If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; But if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.
–Don Marquis
smritiweb.com… Making you think that you are thinking…
Items of general interest – for mass consumption
If you make people think they’re thinking, they’ll love you; But if you really make them think, they’ll hate you.
–Don Marquis
smritiweb.com… Making you think that you are thinking…
This is a great post that contains insights on how our brain works, how we fit into society, and stereotypes:
It’s simply the way our brains are built. We each have a certain circle of people who we think of as people. Usually it’s our own friends and family and neighbors and classmates and coworkers (or at least the ones in your department) and church or suicide cult.
This is literally the reason society doesn’t work quite right. The people who exist outside that core group of a few dozen people are not people to us. They’re sort of one-dimensional bit characters.
[…]Or think of it this way: Which would upset you more, your brother dying, or a dozen kids across town getting killed because their bus collided with a truck hauling killer bees?
Which would be bigger news to your neighbors, those dozen mutilated bus children across town or 15,000 dead in an earthquake in Iran?
See full article. Long, but worth reading. Take some time out and read it some day.
Earlier I had pointed to an article by an African economist complaining about how aid to Africa is doing more harm than good. Now Uzodinma Iweala an African author has another interesting article that is in a similar vein, but makes a slightly different point:
Why do the media frequently refer to African countries as having been “granted independence from their colonial masters,” as opposed to having fought and shed blood for their freedom? Why do Angelina Jolie and Bono receive overwhelming attention for their work in Africa while Nwankwo Kanu or Dikembe Mutombo, Africans both, are hardly ever mentioned? How is it that a former mid-level U.S. diplomat receives more attention for his cowboy antics in Sudan than do the numerous African Union countries that have sent food and troops and spent countless hours trying to negotiate a settlement among all parties in that crisis?
See the full article. It makes some rather interesting points.