THE WEAKNESS OF THE HUMAN BEING

What follows is my English translation of an article by Valentina Bennati published on ComeDonChisciotte.org [all emphasis original]:

Spain. During a philosophy class at the university, a professor performs an experiment: she shows a folder and asks the students to say the colour.

“Green”, they all answer.

The professor proposes to play a game: when the first student who arrives late comes in, she will ask the same question, but everyone will have to answer that the folder is red.

So it happens, a pupil arrives late and, when asked by the teacher, one by one the students say that the folder is red.

The boy is visibly puzzled, but when the teacher asks him that question, he answers like the others: “red”. Everyone laughs and the teacher says: “It is clear that the folder is green, you have directly witnessed the weakness of the human being when he succumbs to the pressures of others, and this can also happen to his physical perception”.

The boy justified himself: "I realised that it was a game and that the folder is clearly green”.

“However, since everyone said red”, replies the teacher, “you said red”.

“According to Nietzsche,” the professor continues, “the world can be divided into two types of people: those who follow their own desires and those who follow the desires of others. The former are strong and do not allow themselves to be commanded by anyone, while the latter are weak and just do what others say and do”.

“Don't worry”, she adds, finally addressing the boy, “this happens every day: we are very submissive and end up admitting the ideas of the majority”.

And she concludes: “Even in Germany people believed what the Nazi propaganda repeated over and over again. Kant said it very bitterly: the human being is the only animal that needs a master to live”.

Government bodies, companies and powerful economic and financial rulers know that it is easier to conform to the opinions of the masses than to support ideas that involve going against the tide. This is why, especially in recent years, they have invested enormous resources in the mass media: because a targeted use of information, also conveyed by the suggestive power of images and sounds, is able to direct the feelings of an enormous number of people.

In this project of dismantling critical thinking, technology certainly plays a decisive role. And a decisive role is also played by advertising and entertainment, with most artists easily lending themselves to conveying certain messages and models in exchange for success or maintaining it.
The school also bears its share of responsibility since it is increasingly becoming a place of indoctrination.
And what about social media? They serve to show the world how good you are and how up-to-date you are; to seek likes, followers and [number of] views, so woe betide you if you go against the mainstream.

The sad truth is that freedom of thought is a burden that many willingly give up because of cowardice, mental laziness or personal gain.
Yet, there have always existed in history and always will exist those who are not sensitive to “mass education”, those who are more resistant and do not accept the narrative just because everyone else accepts it.
These are the people who feel strong ethical principles within themselves and try to live [by] them consistently, knowing that this inevitably means being excluded from the circles that matter: political, academic, professional, cultural. It also means being excluded from public debates or, on the contrary, being invited, but with the sole aim of being ridiculed, as we have sometimes seen in journalistic broadcasts with no real opposition.
Finally, it means - and this is the most painful thing - having to give up, at times, even the support and backing of one's family or even losing friends.

That is why these people have always been, and always will be, “the minority”.
However, minorities can also be a powerful source of social influence. That is, they can either promote social change or oppose it.
And they can succeed in doing so only if they have clear ideas and if they maintain a firm and consistent style of behaviour over time, remaining united and internally coherent.
Which is by no means easy.
But, as Samuel Adams writes: “It does not take a majority to prevail, but rather an orderly, tireless minority, eager to ignite hotbeds of freedom in the minds of men”.

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VB