Last evening I viewed Ben Stein' movie
"Expelled".
For those who may not know Ben Stein, he makes periodic appearances on TV talk shows involving various subjects, such as economics, politics, etc. I judge him to be a person of better than average intelligence, with a good sense of balance and logic.
For those who do not know the movie "Expelled", it is basically a documentary in which Ben Stein is trying to understand the positions of various international leaders concerning the general controversy on the origin of life. In simpler terms, the question is whether mankind originated from God's creation, as indicated in the Bible, or through evolution as indicated in Darwin's, "Origin of the Species".
In his search for answers, Ben Stein covers a lot of ground. The movie shows many scenes where he is walking in his business suit and white walking shoes. The persons he interviews are generally of two types. Those who strongly believe in mankind's origin through an evolutionary process and those persons who have not adhered to that belief and had subsequently suffered economic and emotional damage through expulsion from their profession, usually University teaching. I didn't see any interviews with powerful and strong supporters of creationism, as indicated in the Bible.
Whether the apparent lack of objectivity was intentional or not, it better made the point that the subject matter was an example of "group mindset". The proponents of evolution have been so strong, vociferous, and active in their belief that they have created a cult of similar believers. Such development into groups of believers and unbelievers on any subject seems to be a natural human trait and is not normally objectionable. However, when the believers begin to persecute nonbelievers, an irrationality begins to exist.
Ben Stein used the Holocaust as an example of how such persecution develops. Prior to World War II, many German intellectuals believed that persons who had been born with physical or mental handicaps were a detriment to society and should be disposed of. Initially, those persons were investigated surgically in the presumed effort to increase society's knowledge of physical and mental handicaps. This later developed to a position of killing the handicapped persons to avoid their reproduction and improve the genetics of the society as a whole. It finally developed into a larger scale position of eliminating political undesirables, which then resulted in the Holocaust.
For those who may not know Ben Stein, he makes periodic appearances on TV talk shows involving various subjects, such as economics, politics, etc. I judge him to be a person of better than average intelligence, with a good sense of balance and logic.
For those who do not know the movie "Expelled", it is basically a documentary in which Ben Stein is trying to understand the positions of various international leaders concerning the general controversy on the origin of life. In simpler terms, the question is whether mankind originated from God's creation, as indicated in the Bible, or through evolution as indicated in Darwin's, "Origin of the Species".
In his search for answers, Ben Stein covers a lot of ground. The movie shows many scenes where he is walking in his business suit and white walking shoes. The persons he interviews are generally of two types. Those who strongly believe in mankind's origin through an evolutionary process and those persons who have not adhered to that belief and had subsequently suffered economic and emotional damage through expulsion from their profession, usually University teaching. I didn't see any interviews with powerful and strong supporters of creationism, as indicated in the Bible.
Whether the apparent lack of objectivity was intentional or not, it better made the point that the subject matter was an example of "group mindset". The proponents of evolution have been so strong, vociferous, and active in their belief that they have created a cult of similar believers. Such development into groups of believers and unbelievers on any subject seems to be a natural human trait and is not normally objectionable. However, when the believers begin to persecute nonbelievers, an irrationality begins to exist.
Ben Stein used the Holocaust as an example of how such persecution develops. Prior to World War II, many German intellectuals believed that persons who had been born with physical or mental handicaps were a detriment to society and should be disposed of. Initially, those persons were investigated surgically in the presumed effort to increase society's knowledge of physical and mental handicaps. This later developed to a position of killing the handicapped persons to avoid their reproduction and improve the genetics of the society as a whole. It finally developed into a larger scale position of eliminating political undesirables, which then resulted in the Holocaust.
This then caused me to think about other
major "group mindsets". I came up with the Spanish Inquisition, wherein members
of the Catholic Church pursued and persecuted baptized Christians, who held
opinions contrary to the Catholic Church. The French Revolution was essentially
a mindset among peasants that the nobility of France must be eliminated.
Similarly, the Witch Hunters of Salem needed to persecute and destroy perceived
witches .
Ben Stein's narrative clearly shows that, in modern society, the Darwin evolutionist "mindset group" is clearly persecuting creationists. The danger then in a "group mindset" is the potential to damage or otherwise exploit those who are not a part of that group mindset. Is there no defense against a "group mindset", which in its development arrives at a position of doing significant damage to those persons who are not members of the group? The answer is "yes", and that is to develop a contrary "mindset group", not leaving individuals to shift for themselves, as exemplified in the Darwin evolutionist groups persecution of nonbelievers.
Developing mindset groups, whether pro or con is not all that difficult. Primarily, it takes leaders who are persuasive in their oratory and writings. It is likely that the present Darwin evolutionary mindset group would have made little progress without Richard Dawkins, who was one of the persons interviewed by Ben Stein. Dawkins is a powerfully persuasive person through his lectures, writings and YouTube presentations. For whatever reason, he is a strongly anti-religious person, which automatically places him in the position of being a Darwin evolutionist. In this controversy between creationists and evolutionists, there are no significant facts. The strong opinions are held primarily on the basis of emotions, which usually result from many years of previous experiences.
To offset the evolutionary mindset groups activities, which could theoretically lead to even stronger persecutions of nonbelievers than we have had up to now, it is obvious that a strong creationist mindset group is necessary. The basis of this could easily be religious institutions, which is exactly what Dawkins and his mindset group are fighting against. Unfortunately, the various religious institutions splinter the whole and an obvious coordination is needed. While that could be difficult, it is possible, if a single person of the Dawkins stature can be found.
From there, I started to think about other possibilities of group mindsets, which might strongly affect my way of life and the society in which I operate. In the present political situation, there is an Obama group mindset which basically says Obama can do no significant wrong, does much good, and should be in governmental control. Conversely there is an anti-Obama group, which we can call a Romney group to counterbalance that. Since they appear to be equally divided in numbers, activity and general forcefulness, the likelihood of one mindset group or another to move to a position of an irrationality is presently remote.
I thought then of a second presently active mindset group. That is the mindset group on climate change. Unlike the balance of the political mindset groups above, the climate change mindset group has the potential of gross irrational action. Like most mindset groups, the climate change mindset group is based primarily on emotion, with some reality of economics as a background. Present persecution exists indirectly through economic damage to the American public.
Up to now, that damage has been small, since it concerns public grants to university professors. But those grants simultaneously make an indirect contribution to the power of the climate change mindset group. The objective of the group is to establish control of carbon dioxide emissions resulting from any energy conversion; e.g. coal to electricity. If the group is ultimately successful in its objective, some millions of Americans will suffer economic hardship. Unfortunately, there is only a minor offsetting mindset group promoting increased fossil energy use. That group needs to develop a much more powerful position to avoid the excesses which would likely be brought about by the climate change group.
Ben Stein's narrative clearly shows that, in modern society, the Darwin evolutionist "mindset group" is clearly persecuting creationists. The danger then in a "group mindset" is the potential to damage or otherwise exploit those who are not a part of that group mindset. Is there no defense against a "group mindset", which in its development arrives at a position of doing significant damage to those persons who are not members of the group? The answer is "yes", and that is to develop a contrary "mindset group", not leaving individuals to shift for themselves, as exemplified in the Darwin evolutionist groups persecution of nonbelievers.
Developing mindset groups, whether pro or con is not all that difficult. Primarily, it takes leaders who are persuasive in their oratory and writings. It is likely that the present Darwin evolutionary mindset group would have made little progress without Richard Dawkins, who was one of the persons interviewed by Ben Stein. Dawkins is a powerfully persuasive person through his lectures, writings and YouTube presentations. For whatever reason, he is a strongly anti-religious person, which automatically places him in the position of being a Darwin evolutionist. In this controversy between creationists and evolutionists, there are no significant facts. The strong opinions are held primarily on the basis of emotions, which usually result from many years of previous experiences.
To offset the evolutionary mindset groups activities, which could theoretically lead to even stronger persecutions of nonbelievers than we have had up to now, it is obvious that a strong creationist mindset group is necessary. The basis of this could easily be religious institutions, which is exactly what Dawkins and his mindset group are fighting against. Unfortunately, the various religious institutions splinter the whole and an obvious coordination is needed. While that could be difficult, it is possible, if a single person of the Dawkins stature can be found.
From there, I started to think about other possibilities of group mindsets, which might strongly affect my way of life and the society in which I operate. In the present political situation, there is an Obama group mindset which basically says Obama can do no significant wrong, does much good, and should be in governmental control. Conversely there is an anti-Obama group, which we can call a Romney group to counterbalance that. Since they appear to be equally divided in numbers, activity and general forcefulness, the likelihood of one mindset group or another to move to a position of an irrationality is presently remote.
I thought then of a second presently active mindset group. That is the mindset group on climate change. Unlike the balance of the political mindset groups above, the climate change mindset group has the potential of gross irrational action. Like most mindset groups, the climate change mindset group is based primarily on emotion, with some reality of economics as a background. Present persecution exists indirectly through economic damage to the American public.
Up to now, that damage has been small, since it concerns public grants to university professors. But those grants simultaneously make an indirect contribution to the power of the climate change mindset group. The objective of the group is to establish control of carbon dioxide emissions resulting from any energy conversion; e.g. coal to electricity. If the group is ultimately successful in its objective, some millions of Americans will suffer economic hardship. Unfortunately, there is only a minor offsetting mindset group promoting increased fossil energy use. That group needs to develop a much more powerful position to avoid the excesses which would likely be brought about by the climate change group.
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