Then I also thought about my conversation with my uncle about the stock market. How one can predict a bull market from a bear market just by reading the pulse on rock music or skirt length at the time. Are perceptions prescriptive or symptomatic? The chicken or the egg? And if a perceived bear market causes cyclical panic and withdrawal, doesn't that mean that our emotions/opinions dictate the economy as much (or more so? shudder!) than the actual numbers?
Bottom line: Individuals can be brilliant. Groups of them are stupid.
If you are blessed enough to be a brilliant person, don't be swayed by the masses. Look hard into the face of fact and question it, poke it around, sniff out it's origin. Even if you are unpopular for doing it, you might regret less.
I've been victim of the mob-mentality. I'm a sucker for crusade. Wanna see all of the mobs I've been sucked into only to regret my loud-mouth, ignorant, one-sided opinion later? (Embarrassment time)
- Kony 2012
- No-exception Republicanism
- Religious Righteousness
- Bullying (from roughly age 12 to ... current? I can be very judge-y)
Nothing is black and white. If you think it is, chances are you are only seeing the black or the white. Life it complicated. A well-thought opinion shouldn't fit on a banner or into a nice slogan. But, you should be able to explain it simply, in fewer than 100 words.
Put down the pitchforks and torches. Keep learning about people around you. Read more. Be open to adaptation. It's ok to be a part of a group, to find like-minded individuals. Just make sure that you would stake your life on what you, as an individual, believe.
Take risks you can afford. Google the opposition. Seek empirical evidence. Ask someone what they think, listen to the answer, and then consider not telling your opinion until you've slept on someone else's. Be comfortable saying, "I don't know."
Have you ever jumped on the bandwagon to realize you were wrong? Have you ever regretted stating an opinion?
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To thank you for reading/skimming the ramblings above, I'll let you decide what to do with the artwork in my office:
This is where the art hangs now. It's on the wall in front of me and slightly to the left.
This is where I used to keep The Bean poster:
And this is where I had kept The Bunnies print:
Both locations are now taken up by the former wall-art. They are nicely framed, but they're also boring, old marketing sheets with retro stock photography.
Nothing looks right like this. I could get rid of the old marketing art by putting it in a vacant office, but then the spots near the tea set and on my desk extension would look bare.
Thoughts?
