O Great God CONFORMITY, give us the power to make everyone else, just like us!
Yea, verily, in the beginning was the EGO. And the EGO begat an Opinion. And the Opinion fed upon the EGO, and the EGO raised up the Opinion, until it was greater than Creation itself.
This was going to be a light, fluffy piece about the cola wars and pizza, until I realized how serious and ongoing this idea actually is.
The very history of the human race is a history of those with any kind of power, forcing the rest to agree with their often-incorrect opinions.
It was already old 4000 years ago, when Moses climbed a mountain. When he finally came back down with the Ten Commandments, the first thing he and his cadre of cronies did, was disobey Commandment number four – Thou Shalt Not Kill – and executed 3000 Israelites without a chance to recant, for holding an opinion that wasn’t even officially prohibited before Moses left.
The Inquisition was 500 years of torture and murder of anyone who dared stray from a very narrow religious path. The Crusades were a series of long distance religious disputes. The Thirty Years War was not fought for riches or territory, but for the right to impose opposing Christian dogma on individuals, cities and nations.
Towns near the ever-changing line of combat could have their religious allegiances forcibly changed from Catholic, to Protestant, and back to Catholic, half a dozen times in a year. One town was known to have a number of….weirdos – vegetarians, artists, free-thinkers, Gnostics – heretics of the worst sort. When Tilley and his forces arrived, he gave the order, “Kill them all! Let God sort them out.”
Every man, woman and child; every dog, cat, pig and chicken was slaughtered. The town was burned and pulled down, razed to the ground till no stone stood upon another. Thousands of innocents were slaughtered, just to ensure the elimination of a few who held contrary opinions.
Too often I’ve heard the Coke is better than Pepsi claim, or listened to gearheads argue whether Ford or Chevy is better. When I researched for my P Is For Pizza post I was amazed at the vehemence of opinions. Theirs was right, and everybody else was wrong. Thick crust! No, thin crust! New York style! New York sucks, Chicago style rules!
This might be understandable, if all people, and all colas, were the same, and some folks were willfully disagreeing, just to be disagreeable. To some people’s taste buds (mine included), Pepsi is refreshing, and Coke is too sweet. It makes no sense to hold forth on whether Doc Martins are better shoes than UGGS, to a person in a wheelchair.
Other than my (often) aforementioned ‘Ego And Insecurity’, I don’t understand the driving need of so many people to foist their opinions upon others. ‘Live and Let Live’, or the Biblical, ‘Do Unto Others as You Would Have Done Unto You’ doesn’t seem to enter into the equation.
I know that none of my gentle readers would force their beliefs on others, but I’ll bet that you have seen, and been peeved by, all too many who have. Anybody want to cite specific examples??
Life is too short to care that much about the choices other people make.
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I don’t….right up to the time when they insist that I must make the same choices. 😳 😯
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God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food
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God is great, God is good. People are assholes. I love Jesus, it’s just a lot of his followers that I hate. 😉 😯
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It’s all about power over others… and thick-crust pizza.
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I have a secret super-power, but I don’t exercise it over others, only to produce great home-made pizza – with Pepsi. 😉 😛
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I have so many examples so I will give you a truncated explanation & just point you toward Facebook. 😉
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Which is why I am firmly pointed away from Facebook, and intend to remain that way.
Everybody’s got an opinion, and they all want you to agree with them. A few of them are even (almost) correct. 😛
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I avoid Facebook like the plague. You aren’t alone.😉
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Great stuff cuz.
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You too! Keep up the good….thinking. 😀
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Very kind of you to comment. By the by, I’m a cat man too.
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[…] recently composed a post about how huge percentages of the population have an overwhelming compulsion for conformity. They […]
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I think you fat-fingered your commandment numbers. The first four are neatly summarized as “Thou shalt grovel at My feet.”
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There are actually 14 ‘Ten Commandments’, plus a passle (76? 176?) of little Commandment-lets – anything from what clothing you could wear, to what color and length the drapes could be – you know, the usual, some busybody telling you how to run your life.
The first time Moses came down the mountain. number 4 was still another ‘Adore ME!’ After he smashed the original tablets and went walkabout again, he came back with “The Ten Commandments – version 2.0.”
It was this second set, which includes commandment number 4 incorrectly translated as ‘Thou Shalt Not Kill, that I referenced.
If they’re so important, and infallible – how come they got changed? 😯
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I know I’m a little late to the party, but can I still play?
Your example about the 30-year war resonated with me, because even while reading it I realized that the only difference between then and today (thank goodness, or Odin, or Cthulhu) is that no one is going to slaughter me, my dog and nana’s chickens. Some might yet like to, some even make great noise about how they’ll give it their best shot, but at least back home in NY the worst I have to deal with is “Repent, sinner!”. After which I can tell my dog to eat them, and she will give me her trademark “Are you nuts, I don’t know where that’s been” look.
But I COULD have changed my religion several dozen times already, if every time someone who told me I was VERY VERY WRONG I simply nodded and said “Yes, you’re absolutely right, how stupid of me, I shall follow your ways now.”
I think the only religion missing on my “Faith Bingo card” (every time someone tells me I need to repent and become a believer of their true faith, I check a box) is Judaism.
Maybe I’ll make a religion out of it. Mondays I am Catholic. Tuesdays I trot down to the Baptists, Wednesdays I’l do the Shiite circuit and Thursdays I’ll hang out with the Mormons. Fridays will have to be shared between Sunni and Eastern Orthodox, Saturdays I’ll go Anglican because that way I just might get some peace and quiet. On Sunday I’ll implode and go to hell on my own accord, but I’ll offer a friendly wave to the Methodists, Presbyterians and Sufis (honorable mention to that Hare Krishna dude at the airport).
PS: Thou shalt NOT fight over pizza. Though shalt MAKE pizza. Lots of it. So I may eat it.
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Yes, you are welcome to stop in and play at any time, Play time around here is ‘all the time’ even when we’re being serious. 😆
As for pizza, I would love to share, but I think you’ll have to make/buy your own, because
🌯
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