The Hivemind is part and parcel of slavery. A big part.
Rob Schneider Falls to the Hivemind
This hivemind enforcement is getting totally out of control
Image Credits: Wikimedia CommonsThe Hivemind Enforcement Brigade has claimed another victim.
This time it’s the seemingly harmless
comedian Rob Schneider. Schneider, who recently resurrected his quiet
funny “making copies guy” Saturday Night Live persona for a State Farm
add, has been canned by the fearful eunuchs at State Farm. Why? Because
he said something racist? Because he was once involved in a domestic
dispute? Because he once spanked his kid? No, because he is
“anti-vaccine” and the dutiful enforcers of the correct opinion on that
issue rose up in collective indignation. How dare State Farm hire a
funny guy to reprise a funny role since he once voiced a stray opinion?
Doesn’t State Farm realize that once some malcontent voices an opinion
that deviates from the accepted script, then he should no longer be
allowed to pursue gainful employment? Jenny McCarthy was the victim of a similar campaign when
she was hired to be on The View, but managed to keep her job, at least
for a while. (As an aside, when I got all excited seeing the making
copies guy again, I had to explain to my kids what the big deal was.
They didn’t get it.)
Sigh! This hivemind enforcement is getting
totally out of control. We are all aware of the PC Hivemind Enforcement
Brigade which scours the country for any sign of deviation from equalist
dogma. But we are now seeing the emergence of a related phenomenon, the
Conventional Wisdom (CW) Hivemind Enforcement Brigade that likewise
scours the country for any sign of independent thought that contradicts
what the Powers That Be have deemed unassailable truth.
I’m not anti-vaccine, but I’m
anti-anti-anti-vaccine, if you follow. It intuitively strikes me as more
dangerous to condone the quashing of contrarian thought by the CW
Gestapo, than it is to allow the contrarian thought to sink or swim in
the arena of open discussion and debate. If the anti-vaccine folks are
wrong, then counter them with facts and research, and I’m sure they’ll
have their research as well. Let the chips fall where they may.
Now the CW shills will likely object that the
anti-vaccine crowd doesn’t listen to research and that their own
research is flawed. Perhaps so. Perhaps not. As a long time denizen of
the nether regions of acceptable political thought, I am well acquainted
with a certain mindset that seemingly reflexively rejects the
conventional wisdom in favor of the alternative or contrarian viewpoint.
They reject conventional medicine in favor of alternative medicine.
They reject the pharmaceutical industry in favor of supplements and
natural remedies. They reject big agriculture in favor of organic
produce. They reject the accepted explanation for historical events in
favor of conspiratorial explanations. They reject the mainstream media
in favor of alternative media sources. Etc. These beliefs do not always
come as a package, but one recognizes certain trends and tendencies. And
these types inhabit both the left and right.
But while I don’t always agree with them,
unlike the righteous defenders of the CW, I do not fear them. In fact, I
think they represent a healthy tendency for the population as a whole.
You don’t want a whole population of contrarians, but neither do you
want a whole population that reflexively marches in lock step with the
conventional wisdom.
I don’t get the mentality of the rabid
defenders of the CW. What emotional stake does someone have in upholding
the CW? It’s the CW, it will take care of itself. It doesn’t need your
help. But these types pop up all over. They are well represented on
social media. Just ask Jenny McCarthy. They are very much over
represented in the mainstream media, just ask any creationist, birther,
truther, “gold bug,” etc. who has managed to be noticed by them. “Ha ha …
suchanother doesn’t believe in evolution. What a buffoon.” “Ha ha …
suchanother doesn’t believe in global warming. What a buffoon.” “Ha ha …
suchanother doubts the authenticity of Obama’s birth certificate. What a
buffoon.” “Ha ha … suchanother doesn’t believe that plane was shot down
by Russian separatists. What a buffoon.” “Ha ha … suchanother rejects
central banking. What a buffoon.” I could go on, but you get the point.
For the record, I consider myself
something of a tweener. I neither reflexively accept nor deny the CW or
the alternative. I try to weigh both sides before coming to a
conclusion. I accept the CW in some cases. I accept the alternative in
others. Imagine that. But I recognize that I’m inherently more tolerant
of the reflexive rejecters than I am the reflexive acceptors. Reflexive
acceptance strikes me as thoughtless and a position of weakness. No one
was ever criticized for spouting the conventional wisdom. While
reflexive rejection is also … well reflexive, at least it’s bold.
I am convinced that the emotional
investment in dutifully upholding the CW is, like dutifully spouting PC
platitudes, a form of cultural signaling. It’s (often blue) flag waving.
It lets the world know that the waver is a pristine upholder of
acceptable and allowable opinion and not one of those silly “deniers” or
“anties.” This viscerally strikes me as cloying and pathetic. Even
where I accept the CW, I am careful to be respectful of the other side
lest I be seen as a shill. Please get over yourselves CW lock steppers.
You’re embarrassing yourselves and suppressing dissident thought. You
never know, today’s dissident opinion may be tomorrow’s conventional
wisdom. Just relax and let the free-market of ideas work it out, and let
harmless comedians make a living.
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