Strength in numbers

Primitive...we are so freaking primitive. We boast all the time of being superior to all life on this planet, of achieving thousands of amazing feats…..of being civilized and reaching a new level of intellectuality …of being sophisticated……..but are we truly?

Not long ago I had a discussion with a person. Now the topic does not matter, but what does matter was that the person I discussed with was supported by multiple people and I was not. Well let’s not dwell on the things like “did they support him just because he was their friend?” or “did they support him to get on his good side?”, “maybe they didn’t want to be ostracized from the group?” etc. 

What puzzled me was ….does the fact that multiple people agree with a theory automatically make that theory correct? Because it sure as hell looked like it. The supported person eventually got so self-confident that he didn’t even waste his time thinking on arguments to what I say that would actually be based on facts. Actually...it didn’t even look like he listened to me much in the first place, so absorbed in the mass support he was getting, eventually shouting lines that in a shortened form would mean “see? I am right and you are wrong!”

That fun debate which ended in my regrettable and crushing defeat got me thinking for a while. And I finally noticed something. It somehow reminded me of a simple example….a large pack of hyenas ganging up on a single wolf. That’s right. It reminded me of strength in numbers.

Humans since the very beginning of our time learned that to survive they need to stick together, to be in packs like those hyenas I mentioned previously. And that one of the most primitive and basic instincts actually remained to this day and on it we build upon, eventually calling ourselves sophisticated and superior to all. Does evolving the shell of that primitive instinct make us superior in some way? Civilized? Not primitive? NO is what I say to that. It’s like building a new house on an old foundation. The house might look modern and pretty, but the foundation is still the same old unstable one.

Not only that but it got me thinking some more, about our society. About how we do things…strength in numbers. Heck…we really do literally use this phrase in our living, don’t we? Votes are carried out for the benefit of the majority. Theories are agreed upon when a majority agrees. The proof given is only the tool needed to bend the majority to your cause, but eventually it all comes down to the support. In other words…you are not right if you are alone.

Everything is based on strength in numbers. Everywhere the majority is right. Only recently did the “ruling and democratic majority” decide to support the “minorities” in their countries, carrying out this ridiculous hypocrisy and charade, when in truth the minority was turning into the majority itself. Ridiculous!.

It all reminds me of 13 year old kids in my neighborhood who suddenly feel strong and brave when grouped up in at least 10 individuals. Brave enough to attack a single or two older guys - a strange and primitive feeling that humans get when they are “united” by a common goal or need. How it magnifies everything else, how it makes the people involved instantly “degrade” to animalistic actions and “search for prey”. Like hyenas who only attack weaker prey or stronger but only with numbers and an obvious advantage. 

Indeed ….strength in numbers. Such a basic instinct we still have in ourselves and yet we still cling to it so very much, building our whole world on it as well as other instincts. The whole system….our whole civilization.

Corporations that are made up out of large numbers of people and produce huge amounts of money, which equals to power and serves as a substitute for “numbers” attack weaker and smaller ones, swallowing them up and jumping on others, while rubbing the shoulder to shoulder with other giants like that and escaping even larger ones. Debates won by simple support of the masses and the moral obliteration of the victim, resulting in him being unable to continue the fight to win back the crowd and support which would prove to him that he was right and the opponent was not.

Numbers win. Mass movements prove their point by doing something in large groups. A large amount of people supporting one thing prove its’ validity when a small one would not. Indeed. Strength in numbers.

How primitive we are no matter what we do. No matter how pretty the shell is, we are still built upon our instincts that we received at the dawn of our race. 

Thus we should drop this “superiority” bullshit and realize that we are not. We are not all powerful, not yet. Since we did not properly evolve from the same instincts animals have that we shun so much. We are no different, no better. Maybe even worse, since we deny the truth and avoid it. First we need to accept the truth and only then will we have the chance to step on towards a “brighter” future, whatever that might be. Since it can be discussed quite a lot on what would be “better” in the first place...and from whose perspective would it be that way? Who knows.