To think we're all socially conditioned

[justaquerie]

Sometimes I feel as though the whole world has been hypnotised to comply with social norms and programmed to perform in a way that complies with their strict social conditioning and somehow when this happened I didn't get put under and am watching people bending over backwards to show how they are conforming and doing everything right as they are terrified of any judgement while looking for mistakes others make and highlighting them to the world so they can be shamed.

I completely expect to be told it's just me and that I must be some kind of rebel because it's weird to question it.

I agree OP. You only have to look on mumsnet as an example to see that, in the main, free thinking is very much frowned upon. We've turned into a nation of sheep, too afraid not to follow the rules or to do/say what we really want/think. The sad thing is that those who have been slowly brainwashed don't even know they have been. It's quite sad and also very scary.

@JRUIN

I agree OP. You only have to look on mumsnet as an example to see that, in the main, free thinking is very much frowned upon. We've turned into a nation of sheep, too afraid not to follow the rules or to do/say what we really want/think. The sad thing is that those who have been slowly brainwashed don't even know they have been. It's quite sad and also very scary.

You've just proved your own point there. You too have been brainwashed into using punctuation and the correct spelling without realising it.

I like it when people follow rules. Especially those of good manners, kindness, decency, politeness and consideration for others.

Manners Maketh Man.

(and Woman, obviously).

If you mean wearing masks, I'm not doing it cos I'm a sheep or whatever, I'm doing it because I have suspected COVID.

People are people and all human flaws will keep happening and we all find ways to justify our own behaviour.

To be fair, it would be quite sad and scary if everyone was just "doing what they want and saying what they really think"
Sounds a bit selfish for a start.

This was actually part of my dissertation, how literature works as a form of social conditioning and it involved going back into philosophy by Thomas Hobbes. That is where the idea of the monster comes from - Jeffrey Jerome Cohen wrote an interesting book about it. We other those who don't abide by social rules.

You've just proved your own point there. You too have been brainwashed into using punctuation and the correct spelling without realising it.
Well you are just being silly, which is fine- nowt wrong with a bit of silliness.

I like it when people follow rules. Especially those of good manners, kindness, decency, politeness and consideration for others
They're not rules, that's just a case of basic manners which many don't follow even on here unfortunately.

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But isn't it just easier to go with the grain and get on with it especially if you have children and you kind of have a duty to teach them the way of life and how to behave etc?

I think perhaps a lot of this is driven or exaggerated by social media. Being highlighted, shamed or attacked publicly for making a mistake is far more likely than before this era. People whip out their phones to film someone falling over, walking into a lamppost or having some other mishap rather than going to help. The same happens when sharing an opinion or disagreeing with something. People are only happy in their own echo chamber and everyone is so righteous and judgmental these days.

Yes. We are primates, we live in groups and don't (for the most part) want to be outside of our group. We adapt our behaviours to conform to those around us. This is what living within a social system means. This is also why I don't think we need to worry too much about police having the resources to issue fines for not wearing a mask. I suspect it will be the weight of social pressure that makes most people conform, and quite quickly.

Of course you may choose not to. But the majority of us will, and that's probably enough.

Also to the poster with suspected covid - shouldn't you be self isolating rather than going out in a mask???

Yes of course we are. Everything is a social construct.

@GalesThisMorning maybe she's a rebel too

The sad thing is that those who have been slowly brainwashed don't even know they have been.

By that logic, even the self-proclaimed free-thinking rebels could have been brainwashed into conforming to a conditioned pattern of behaviour, and they too would not know that to be the case, on account of the brainwashing.

Or are they superior beings who have an inherent immunity to brainwashing, thereby making them so much 'better' than the poor amoebas who are incapable of successfully evading mind control?

even the self-proclaimed free-thinking rebels You referring to people with their own minds as 'rebels' says it all. It's not about rebellion, it's about using your own common sense and your own inherent sense of what's right and what's wrong, and definitely not about jumping on bandwagons to appear 'woke'. Follow the rules that make sense to you by all means, but know that it's not all black and white, and try to teach your kids to think for themselves ffs.

Please book yourself a covid test Phil and quarantine until you get the results. Don't go out in public (mask or no mask.) with a cv infection. That's not being a "sheeple" it's just being socially responsible isn't it?

Of course we are. That's what socialisation is!!

You referring to people with their own minds as 'rebels' says it all. It's not about rebellion, it's about using your own common sense and your own inherent sense of what's right and what's wrong, and definitely not about jumping on bandwagons to appear 'woke'. Follow the rules that make sense to you by all means, but know that it's not all black and white, and try to teach your kids to think for themselves ffs.

You can keep your patronising ‘ffs’ to yourself, sweetheart.

I did contemplate using quote marks around ‘rebel’ to underline the latently ironic intent in my usage, but I decided against it as I assumed the legitimately independent thinkers would work that out for themselves. I guess I over-estimated their critical-thinking capacity 🤷‍♀️

@SmileyClare I've had two tests, both negative, but I still have the symptoms. Actually, that warrants a thread.

Fair dos Phil sorry sounds like you're being responsible about it.

@Cornish83 I wasn't humiliating the OP by saying 'duh' would you rather I'd have said 'obviously'?

She made a fairly obvious statement as though it was revolutionary. I hardly 'humiliated her'.

Calm yourself

Ooh I love a slam dunk on a thread VoodooHat

I'm just staggered that Op thinks she's "the only one" that's ever questioned social conditioning.

You can keep your patronising ‘ffs’ to yourself, sweetheart.

Ooh defensive. Why you getting so hot and bothered? Shearing time is it?

@JRUIN

You've just proved your own point there. You too have been brainwashed into using punctuation and the correct spelling without realising it. Well you are just being silly, which is fine- nowt wrong with a bit of silliness.

I like it when people follow rules. Especially those of good manners, kindness, decency, politeness and consideration for others
They're not rules, that's just a case of basic manners which many don't follow even on here unfortunately.

.

Er yes, it was silly, hence the grinning emoji which accompanied it.

And the rules... yes they are basic manners. Socially conditioned basic manners.

I'm also fairly relieved that we have all been socially conditioned into driving on the same side of the road.