I don’t have TV. I have much better things to do than to get sucked up in the garbage. You know, things like eating a great meal, taking a walk, and reading good blogs like this one!

I had always hoped that people rooted for the under dog out of a sense of compassion and admiration for their efforts. But you are probably correct, they root for the ones with whom they can identify. If someone is an underdog due to a mental disorder or overcoming an addiction, they have few people rooting for them.

But underdogs are not the only group that benefit from skewed beliefs. Even newscasters seem to believe that the wealthy do not commit violent crimes, (”You would never expect a crime like that to occur in this upscale neighborhood”); that police don’t lie; that all wealthy people became successful because they are hard working, honest, and principled, and therefore should be granted special consideration; they think that statistics never lie or mislead; and for the sake of brevity I won’t complete the list.

It’s true that thinking for oneself, then living according to those beliefs can result in people misunderstanding you, misjudging you and sometimes some unpleasant consequences. But to do otherwise is to become or actually disappear as one of the faceless or masked masses.

However, when I say masses, I am not necessarily referring to just the common man. There are many faceless or masked prominent individuals as well. And many of them are aware that much of the information distributed as truth, is not based in fact but manipulated for the purpose of maintaining or gaining power and influence.

Disappearing into the masses or behind a mask are the result of fear, apathy, and sometimes self serving hidden intentions.

True freedom can only exist when we are willing to have the courage to face our fears.

The lemmings did get a bad rap for a time, but I was unaware that they did it to the buffalo, too.

[Heather's REPLY]:

Hi Lauren,

Some good points!

As for the common belief that violent crimes don’t often occur in affluent neighborhoods, committed by wealthy people, it’s because in the vast majority of cases, that’s true. Crime is often fueled by desperation, and the want for money and/or power; wealthy people already have money and power, and quite often had to work hard to get there, so they’re not as likely to resort to crime (and, as a result, throw it all away). They understand what it takes to succeed, and have proven that, so the stakes would be exceptionally high if they even ever thought about doing something stupid like committing a violent crime.

Regarding the buffaloes… native people used to hunt them by driving the herd off a cliff, killing them in the fall. It’s hard to do that with one buffalo, so they’d at least do several in the herd — and once the animals start stampeding, they’re acting with crowd mentality, similar to the way an audience at a concert will all pull out lighters for a slow song (or, these days, hold up their cell phones) when a few people start.

cheers
Heather

How about a new show name, “America’s Got Talent, We Just Ignore It”

Make it a super day/night!

Syl