From the Brain of Dr. Nicki: Sheep By Any Other Name….

Group think. It’s everywhere. Folks jumping on the nearest bandwagon with nary an investigatory thought in view. Grabbing a quick, easy phrase as their newest mantra. Proclaiming a position without real examination.  

Funny how we like so very much to think of ourselves as unique [which we are!] and as hip individuals, but then follow the herd. Wait is hip still a viable term? I’m just not hip enough to know.

Why, then, is it so easy to follow the pack? What are we doing when we glom onto the closest diatribing pundit or internet phenom?

To some extent it’s linked to our desperation to belong. This tribe-seeking is fully instinctual and, for most, barely conscious. It’s not a bad thing, it’s just a something. However, like all something’s, stone-skipping our way through life – which equals never diving beneath the surface of the water - underestimates who we can be and what we might offer back into the world. Because ganging up is too often empty headed and empty hearted.

Thing is, it gets all-too-easy to speak without thinking and to lash out without consideration that real people are on the other end of our whips. Easy to get caught up in the whirl of public harangue. Looks like we’re involved. Looks like we care.

And maybe underneath, we do care. We want to join a group that sings our song, so we find support for our already held perspectives. So we can advocate for our passions. And once on board, it’s hard to disagree. As if appreciating part of a viewpoint needs to mean swallowing the entire viewpoint. It doesn’t though. We can take what we like and leave the rest. But if we’re to do that we have to mull the whole business over. Dive into the deep end of the pool. Plus, we’ll need the courage to dissent.  Dissenting with our so-called opposite perspective folks is easy. But dissenting with those who carry many of our same ideas is much more difficult.

Politics naturally brings it all home. Democrats and Republicans are painted with a broad brush. Interesting as most people I know hardly agree with everything their party represents or supports.   

The bottom line here is: Finding your group is lovely; running behind that group like a little duck not so lovely. Use your mind. Use your heart. Use your voice. Because in the final analysis, group think simply stinks. It makes you part of the problem. And that, most certainly, is never the way to go.