s373n                   @!      7      !@                   sEVEn
                        @!   The Herd  !@ 
s3V3N                   @!   by Ender  !@                   sev3n


Today I thought I would take time to write about the Herd. As with many things
about which I write, I feel strongly about this topic. When I refer to the Herd,
I refer to the Human Herd. The 'masses,' if you will. Of course, we've all heard
the term 'masses' used before, but I think that it bears much more meaning than
people want to attribute. People generally hate being called part of the Herd, and
often times try to pretend that they are totally indifferent to the opinion of
other humans. This, to me, appears to be one of the greatest defects in the human
machine. Generally speaking, humans hate being called an animal of the Herd, but
frankly love being part of it nonetheless. They say ignorance is bliss. I say
ignorance is ignorance, bliss is bliss; maybe I'm just more intelligent -- I don't
know. But I will say this, I believe in defying the trend and subverting the
paradigm.

So let's look at what it means to be part of the herd. For ages, politcal
leaders and philosophers have reffered to the people of their land (or earth) as
the massed, the mobs. What is meant by this? Well, let's look at the definition of
herd from Webster's dictionary. I like this one: "a number of animals of one kind
kept together under human control." But I also think it is important to note this
definition as well: "the undistinguished masses." I think this says it all. It appears
to me that those people who refuse to think for themselves, to think freely are only
contributing to the herd. They are becoming part of it. And it seems the more members
in the herd there are, the more new members it gets. Often times we refer to the
masses as people who all look and act the same. But what is important here is
understanding the reason that they act the same. Much of this I attribute to Faith,
religion and belief. Not to mention that fact that popular culture today leans
towards conformity, closed-mindedness and a retardation of mental and intellectual
growth.

I don't consider myself to be part of the herd. And I don't go out of my way to
prove to people that I'm not part of the herd. Being part of the herd is a state
of mind (if you can say these people think at all...). It is the outward
expression of this mentality that one notices most. But let me ask you a
question. Say I was a Christian who preferred to wear Tommy Hilfiger and
Abercrombie and Fitch clothing (I'm not.) Would you say that I am part of the
herd? Most people who are outside of the herd would say yes, those part of the
herd would say no because humans don't like to acknowledge that they're stupid.
But appearances are usually decieving. THe person described above might not be
part of the herd at all, as his outward expression may not reflect his
mentality. It is perfectly possible that he is a Christian and wears trendy
clothes because he sincerely believes they are the best. Does this constitude a
member of the herd? It depends on why he believes what he believes. People have
a habit of deluding themselves into thinking the best of their beliefs. If he is
a Christian because it answers life's hardest questions for him and requires him
to do no extra thinking and if he wears trnedy clothes in order to better fit,
then I would say this poor animal is part of the herd.

But let's think about something even more interesting. The definition of herd
included that the animals were controlled by some human. I love this. But it is
also a hard thing to try to answer. Who or what controlls the human masses? I
think the root of all herd instinct comes from religion and morality. That is,
after all, the root reason why these people all come together. It is a common
belief in ignorance and the evilness of man which causes these people to become
like a flock to the rest of man. That's right. The masses are the flock, and we
few freethinkers are the shepards. Unfortunately, it seems, someone had the dumb
idea of creating the flock in the first place, and the world has never been the
same.