Beware of False Prophets
The world is filled with people who are attempting to manipulate you...
… Let us choose, however, from among the living, not men who pour forth their words with the greatest glibness, turning out commonplaces and holding. as it were, their little private exhibitions, – not these, I say, but men who teach us by their lives, men who tell us what we ought to do and then prove it by practice, who show us what we should avoid, and then are never caught doing that which they have ordered us to avoid.
– Seneca
The world is filled with demagogs and charlatans in areas ranging from “self-help” to politics and religion. The internet and mass media have accelerated the promotion of their views and pitted them against each other in a gladiatorial contest that would have made Nero proud. I now realize that the promotion of competition and conflict is all that matters to the promoters, not the outcomes or the strength of their arguments. Whatever keeps the circus going and helps it grow is good. By extension, anything that brings rational analysis and discussion to a conflict is bad, as it would lead to a quieting of the noise and a shutdown of the gravy train for the hucksters.
The constant promotion of the false dichotomy of liberal/conservative, republican/democrat, etc., is not about the validity of competing viewpoints but rather the continuation of the conflict between groups. As long as people are constantly distracted and fighting each other, they do not have time or mental energy to recognize who is manipulating them or for what purpose, nor do they have time to think about what is in their best interest. Likewise, as long as the leaders of the competing groups are constantly rallying their followers to attack the “other,” they do not have to answer for the shortcomings of their own beliefs or policies. War, then, is the ultimate solution when any leader is facing a crisis of confidence in their leadership.
We are all responsible for our beliefs, values, and plans and living a life aligned with these. In developing these, we should look to whatever sources of wisdom we can find that contribute to our greater understanding of the world. In living my life, I will not always live up to my best ideals; however, as long as I climb back on the path and keep trying, I will never fail. Failure is only the end of trying, not the opposite of succeeding.