Public Clamor and the New Mobocracy

Have you ever been to a large sporting event, and the announcer or the crowd will be unified in a moment of disapproval of a call by the referee? Scary, isn't it. We have heard stories about large football (soccer) contests where the crowd has become a destructive element, being whipped into a frenzy over the result of a match. Or maybe you have seen the pictures of the team's hometown after having won the SuperBowl or the World Series, or the NBA Championship? How about when a union goes on strike or does some very aggressive picketing the quickly degrades into pushing, shoving and then violence? Or do you remember those "non-violent" peace rallies of the '60s & '70s that ended with someone getting bloodied-up?

I think that it is amazing that we live in a country (USA) where we have the right to assemble as we wish, and can express our opinions freely, but nothing is free of consequences. You know that law that states, "...for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction...". I think that it is in the Constitution, or something. In other words, however we choose to act there will always be a reaction.

Back to the mobocracy....when things get out of control it is up to each individual to maintain control over his own actions and not let the actions of a group dictate how one reacts in a situation. Cooler heads must prevail. Too many times emotions rule over common sense. Is it better to get caught up in the moment where the end is more important than how we get there? Is it really the right thing to take advantage of a crisis, if it serves your purpose. The result is that we usually get more that we bargain for, and people get hurt....or maybe I am just taking advantage of this crisis....It may be...just an observation.

Tribal Stirrings

Has it appeared to you that all this embracing of diverse cultures has lead to a new tribalism? Hey, I celebrate Cinco de Mayo (a non-celebrated holiday in Mexico) by having burritos or tacos for dinner...but our ultra-tolerance of cultural diversity, even bowing to other cultural practices as more enlightened, has negated the unifying effect of a dominant culture. Sure the United States is a "melting pot" of different cultures, but even in a melting pot, the mixture homogenizes into a unified mixture, not a sedimentary soup, where the ingredients don't mix together.

On to tribalism...in the past tribalism has appeared as a result of different groups split from a larger culture due to various reasons, such as: a charismatic leader, economic interests, religious interests, even the gathering of food, etc. to the extent that they can no longer function within the main body. Many anthropologists think that tribalism is what lead to larger societies. I would like to note that the large, pre-columbian cultures degenerated in the tribal societies that the europeans discovered when they arrived in America.

So, what is the virtue of these small groups of people, living off the natural law of kill, or be killed? So, how did they survive when their mother-culture didn't? Well, if you examine the history of the United States, they didn't survive, and that their virtue might have been a minor aspect, it wasn't enough to sustain their own progenitors....and they continually fought among themselves. Look at the African cultures, so many of them have not endured passed a couple of generations, they haven't kept records and they may have lost any of the advances that might have been gained by their separation from the larger group.

We are going down that road. Gangs are prevalent in all countries of the world and have infiltrated governements to siphon off the resources that the governments control. Groups that advance their particular cultural bent in a foreign country, seem to forget the reasons of their expatriation. Too many cultures tend to isolate themselves within a foreign country to the extent that they do not learn the language or sovereignty of that country. There is no growth within the culture and generations can come and go without being integrated....Remember when integration was a good thing and segregation was a bad thing? Are we not all americans, not just hyphenated-americans?

There is no virtue in special interest groups at the expense of the entire group. We don't need to give up our identity, and what makes us different from others, but letting your "freak flag" fly because you want to be "in-the-face" of someone that may disagree with you, smacks of tribalism. Don't blame me...but this is just an observation.

Global Anthropogenics

It is difficult to measure man's effect on the physical world. By the shear volume of mass, it is not even close to 1% of the tipping point. Global Warming has recently undergone a shake due to its proponents trying to fake the facts, and consequently the results (refer to "The Ends Justify the Means"). It has been stated before: "...What power shall stay the heavens? As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course, or to turn it up stream, as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven..." (Doctrine & Covenants 121:33). Does this infer that man gets a little cocky sometimes, just because he thinks he knows something that someone else may not know? Then there was an incident with a tower where some guys who made some bricks thought that they could build a tower to heaven. The result was confusion, though we don't have all the details, the authority on the matter said that it was pride that was their downfall.

We humans can't handle power or knowledge very well and it seems that when we get a little power, it tends to make us a little heady, and then prideful. It would seem to me that seeing the cosmos in relationship to man, would put us in our place. The human-centric-aristotlean types still think that the universe revolves around Man & Earth, when modern science has proven otherwise. When are we going to admit that the designer of the universe is an intelligent lifeform? There is no way that order can result from chaos, unless acted upon by another, intelligent force! The Bing-Bang apologists need to consider that there was and is an Supernal God! It is the only reasonable explanation.....but of course, this is just my observation.