Anyone who keeps livestock will know that even the most domesticated animal will spook once the herd or flock itself has been upset, and it is rare for a single animal to stay quietly by you, when the rest of the herd is panic-stricken. This is because such individuality as they have is weak by comparison with their social nature. We humans however, are told that we have superior brains, and that the social-side and the individual-side of our nature is balanced and so we are less liable to panic.
Despite this however, humanity seems to follow the fad of the day and so I have an admiration for those who are sufficiently self-confident to stand quietly whilst the rest of humanity rushes around. A view apparently shared by George Bernard Shaw the playwright and critic who said, “The majority is always wrong.”
The crowd generally pursues its interest through campaigning groups which know how to grab the attention. They know that politicians invariably respond to the adage; ‘feed the squealing pig first,’ and so calibrate their message to be both irritating and loud.
Occasionally, a message from one of these groups finds echoes in the pulpit and during July, a phrase used caused me to muse on the latest wheeze. This involves carbon footprints which we are told we should feel guilty about. It appears that we can reduce our footprint and our guilt by ringing a telephone number. We are then told that the solution includes more exercise, and insulation but less electricity and waste.
Many of us don’t need to feel guilty about insulation, turning off lights and waste reduction, and so are bemused by those who imagine that they lessen their own guilt by blaming the rest of us for excess carbon. A friend of mine fell for their ploy, and now feels so guilty that whenever she goes on holiday she offsets the carbon by paying someone to plant a tree.
This reminded me of how our ancestors got rid of guilt. Some did it by blaming everything on the village (scape) goat, whilst others developed a sophisticated system of pilgrimages. As each pilgrimage was worth a number of points a sin offset system soon emerged.
However, this system fell out of favour when the wealthy started sending servants in their stead, and some even committed sins in advance, knowing that their upcoming trip was worth enough points to offset the sin.
The idea of offsetting sin now has its modern equivalent. It can be seen when the politico-celebrity plants a forest to offset the carbon generated as he jets around telling the rest of us we should feel guilty about using light bulbs.
He uses various techniques to make us feel guilty, but none as obvious as that used by the preacher of a tiny church in Tennessee. He announced he wanted the congregation to read the seventeenth chapter of Mark before the following Sunday.
The week went by and when he rose to speak, he asked the congregation to raise their hands if they had read the Mark.17. As the hands staggered aloft he said, “That’s strange, because Mark only wrote sixteen however, you have proved the point of today’s sermon which is that, if you want to make men act like sheep, you first make them feel guilty.”
He continued, “unlike you, the majority do not go to church nowadays, but people still make themselves feel good by making others feel bad.” ……
View from the Pew 