Don’t Go Along With The Crowd
Friday, November 2, 2012 at 3:00AM
[Positive Dennis] in Politics, Propaganda

One of the techniques of propaganda is the bandwagon effect. Here is how Wikipedia describes it: 

The bandwagon effect is a well-documented form of groupthink in behavioral science and has many applications. The general rule is that conduct or beliefs spread among people, as fads and trends clearly do, with “the probability of any individual adopting it increasing with the proportion who have already done so”. As more people come to believe in something, others also “hop on the bandwagon” regardless of the underlying evidence. The tendency to follow the actions or beliefs of others can occur because individuals directly prefer to conform, or because individuals derive information from others. 

Or as the Chinese say, “Three men make a tiger.” This refers to an old story about a Chinese emperor who said that if he was told that there was a tiger loose in the market he would not believe it, but if three men told him ... 

In the same way, it does not matter how many people repeat a rumor or idea, it does not become true just because people believe it. It may be true, or not. It depends on the facts, or as your mother told you, “If all your friends jump off a cliff, will you jump too?” I do not know about you but I always found this annoying, probably because it was true. 

So next Tuesday when your friends and relatives go to vote, ask yourself, “should I jump off the cliff too?”  Is your perception that both candidates are evil? (If you have repeated the phrase “voting for the lesser of two evils,” that is your perception.)  If so, do not vote for evil, or as Exodus 23:2a tells us “Don’t go along with the crowd in doing evil.” 

One bright note of not voting is that no matter who wins, you can put the bumper sticker on your car that says, "Don’t Blame Me, I Didn’t Vote For Him.” 

Article originally appeared on Prophecy Podcast (http://www.prophecypodcast.com/).
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