The Good, the Bad and the Stupid

Are you a good person? Do you know a lot of good people? What makes them good?

Who's the best person that you know? What does it mean to be good?

Being ‘good’ is relative, and I will prove it in the next sentence. The question is: 

Good for what? 

Yes, it’s relative. If you were Adolf Hitler, you would need plenty of people who were good at obeying orders without question. The army needs soldiers who are good at the same thing. Nevertheless, if you were a person who were good at caring for people, you would not be good at being a soldier. So, with that principle settled, I want to arrive at the next question. 

If most people you would meet in the street are good citizens, meaning people who obey the law, and who do not cause conflict and problems to others, how good is that for society?

People often talk about change, but things don’t change. Ask twenty people if they think the world would be a better place in twenty years. The consistent answer I get is that people believe that things will get worse – more pollution, more wars, more poverty.

What are the ‘good’ people doing about these? What have they been doing about global warming for the last twenty years? If global warming has been killing more people than all the wars combined – what are the good people of the world doing about that?

Do you think a good person refers to someone with a good heart, who cares about others more than he/she cares about themselves?

That’s another common perception. But how authentic is that? Do you really think there’s someone out there who doesn’t care about themselves? And how much can you really care about anyone if you can’t even care about yourself. You are another person in this world, just like any other person. There’s no logical reason why another person’s needs should be more important than your own. 

Sometimes people care a lot about an ideal, and that you should put the ideal before yourself and even other’s needs. If you believe in this, you are just about good to be recruited for Adolf Hitler’s society. World leaders and cult leaders have been using people like you over and over again. Leaders have been replacing one ideal with another to their own ends for centuries. This is very easy too, especially since many people see protecting the status quo as being good. Keeping things the way it is, not rocking the boat – that is what a good person would do, right?

Some people can’t understand how Hitler dragged the whole Germany into the

2^nd world war. Some even think that there was something wrong with the German people. But psychological research have proven over and over again that people in general don’t question authority. Most people can be pushed very far into doing unreasonable things against others simply because a person in a uniform told them to do so. It felt right.

 Why?

“Because someone in a white coat told me so”

In the end, history repeats itself. The Iraq war is a fine example of just that. Who paid for that war? Who funded it? The American Public did.

People can comply with very ridiculous things – people who are otherwise intelligent.  

Did you see the movie ‘Compliance’? 

 

Maybe you don’t want to be a good person. Maybe you want to be BAD!

You are a rebel. Now, no one can control you, right?

Wrong.

Pop culture is a great tool modern leaders and corporations use to control us – believe it or not. It’s ironic, because the basis of pop culture is, ‘Do what you want!’ – And people love this.  It’s cool!

“I am my own person. I won’t let anyone tell me what to do!”

Then, corporations and governments come along, and through the media tell people what they want them to believe ‘cool’ is. 

How does this work? Well, it’s simple:

1. Proclaim a belief over and over again (brainwashing)
2. Make people think It’s their own

In western society pretty much everything works along those lines –from democracy to Coca Cola to music.
 

“You are cool, if you consume our product”

 “…being cool means I am my own person, and no-body tells me what I should do”

And the vicious circle continues…

Six media giants control more than 90% of what you listen to on radio and TV - GE, NEWS CORP, DISNEY, VIACOM, TIME WARNER and CBS. Only a handful of artists like Miley Sirus, Rihanna, Drake and their like are rotated over and over again, proclaiming the message of Cool.

Is there anyone authentic out there?!