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A Response to Doris Lessing's "Group Minds."
Human beings are born naturally dependent upon one another.In fact, in order for a baby to survive and thrive in its first few years of life, it needs the constant support of other humans.Yet, even as we mature and grow wiser in our years, we do not gradually become independent from one another rather we become interdependent.In the course of our lives we will form many relationships built on a give-and-take basis with our family, friends, community, and culture. Humans have become so accustomed to this because we are biologically designed to live, play, grow and work in groups.In fact, just as Doris Lessing said in "Group Minds," very few people enjoy being solitaries, and they are constantly looking for groups to belong to.We are social creatures, which automatically empowers us with the strength to join with others to create something stronger, more adaptive and more creative than any individual, the group.Lessing's overall concern is that we, the human race, have a great deal of information available to ourselves, however, we refuse to use it to improve our social groups and structures, therefore our own lives.I believe that she is right, and once we realize exactly how groups control our very lives, we can then begin to examine how to build group minds that promote only love and the betterment of our society.
Our society believes that we are free individuals who think and speak for ourselves everyday, but that is not true because we are unconsciously influenced by groups continuously. Any relationship of two or more people with similar views and opinions is the perfect example of how easily and unknowingly groups are formed.These phenomena can be witnessed more clearly by examining different cases ranging from the enthusiasm of the fans at sporting events, the heated focus of a political debate, simple business engagements, to the mutual elation of heartfelt prayer meetings.We head off to work and school together in the morning and flock together in the mall at night.We coordinate our meals, celebrations, and even bed times together.We would like to think of ourselves as individuals, but are we actually aware of our group minds?Our definition of individualism is set by our culture, but our behavior and the way we often think is set by our family, media, co-workers, and even strangers.We may obey the traffic laws out of respect for the authoritative figures or fear of punishment if caught breaking them, but in reality we really are trying to avoid the horn honks and unfriendly gestures we might receive from our fellow drivers. We could run the red lights, cut people off, and drive an excessive speed, but it wouldn't feel right.The social feedback would be unacceptable to us.Our behavior is influenced by the group norms, which we arrive at by a group consensus.With these examples, we can see how the thoughts and emotions of individual people are heavily influenced by collective attitudes and in many cases, even governed and controlled by them. Even Lessing agrees that while groups are not bad, the most dangerous part is not understanding just how much they actually control our lives and personal opinions.
In "Group Minds," Doris Lessing states that while the people living in the free world claim they are at liberty to believe and live as they wish, they are neglectful in realizing how much their opinions evolve from other peoples influences.With family, work, and other social groups being an important part of the American lifestyle, Lessing says it is only natural for people to live and congregate in groups.Lessing argues that very few people want to live in complete isolation, and in fact, are constantly looking for groups to belong to.While everyone has experiences of group pressures, continues Lessing, they hardly ever portray themselves as someone who lives and thinks similarly of those in their groups.Once we join a group we often change our ways of thinking to conform with the group, Lessing writes, and there is nothing harder than trying to maintain your own opinions while being a group member.Lessing concludes that the reason why an individual never challenges the opinions and affirmations of a group is because they are developed by the entire group mind, and challenging these might cause the entire group to collapse.
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Lessing strongly points out that the hardest thing for an individual to do is to maintain their own personal opinion while being a member of a group, which is correct in my opinion.And even with the constant pressures to remain true to a group, individuals do challenge group opinions and beliefs, but not without facing criticism, dispute, and anger when they go against the group mind. This was most recently recognized when on September 14, 001, Representative Barbara Lee, Democrat of California, voted against the House bill that granted President Bush authority to use force to counter the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (Nichols 1).She was the sole member of our Congress to do so.In fact, a poll suggested that 0 percent of Americans favored some use of force in response to the attacks (Nichols 1), but Lee stood her ground.When Lee told her Democratic colleagues of her plan to vote against the bill, they begged her not to do it, yet, Lee still recorded her vote as "no."In the days that followed she was marked as a traitor, a communist and could not go outdoors without being escorted by bodyguards.As the weeks progressed, she began to receive words of encouragement and other colleagues admitted to her about wanting to vote against the bill, but they were too afraid to stand up to the vote in fear of being seen as "soft on terrorism" (Nichols ).
Often we are afraid to stand up for our beliefs simply because we want to conform to the group.Even when we do question the beliefs and opinions of our group mind, we are often pressured into agreeing with the group as a whole, and like Lessing says, we even begin to change our own way of thinking just to belong to a group.Since the attacks on September 11, 001, a group of teenagers have produced six short movies about what the war on terrorism means to them.In one of the movies, a teenager is quoted as saying, "it didn't use to be cool to have a flag on your car, but today its practically politically correct," (Rockwell).This is yet another example of how we conform to a group, even though it might mean changing our own beliefs and personal style.We constantly want to fit in.
We label ourselves as individuals, yet fail to understand how groups exercise their influence over us.Even in circumstances that we know are wrong and definitely should not conform to the group, we often continue to follow through with the group mind.As Lessing stated before that it is almost impossible to stand firm on your beliefs while taking part in a group, she also said that some of our most shameful memories are how often we might have said black was white just because other people were saying it.A prime example is when Stanley Milgram set out to determine the extent to which traditional individuals would obey the clearly immoral orders of an authority figure.Milgram tested how certain individuals would respond to inflicting pain onto another person because another figure told them to. He developed an experiment in which someone was required to study a list of paired words.Another person was instructed to quiz the learner on the list of words.Each time that person could not remember the paired word, he was given an electrical shock as a punishment.Each and every time the learner missed the pairing word, the intensity of the shock was increased.The person who was administering the shocks surprisingly was not too upset at having to send the electrical impulses until the victim became noticeably uncomfortable, at which point they often wanted to bail the experiment.However, the authority figure in the experiment would instruct the quizzer to continue no matter what.Even more surprisingly, the quizzer would usually continue a few more times before they would adamantly refuse to send the electrical shocks to the student any more. Originally the theory was that many would stop the experiment being aware that the person that they were shocking was indeed being harmed, but that was proven wrong (Milgram).
In the experiment there was no physical consequence for the individual pushing the button if they said no. People in this situation believed that the scientist knew what he/she was doing, so they assumed that what they were doing was acceptable also, even though in actuality they believed it was not right. Subjects gave up their free will to choose because a higher authority told them to do so. This is a classic example that proves that conforming to the group or even an authority figure is not always the best option.
"If we are truly individuals then why do we not stand up for our own morals and values?" Lessing questions.It just proves that we as humans are convinced that authority figures and massive groups know all the answers and we shall act out their every wish. Even though we can think for ourselves, we follow the authority for the sake of the group mind. Milgram explains his results "for many, obedience is a deeply ingrained behavior tendency, indeed a potent impulse overriding training in ethics, sympathy, and moral conduct" (44).
Most of us obey every day without a thought.People follow company dress code, state and federal laws and the assumed roles of courtesy.Those who do disobey are usually frowned upon or possibly even punished.But in some cases, disobedience may be the better course to choose for our own personal safety and for the maintenance of our morals and values.In Doris Lessing's short story, "Group Minds," she discusses these dangers of obedience, which are also demonstrated in another short story, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.In "The Lottery," the villagers portray Lessing's observation that "its the hardest thing in the world to maintain an individual dissident opinion, as a member of a group" (4).The villagers also show how being a visionless member of a group can be dangerous.As Lessing points out, "the majority will continue to insist and after a period of exasperation the minority will fall into line" (4).The group behavior in "The Lottery" was certainly risky to all those involved.Aside from the obvious threat of the "lottery winner" being stoned to death; it was a village tradition.Anyone who thought differently was taunted at and taken for a fool.Certainly, if one is considered a fool simply for disagreeing with tradition, it presents those involved with the danger of impeding change.As a direct effect of this group mentality, civil population murdered one of its own with no sign of ever ceasing the practice.All it would have taken was one person to stand up and state his opinion, whether it is the entire group's decision or not.It only takes one person to speak his mind for the whole group to have another perspective of opinion.As conscious beings who are self aware, we have the potential to make positive use of the group mind for the renewing of the human condition.
Obviously each person has his/her own prejudices, bias, and emotions related to certain decisions that society has placed there. Some individuals will do things that they do not want to because an authority figure told them to do so, others will agree with something that is wrong because everyone else agrees. Since we live in a society that proclaims everyone has the freedom to choose, we should not then give up this right and become mindless humans. Individuals are afraid to think for themselves and the thing that often fails them is the trust of their own judgments. Lessing suggests, "you must learn to contemplate these rules calmly, dispassionately, disinterestedly, without emotions" (8). To do so would allow us to think for ourselves and not be persuaded in any other direction by any other factors. As humans we are naturally social creatures. That is how civilization began, by humans interacting with each other. We need to be able to understand ourselves and trust ourselves so that we can make our own decisions, and not turn in to mindless humans who just follow the crowd. In the end the main person that is affected by decisions is the one who is making the decision.While being a part of a group is something that will never change, we can build better "group minds" which are based upon love, clarity, and progressive intents, thereby, bringing about a new era for ourselves.Works Cited
Jackson, Shirley.The Lottery.(148) by Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc.Rpt. in Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum.Ed. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen.7th ed. Addison Wesley Longman.000.8-0.
Lessing, Doris. "Group Minds."Prisons We Choose to Live Inside. (188) by HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. n.pag.Rpt. in Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum.Ed. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen.7th ed.Addison Wesley Longman. 000. -5.
Milgram, Stanley."The Perils of Disobedience." from"Obedience to Authority".Harper's Magazine.(174) by HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. n.pag.Rpt. in Writing and Reading Across the Curriculum.Ed. Laurence Behrens and Leonard J. Rosen.7th ed.Addison Wesley Longman. 000.4-55.
Nichols, John."The Lone Dissenter "'Traitor,' 'Coward,' 'Communist.'"The Progressive v65 (001).Expanded Academic ASAP.Gale Group.
Rockwell, Peigi T."Red, White and Blue Patriotism." The Hamilton Spectator pA15 (00). Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe. Gale Group.
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