whereas its non-existence generates a fortune. Billions, maybe more.

And an unthinkable number of people are dying from AIDs in the developing world, but the people here with AIDs are okay. We have medicine. Woop-de-doo.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of murder. Don't know about you.

And one last thing, why oh why oh why oh WHY ARE WE STILL REFERRING TO THE GREAT DEPRESSION LIKE IT'S THE WORST ECONOMIC CRISIS EVER?

This one is worse.

The next one will be even worse.

The one after that will be EVEN WORSE.

And maybe someone will come up with something to save us from real, economic devastation. I hope they do. I also hope it's not dependant on fossil fuels, which are about to run out, I hope that it's fair and sustainable, and most of all I hope that we won't be waiting long because we should all get off our lazy butts, find a conscience and start an uproar.

People Aren't Stupid

I hate the word 'sheeple'. The implication that we mindlessly follow trends, that we're incapable of thinking for ourselves and that we're constricted by society.

Not that I disagree, I just don't think we need to talk so negatively about it.

A lot of people get all high and mighty about politics. They make you feel like every time you cast your vote, you're falling into a trap. Women died for my vote and I am going to use it.

It can seem hopeless, like you can't change anything, that unless you vote for a mainstream party then you're wasting your vote. That attitude upsets me: people who vote like that aren't just wasting their vote on policies they don't really believe in, they're wasting my vote too.

There's this great temptation to feel like you 'backed a winner'. The feeling is usually replaced by embarrassment when you realise your party isn't delivering. That in turn makes the people who voted for a losing party feel triumphant. All this 'I told you so' blah, blah, blah.

Then the rhetoric starts again. You fell for it. How stupid of you. You're a big, fluffy sheep.

No, you're a human. And plenty of politicians really believe what they're saying. We pay them tax, they distribute it, and although that currently means hard times and austerity measures, it'll all be worth it. The government well set us right in the end. We'll all have nice things.

They believe it. So why are we stupid for believing them? They're educated people. They've spent a long time studying how they're going to go about doing whatever it is they want to do. They're confident it will work. We want nice things, we put our faith in them. There's nothing stupid about it, it's very logical.

We should have more confidence though. The government exists to distribute our money on the things we care about. It's our tool, and when it's not working properly it's our responsibility to fix it. It's OURS. For us.

If the government declares that it's bankrupt we shouldn't despair. Are we not still working and paying tax? We're generating all the money we need. If they're struggling, we should step in and sort it out. We're one of the richest countries in the world, there is nothing we can't achieve.

I think our biggest fear is that we'll mess up. No-one really likes how capitalism exploits workers, natural disasters and initiates wars... but capitalism has taken us a long way, it has its merits and we just want it to work as well as it used to. We don't want to try something completely different, at odds with the rest of the world because it might alienate us and ruin us.

Really, it won't. Don't forget how much money the employed are generating in our country. We can't BE ruined because we're mostly nice people, who will go a long way to help other people if things start to get bad. But things can't get worse than where they're headed right now. It's the nature of capitalism and it's what happens when the government, our tool, falls out of our hands. There are alternatives, and there are some very, very smart people discussing them, improving them and trying to open our eyes to them.

It's a bit like getting a new haircut. We want to change our old style but we're worried the new one won't suit us. I'm terrible for that, I always end up having the same thing done. But seriously, there is more than one style that's going to suit. More than one colour that looks nice with your eyes. More than one meal that provides us with nutrients.

There's no perfect way to run a country, we need to be discussing different ways. Why are we trying to rejuvenate a system that isn't what we need right now? It gets more and more corrupt, the more we depend on it. I'm not saying forget all your sensibilities and declare yourself a radical tomorrow morning. Why declare yourself anything? Prescribe to a set of beliefs if you want to, but they might not be appropriate in ten years time. That perm you used to have seems hilarious now. When I was little I used to wear my alice band over my forehead - to this day, I do not know what I was thinking.

Don't get too attached to old ideas, always be discussing new ones. If you are unhappy about something and old models aren't fixing it, consider a new solution. We are not sheeple. We have brains, we have great ideas, and we don't need to study economics for ten years before we're qualified to make big decisions. If you're old enough to vote, you're more than capable of making these decisions for yourself. The government is just there to help you. It doesn't tell you what to do, you tell it what you want.

PS. Before you tell someone they're being too 'radical' really hear them out. They probably have the same ideals as you, they're just trying to come up with new ways of representing those ideals. I've been tagging along to various 'radical' political conferences lately, just to hear what they have to say. Even though I don't always agree with what I'm hearing, there's nothing 'radical' about it. They are not a bunch of mad people with absolutely ridiculous ideas. Honest.