Ideas

One person's great idea is another person's great folly. However, those of us in the information-driven world are now bombarded with the ideas of the few who dominate the media through celebrity. Many of these ideas are simply foolish. Others are mean-spirited. Few are brilliant.

It becomes more important to me to elicit and listen to the ideas of others in my life. This is becoming a more conscious and routine part of my practice. This is not always easy. It appears to me that the past ten years of post-911 conformity has made "opinionated" a dirty word. It seems easier to get an answer about a choice between shocking pink and fuchsia than about a choice between black and white, even when black and white are the real colors involved in a situation. This would be less frustrating if people were aware of how equivocal they have become. Most often they are not.

The culture of media celebrity has established a new rule: Your idea sucks unless you have a millions hits on your site. This is truly dangerous. It will further dumb down the culture. Intelligent conversation gives way to discussion of the ideas of celebrities. This is not intelligence. This is conformist mimicry.

Of course, the risk of voicing an original or controversial idea is also very evident in the modern media. Reading the comment page on any given Web site can be like witnessing a public stoning. The one person who voices a completely different angle from all others is frequently called "stupid" or "crazy". It is the ugly merging of mob mentality with conformist complacency.

I participate daily in this medium of Web posting. I do so as a part of my humanist practice. I do not post Google ads here because this is not about selling myself, yoga mats or massage oils. This alone is a cause of consternation, I am sure, for some who stumble upon this blog. "Why the hell is he doing this?" must be a FAQ about this site. The answer is simple. I am doing this practice to keep my own mind alive, to foster my own ideas by writing them down where others can read them. When I am given the gift of any thoughtful comment on one of my posts, I am absolutely delighted. This happens rarely, but I am not doing this to provoke. I am doing it to share ideas and invite others to do the same. I want to see a culture of ideas, not celebrity, to thrive.