As IF Times

link: Michigan Coach Apologizes After Letting High School Soccer Player Score 16 Goals (insider.com)

It’s frightening how quickly the sentiment of a nation can change within only a few generations. The perception of America as being the frontier of equality, of freedom and the best place on earth for those with ambition and verve is famously immortalized in literature, in song and in popular culture.  Oddly, that perception is likely to be held more so by non-Americans these days than by its own inhabitants.

The guiding principle of what it is to be an American has been undercut by a new sentiment of entitlement and ‘fairness’.  Ironically, in true American fashion, an entire industry has burst on to the scene like mushrooms after a rain to take advantage of Americans’ seemingly insatiable appetite for the moaning and self-righteous navel gazing that has consumed the nation.  There are consultants readily available to come to your school or business to tell you (at great expense) how awful you are, how awful you have been and how awful you likely will be.  This yen for self flagellation is at an industrial level of application. It evokes images of people paying for the S&M experience on a grotesque scale.  It’s shocking that leather boots and whip sales aren’t skyrocketing.  The only solution includes policies of contrition towards those aggrieved or disadvantaged but which most importantly includes lots of money transferred to the unfortunate.

The new politically correct zeitgeist has trickled down to affect all aspects of culture, like a pervasive, nasty virus (a real one, not the current popular one imagined by the hysterical mob).  We now observe this everywhere as the aspiration for “fairness” in all things supersedes any yearning for excellence.  We could just label it for what it actually is and that is, the mania for mediocrity.  The link above describes how a school was tsk-tsk’d for allowing their soccer team to crush their opposition in a lopsided contest.

Actually, it was because of the talent of only one particular player, who scored 16 of the 17 goals posted by halftime.  At that point they decided to call the game.  The losing team has a history of ‘non-winning’ as we’ll call it and many took umbrage at yet another humiliating loss.  In an earlier time, it may have behooved the losing school to try something a bit different rather than continue on their path of mediocrity.  In another time, some scouts from the Pro leagues may have been sent out to look at the talented kid scoring all the goals. The lesson is that gifted people must sublimate their abilities in deference to the less gifted.  Imagine how that would have work if a bear appeared and you were only allowed to run as quickly as your slowest buddy.  It’s reverse Darwinism.  One can imagine an entire industry created to make sports clothing with “we’re not bad” as the slogan.

This is but an example of the dumbing down of the expectations of everyone and is therefore the surest way towards a two sided society; one side which contains those that encourage and accepts mediocrity while the other, much smaller side consists of capable and bright people who will take advantage of those on the other side.  In other words, masters versus subjects.  Meanwhile we are allowing the least qualified amongst us to drive the agenda!  And the name Brandon doesn’t even come up.

While it may be true that in the early years of America, the opportunities were much bigger because populations were smaller and horizons broader, it is also true that formalized restrictions to ideas were largely absent. This is why the industrial juggernaut grew in America and not in Europe. But then, along with the great ideas and achievements by ordinary people who were allowed to dream big, came the bureaucrats and busybodies who began to pile on rules and policies to make things difficult.  At first, they were marginal, but over the years, aided by ravenous governments, the bureaucrats began to dominate life rather than only pester at the perimeter.

We’ve now seemingly reached the point that excellence is no longer even an acceptable aspiration. It’s difficult to find a more poignant illustration of this than to observe the now almost 2 years of Covid hysteria.  Despite ample data to show that the malaise could be addressed in an intelligent manner, the default position is to treat the population like low IQ subjects in the most inefficient way possible.  Somehow the dummies have taken control.

In an article by Sharyl Atkinson, she reveals how the Amish community has dealt with the ‘crisis’ experienced by the world outside of their community.  Surprisingly (to some), they’ve handled it very well and without all of the associated hysteria that has consumed the greater population.

Well this can’t be right.  It’s the equivalent of scoring 17 goals on the opponent.  It won’t be long before some bureaucrat decides to vaccinate them all….for their safety and so everyone doesn’t look bad.

One of the surest ways to be successful in life, at least in the monetary sense, is to sell a product that people want or need.  Basic essentials to be sure, but there are lots of obstacles in that realm; thin margins, competition, economies of scale etc.

Another way, and which is better by far, is to sell something that people don’t really need but think they do.  The entire luxury goods industry is built upon this premise and this includes most everything we see advertised daily on all media fronts.  This consumerism is the engine behind all robust economies.  Think of watches that cost as much as a small villa when you could just as easily ask someone the time for free.  Once you have planted the idea in people’s psyches that they must have something, they will go to great lengths to get it, including of course taking on great debt.

This peculiar human frailty is rooted in insecurity.  People feel that they won’t measure up to others if they don’t achieve or possess that which everyone else seems to have.  The advertising industry figured this out long ago and they are very adept at tapping that inner need of humans to belong to a group.  Oddly, they sell group think in a me too kind of way.  A prime example of this is the Peloton fitness machine.  The idea of a stationary cycle was bad enough, but they’ve managed to sell a machine costing thousands of dollars to be hooked up to a network of other people riding in place.  Heaven forbid they should go out and ride a real bike in the fresh air.  The costly stationary bike is essential because there’s no money involved in having people run in place.

This same innate insecurity prevalent in people also has an associated emotion and that is fear. The combination of these two elements plays a big role in the human experience.  As we’ve noted, advertisers have already figured this out, but increasingly governments are also employing techniques to influence people using methods which address people’s fears. When governments use fear as a tactic to influence people, we know it by the more nefarious label of propaganda.  Looking back through history, this was the most powerful tool that governments had at their disposal.  Once you’ve convinced a populace of a narrative, the people will absorb the message and embrace it regardless of observable logic.

A man named Edward Bernays is probably unknown to most people, but he is considered by many professionals to be the father of Public Relations.  Bernays’ publications include the frightening titles of “Propaganda”, “Crystallizing Public Opinion” and “The Engineering of Consent”.  His ideas were considered quite dangerous by many, including a Supreme Court Justice at the time.  Essentially, Bernays opined that democracy should not be held in the hands of the unwashed masses, but that the world’s wealthy and powerful must “protect” those lower on the class rung….from themselves.

It’s patently obvious that the events of the past 20 months worldwide are manifestations of the ability of governments to tap into the fears and wants of the general public.  If you were to turn the clock back even 5 years, the very notion of people being masked, of being segregated from families and friends, of being denied access to places would be laughingly preposterous…much less a mandatory vaccine with unproven and questionable efficacy.  Governments could not impose such a regime unless they have carefully conditioned the populace to want such actions.  In essence governments have successfully made their citizens imprison themselves.  There is even a label for this kind of behavior and that is Stockholm Syndrome whereby imprisoned people eventually begin to actually identify with their captors.  We are now witnessing this on a global scale.

No amount of logical counter narrative is enough to move the opinions of the public once they have been convinced of the official narrative.  It’s no longer about fear anymore, it’s about belonging to a larger group.  It’s hard to know when or how the delusion will end since every day, governments get emboldened by ever more restrictive measures without pushback.  There is hope as some nations are experiencing more and more outrage by average citizens that have realized that government actions are not about health.  The absurdity of “do this for your own health or we’ll beat you” has finally beginning to dawn on people.  It’s no longer a health challenge, it’s an IQ test.