It’s cute and it’s funny but it explains well why people find safety in conformity and in joining the proverbial bandwagon.
I used to think it was stupidity that turned hordes of people into zombie-like followers but it might be more than that. The “pain” suffered by every new monkey in that little presentation above has its counterpart in human experience. A person who is “different”, a person who thinks and acts differently from the rest, and who is not afraid to make his difference be known, is inflicted with a different kind of pain by his fellow humans. Ostracism, branding, ridicule… We see it everyday. We read about it in the news. In little things. In big things. It’s the reason why homosexuals are shunned, why people with a different skin or speak a different language or worship a different God are labeled and stereotyped. See, the average man does not trust anyone who appears to be different because what man does not understand, he fears. And what he fears, he wants to remove from the parameters of what is acceptable in his safe little world. So he who is different conforms and does as the rest do, not because he admits he is wrong in being different but because he fears the consequences of showing that he is. Sometimes, just to be oneself becomes such a painful fight and conformity is the path of least resistance.
Why am I saying all that? Oh, I was reading my mail. After two columns that do not glorify the U.S. electoral system and the result of the recent presidential elections, I got a lot of angry reactions in my e-mail that echo the reaction of the monkeys every time someone new tried to climb the ladder. In fact, the string of angry mail started earlier than that — they just piled up and I didn’t get to read them until today. It started with the two columns on poverty. Some people seem to think that anyone who mentions Marx and Engels without calling them stupid, must be the one who is stupid. Sigh.
That is what opinion writing amounts to sometimes — most of the time, in fact. Most people think it’s something cool. I get to have my name and my picture twice a week in a newspaper. I have a space for saying what I want… And it is cool because you get to write about how you honestly feel and what you honestly think, you get your assessment published and read even when it goes against the grain. That’s what opinion writing is about — you say your piece even when it is not the popular view. You do not serve as a mouthpiece for anybody, you do not repeat the majority opinion nor discuss the “fashionable” topics just so you can have hordes of readers saying, “Oh he’s right and, ergo, he must be good.”
What most people do not realize is that you have to have a heart of steel to repel the attack of people who think and act like the monkeys in the slideshow. When people disagree with you — and most will unless your writings merely repeat the popular view or rehash the “fashionable” topics — they won’t say they disagree. Instead, they will try to hurt you. They will hurl insults and call you names when all it really boils down to is that they do not share your views.
Even with blogging, it happens. If you’re different, you’re looked at with suspicion. If you don’t “party” with the others, you’re looked at with even more suspicion and become the target of intrigues.
Well, it pays to know about the monkeys and have a heart of steel.
ung mga iba kasi papansin lang kaya gustong maiba
Sus, yung mga ganun, dinadedma na lang ano.
Hi Ma’am… I can really relate to this… Sa work ko dati, as in sila super palstikan ang ibang mga officemate ko. Every time na nagkikita-kita sila todo beso sila at pagtalikod naman eh nagsisiraan. Eh ako naman kasi, kapag ayaw ko sa tao eh hindi ko na lang kinikibo not unless kinausap ako nung taong ‘yun. So never ako nagjojoin sa chismisan at siraan nila. Tapos ako pa daw ‘yung may attitude problem… eh sila nga ang nagpaplastikan don… hayy… Naisip ko, sabi nga nila di naman babatuhin ang puno kung walang bunga…
LOL I’ve been through that too. The worst thing — they are the NORM. Sad, sad, sad.
Hi Connie,
I’m afraid collective stupidity is becoming more and more prevalent in the world today.
Take a look at this experiment – http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-kass-13-nov13,0,2881384.column .
Tolerance is a lonely word nowadays.
Panday Pira, oh, thank you for the link to that story. Thank you. I should feel bad that stupidity is widespread but I feel good because I know there is a point in not going with the bandwagon.
har har har sa mga kabayan kong crab mentality dito sa US, yesterday I got my new assignment, and less very less load work ako ang nagwagi dahil sa pang-aasar sa akin ng isa nating kabayan, matapos niya akong sigaw sigawan, akusahan na hinocus pocus ko daw yon trabajo at tanungin ako ng isang napakapersonal na tanong na”Ano daw ba ang ginawa ko sa St Lukes at nakapasa ako para makarating sa US?” eh ibinigay ng boss ko doon sa ka vibes niya na Pinoy yong trabajo ko na related sa kanya, dahils sa frustration ko sa mga ginagawa niya sa akin for more than a year, nabulyawan ko siya noon Monday ng “You’re a pain in the butt”, nagsumbong siya sa 2 Supervisor, pinagharap harap kami, binigay ko yong explanation ko and when they realized that she has been manipulating and disrescting her co-workers, they decided to give me the numbers that are not assigned to her. If you have readers who will be migrating here to the US, they better beware, they have to learn how to be TOLERANT, your co-workers will be black, Hispanic, Chinese, straight, LGBT, of different religion, Jewish, Mormon, Buddhist, and practice respecting everybody whether they are midget, blind, deaf, has mental disability and other physical abilities, they are all considered normal here and given a chance to work even to open the mail in the office. Leave the Crab mentality at NAIA before you get to the US
I read panday’s link. So disturbing. And again, people miss the point. It’s not “liberal nature” to jump on the bandwagon and be intolerant of things that are different, as the commenters would suggest. It’s simply “human nature”.
lcm, but you also have it there among the Americans.
pinayhekmi, that makes it doubly sad, doesn’t it? that it’s human nature and we cannot escape from it.
yes, and so many studies have been done check this ABC series. http://www.abcnews.go.com/Primetime/WhatWouldYouDo/#
dito sa US napakakumplikado ng mga relationships, especially sa office, you have to watch out what you are saying, baka makasuhan ka ng sexual harrassment, even the pictures that you post in your cubicle can be deemed as being racist. I have a Peruvian co-worker who joined me and my El Salvadoran walking partner for a walk during lunchtime, when we get to Civic Center and she saw the Gay and Lesbians Couples coming out of City Hall after getting married: she loudly said “It’s the end of the world, look at those people”, I informed my El Salvadoran friend that I will not walk with this Peruvian lady again, I do respect her opinion but from now on I ahve to keep my distance from her, I couldnt believe it how prejudice she was since her daughter who has just graduated from her law course on and have campaigned for Obama actively
I just saw the video, lcm. Darn, I am particularly disturbed about the statement of the woman who was interviewed last — that it’s not about what they say but about what God says, and about gay couples having less chance of going to heaven. Wow, that woman sure has a discriminatory God.
it is a test to our human nature and it is a test to us most Filipinos, being Roman Catholics and conservative, here in the US, the LGBT is part of the political arena, they are not just your hairdressers as always portrayed in the Phil movies. They are a very significant part of the society, and with the passing of Prop 8, there are continuing rallies all over the US because huge funding came from the Mormon church. http://www.noonprop8.com/ Aside from the economic news as headlines everyday, this issue will also on the front page everyday
Connie, yes, it’s doubly sad. I’m not sure where the “cure” is.
This Prop 8 thing passing is just so frustrating to me, who has a beloved gay brother and a gay cousin. I am so sick of religious reasons being cited for passing these laws. So much for separation of state and church. You should really see the ridiculous videos advertising against prop 8. In-your-face manipulative.
Been reading up on Prop 8, intending to write a column about it. But it makes me so angry especially because I know — I KNOW — that some sectors in the Philippines will capitalize on it sooner than later.
there will always be that Sector who will capitalize with their evil intentions but we all have our moral and God given judgement to do the right thing to the human race = we are all equal
hmmm…..di ba sa kasabihan na sa atin ang mga ito…”Gawain ng matatanda ay tama sa paningin ng mga bata”…at ito pa….”Ginagawa ng matatanda ay gagawin din ng mga bata”…di ba?
We will never know how much we influenced other people by our own actions and lack of action.
Nice topic this one is. More power!!
sassy, i think this boils down to conflict between man’s (oftentimes blind) loyalty to his own personal beliefs and tolerance for different views. Sadly, for most people, these two simply don’t go together.
siu, that would make each person a potential dictator or zealot. Or both.
hi just wondering where could that beautiful girl named oya de leon would be right now,she is really beautiful in her time bakit isang movie lang ang nagawa nya do you have any info about her?i just watch the trailer in youtube and i feel inlove with her already pls let me know where can i find her