Hello beautiful people,
"One of the most revealing ways to classify people is by the degree and aggressiveness of their conformism." - Paul Graham
Slavery = bad. I think we can all agree on this.
If you asked most white people if they would have opposed slavery in the Southern United States before the abolition, they would say "Of course!".
Princeton professor Robert George recently wrote:
I sometimes ask students what their position on slavery would have been had they been white and living in the South before abolition. Guess what? They all would have been abolitionists! They all would have bravely spoken out against slavery, and worked tirelessly against it.
What seems obvious now, used to be considered a dangerous belief.
It's no surprise that his students would say that, but the reality is, most wouldn't have at the time.
Most would have gone with the cultural current of their time and place.
Some would have stamped their feet aggressively at the idea that such a powerful workforce was being taken away from them.
They would say, not only that the arbitrary rules of the time must be obeyed, but that those who disobey them must be punished.
I recently learned about 4 types of thinkers, including those two.
But the world isn't equally split, these types appear in vastly different proportions. There are far more of some than of others.
The largest group are the passively conventionally minded, that won't surprise you. The sheep whose inability to resist social pressure, fear of being punished, or of other people's negative opinions, keeps them in line.
Then you have the aggressively conventionally minded. The tattletales, the office policy enforcers, most climate change activists. You know the type. These are the people that likely would have staunchly defended slavery at the time. Whatever the prevailing doctrine around them is, they become its fiercest defenders.
Going smaller still, you have the passively independent-minded. Free-spirited thinkers who naturally march to the beat of their own drum without feeling the need to challenge systems or confront others. This is a peaceful way to be, and in the right environment, leaves everyone happier. But the challenge comes in the wrong environment - your way of life may get steamrolled by the aggressively conventionally minded.
Then the smallest group, the aggressively independent-minded. This is where new ideas come from. To be a successful innovator, you can't just be right. It's easy to be right when everyone knows what the right answer is. You have to be right when others are wrong. This does, however, come with its own risks.
Going back even further than the abolition of slavery, to the 1600's, Galileo's observations backed up the idea that the earth revolved around the sun, rather than the other way around.
Today, many conventionally-minded people would hold that belief.
But back then, this was was considered a dangerous belief. He was arrested, put on trial for heresy, and sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life after being forced to recant his belief.
But it's said that upon being transferred to his home in Florence, he looked up at the stars, then down at the Earth, stamped his foot, and said "Eppur si muove", meaning, "And yet it moves".
Wherever you go, whatever you're doing, you'll run into these four types of people.
Which category do you naturally fall into? And more importantly - which type of person do you aspire to be? Because while your personality type may initially be determined by your natural tendencies, awareness gives you the ability to choose how you want to move forward.
To your freedom and independence,
Rob
Wild Minds Community
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