RE: No Panic | FreeWrite Thursday prompt
In fairness, this one we can't blame on Maduro. This was Humanity 101.
People possess brains but, with surprising regularity, refuse to use them. At how many junctures during the unfolding of this incident should the utilization of a bit of common sense resulted in its participants questioning their premise: There are guerrilleros and/or rapists in the other room.
Would guerrilleros and/or rapists just sit patiently in the other room, for hours, waiting for the police to arrive? Hmmm. Wouldn't guerrilleros and/or rapists be threatening, "Open this door or else?" Hell, why wait for victim compliance ... most bedroom doors are so flimsy they can be knocked in with a single boot to the door handle. Doesn't anyone watch movies?
"Perhaps we're dealing with unusually polite and patient guerrilleros and/or rapists."
Mass delusion and hysteria are real phenomenon ... once people start letting others "do their thinking for them," the average IQ of the group plummets. This is how Venezuela ended up with the Bolivarian Revolution.
"Hey, we're the richest country in South America ... so let's emulate Cuba ... because look how well that turned out."
Even now, there are millions of Venezuelans (and Leftist U.S. politicians and Hollywood celebrities) who believe the utter collapse of the country is the result of "CIA sabotage." It's always the Americans and their hegemonic imperialism. The "suspension of disbelief" required to buy into such an assertion is breathtaking.
Winston Churchill once said, "People get the government they deserve." When Maduro is finally driven out and Venezuela's universities re-open, I suggest you create a class entitled exactly that.
Quill
Hahaha.
Fair is fair.
As people say, life outdoes fiction most of the time. We just need to look at stampedes. We laugh at animals who traditionally engage in such "practices" and we deem them idiotic; but then we have human stampedes, which usually turn out being considerably tragic.
Nothing more dangerous than irrational fear and panic.
I remember once, during one of the many tense moments we have lived in the last years, someone called me to inquire about our wellbeing because she had been told that Cumaná was being devastated by lootings and killing. I told her I was precisely walking downtown and that nothing was happening. "That can't be" she said. "I was told things were really hairy there".
That was over and out for me. She was inundating her social media with tragic news that made many people take drastic decisions and my empirical evidence did nothing to persuade her of the contrary.
We are really good at fostering rumors and exacerbating situations or events. That's one of the reasons Maduro is still in office.
As usual, the most insightful and intelligent comment comes from Quill! This especially:
At how many junctures during the unfolding of this incident should the utilization of a bit of common sense resulted in its participants questioning their premise...
Sad to say, I see this in my own life. People misunderstand, leap to conclusions, assume that what they think they see or hear is the truth. And as Quill so aptly points out, too many of us let others do our thinking for us.
Shame on me for not seeing this post earlier and nominating it for the #freewritehouse Friday Favorites!