The small and angry mind is fragile, the mere possibility of being wrong sends it into a sort of shock, a feverish defensiveness and a snarling reaction to attack whatever approaches, unable to discern from friend or foe, quivering and frantic like a stupid wild animal.
But in another setting, one of perceived strength, the same simpleton grows bold and aggressive. It will press an attack because it craves to kill, to dominate and to consume. Looking for weakness, compulsively seeking a chance to fight and to win and become validated.
Unpopular opinions press the point. The weak minded person and the majority they belong to is either wrong or are about to become the conquering predator. Adrenaline and a thrill are guaranteed either way. The fear of being proven wrong is illusory anyway because there’s strength in numbers. The momentary sting of being made a fool, a likely possibility through a clever or forceful retort, can be quickly washed away through mob-frenzied volume and consensus of opinion.
Angry little minds are fragile combatants with a blood-thirst. Dialog means nothing. Arguments hold no weight. Their game is about numbers and validation and crushing those who would introduce dissonance, who would induce actual thinking. Thinking that would threaten to expose them as enemies of thought or, worse still in their minds, as wrong.
To the 21,000 people who have joined the angry throng on Facebook aimed at Mr. John Mackey, I ask–What is the goal?
The best hope I can see for justifying this attack seems to be a highly improbable scenario in which Mr. Mackey’s article was a malicious attempt at subverting that which he knows to be right and good. That seems to be the implication actually–that John Mackey is evil through some straw-man combination of wanting sick people to die and worshiping his own ability to hoard money.
More likely is that he’s made them angry because they disagree with him, and their actions are motivated more by anger than they are by any rational impulse. To be more specific, they are angry with him because his opinion is unpopular; those with well-reasoned disagreements rarely react with anger when faced with the same.
In this case, the goal is to get him to shut up and go away. Or maybe to hurt him and his business financially, teaching him a lesson about opening his stupid mouth to say something that might change minds (what a wicked thing to do). In short, to squelch him.
Once the shouting begins, he’ll be on the losing side, at least of the shouting match. For that 21,000, now comes the adrenaline rush, the fray, a series of increasingly bold salvos against Mr. Mackey, and they can be on the winning side, vicariously or directly asserting superiority by virtue of volume.
As creatures of limited knowledge, there is no path we can take to never be wrong. It is possible, however, to see our errors before making them, to learn something without having to plow waist-deep into the consequences of false beliefs. The dissenting opinion is the essence of that uniquely human faculty, and when offered sincerely and in good faith, it should be celebrated unconditionally.
Whether Mr. Mackey’s facts and conclusions are sound is entirely beside the point of this post, but it should be the sole concern of these 21,000. If they have been rattled by a dissenting opinion, they should be trying to specifically illuminate where he’s made mistakes or, just maybe, insights in his arguments. And they should probably take great pains to avoid sloshing their emotions around like mud–it makes it harder to see good points.
Instead, the majority of this group is rattling their sabers, irate not because he’s done something unethical but because he’s made an argument that leads to a conclusion they don’t like.
Whatever Mr. Mackey may have gotten wrong concerning healthcare, he is on the right side of a more fundamental and broader division of people. There are those like Mr. Mackey who attempt through discourse to arrive at a common understanding, and there are the angry little minds who shut their eyes, clench their fists, and collectively try to shout out, stomp out, and block out the opposition while muttering, “It doesn’t matter who is right, as long as it’s us.”
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Do you ever read a post, enjoy it, and then move on without leaving a comment? I do it all the time.
