Individual and alternative thought, and dialogue, is rapidly eroding, resulting in a homogeneity of "opinions", political "beliefs" and perspectives. Indeed, individual thought has most recently faced its swiftest decline, with such expressions often times resulting in instant marginalisation, "cancellation", and arguably most concerning: perceived radicalisation.
Individualistic expressions have eroded instead into a set of predetermined labels, where perspectives can then be easily denigrated and cast aside. This perpetuates a culture where the desire to truly understand another is instead replaced with the quick and gratifying action of (erroneously, of course) believing that a person's full position, perspective, and mentality, can be both expediently understood and easily diminishable to one statement.
Fostering a society where thoughts and expressions are, rather than dialogued and debated, instead easily grouped into predetermined boxes, creates the false understanding that the world is both a stagnant place, incapable of being challenged or reinterpreted, and one where everything is "figured out".
There are no different explanations to pay heed to, because those separate, and individualistic expressions have become marginalised, merely for being individualistic expressions.
There are no further threads to disentangle because those separate threads have already been labeled and are separate, non-standard; as such they do not form part of the web of reality but rather they are a small, marginalised singular composition which, apparently, represents a small, singular, and marginalised people.
Indeed, this is where individual thought has come to rest: amongst marginalisation. Inessential, dispensable, and superfluous.
Of course, this culture has been most largely fostered through social media - where echo chambers and the need to publicly assert your place within the larger "acceptable" group, has now become the norm. Mob mentality is defensible while the questioning of its actions is offensive and unintelligent.
Whilst it is a normal part of human tendency to desire being part of the herd, part of the tribe, this feeling and natural tendency has been exploited - by the media (including celebrities) - and by the constant reverberating echoes of those around us, to create a false sense of "us" and "them". A false sense of "reality" and "lies".
"Accurate" and "inaccurate".
A place where "acceptable" is echoing the opinions of others; re-sharing the words of others; acceptable is saying the same thing as others, more vociferously and animatedly than others; acceptable is doing the same thing as others.
"Acceptable" is not questioning, but rather belonging; proudly touting.
The need to belong, be liked, accepted, respected - and indeed not "cancelled" - has surpassed the desire for individual reasoning, thought and perspectives. Indeed, one must wonder whether such desire truly even remains existent.
For currently, to question is to dissent; to dissent is to be wrong, radical. To be radical is to be unapproachable, dangerous, and maybe even unhinged.
There could not possibly be a solid basis for an alternative point of view, because so many are saying something different to it; as such, how could this (perceived) marginalised opinion hold true?
This created and applied the perceived notion of instant radicalisation to those who question, who express a different perspective. Herein lies the case for the necessity of individual thought: If different perspectives are perceived as radicalisation - unfounded, incomprehensible, and indeed, easily ridiculed - there will no longer exist a human race of individuals.
Instead there exists only the homogenous species: a species afraid to say anything different; a species afraid to challenge their surroundings; afraid to challenge authorities; afraid to speak and think differently than their loved ones, or their friends; and most criminal of all, of course, a species so homogenous, forgetting to challenge the world around them.
If enough people, celebrities, and media outlets were to say the grass was no longer green but a different shade of purple - a shade which we can not perceive with our eyes, but rather only with certain newly invented cameras; this footage can not yet be released, but it is ascertained with authority - and with numbers - that such a scenario is real - indeed, this is what people would believe without question.
Most would be too afraid to try and question this scenario, though it may seem unreal. "They have captured it with newly invented cameras"; "we just can't see the footage yet".
This false sense of trust in numbers, echoes, authorities (including media, science, technocrats, celebrities and any others, including parents, friends and loved ones who may repeat the belief), creates a rigid existence devoid of logic, reasoning, and understanding. Undeniably, the marginalisation of individual thought leads to world devoid of logic and reasoning.
Instead we arrive in a place of comfortable acquiescence. We place unquestionable trust in "science" - the new God; unquestionable trust in "authority" - the new mom and dad; unquestionable trust in media and celebrities - the new friends looking out for us, with our best interests at heart.
"Why would they lie?"
"Why should it be wrong if so many are saying it?"
The cancelation, ridicule, silencing, and targeting of opinions, thoughts and beliefs, which are believed to be wrong and disagreeable, perpetuates and advances a society reduced simply to a mass of indistinguishable and easily influential persons.
An unvarying conglomeration of shells, lacking consciousness, reasoning, logical thinking and a desire to understand their world. A society content to live with quickly understandable explanations. Where there is not enough time to reason things out for ourselves, investigate, and research; it is simply easier to believe than to question.
A place where humans comfortably reside within the solace of a readily mapped-out, labeled, stagnant existence, where it is radical, dangerous, and offensive to deviate from the clearly labeled paths. A place where it is radical, dangerous, and offensive to think the grass may really just be green; it may really still be green, simply just because you really still see it that way.
