Well, it's my thing. Here's my thing about the whole masses
idea:
We're taught this idea from the start that there's VIPs, and
then there's "The Masses".
The VIP controls the Masses.
But... do they really? Did people used to be stupid but now
we're smarter? We have the same hardware and software. Same
capabilities. Just because we're here, now, why would we behave
differently if we were born in 9th century France?*
(which I think was Gaul and I really know NOTHING about because
I'm not into French stuff)
IF we say that rulers used religion and morality to control the
masses then, we have to ask, "What are rulers using now to
control the masses?"
After all, WE would have to then be "the Masses" of today.
It's not religion. They lost their hold on people long ago for
the most part. Ok, there are nut jobs but I'm not talking about
the nutters; just regular people.
So what's replaced it? What cultural assumptions do we have that
we don't even THINK about? What education did WE receive that we
don't question and assume is "just true?"
We have influences too. We don't even see it.*
It gets really strange when you look at your own assumptions
about "What's true" and start to see that you too are a part of
a way of thinking that you THINK is "yours" but really, it's
just as programmed as ANYTHING we think happened in the past.
That's why I try to think of people as people. If I start
thinking of them as masses, I have to think of myself that way
too.
I've deconstructed a few of the cultural assumptions that I
carried without thinking but i have a long way to go.
*I *think* the concept that we received about morality and
religion controlling the masses came from Karl Marx.
Modern education is primarily Marxism.
Doesn't mean it's bad, but it's a viewpoint that infects most of
what we learn and believe to be true.
