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UPSG -> RE: "Group Thinker" or Independent Thinker? (3/22/2009 10:24:15 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: UncleNasty
Off the cuff responses:
Humans are social animals. Another way to think of that is we are herd animals. We may as well be herds of antelope on the veldt.
That's what I've always been told, that humans are social animals. This is probably a major reason why community, ethnicity, marriage, and various cultures different notions of "heritage" are important to us. We regard loyalty as a virtue, no?
Group think is probably most pronounced in small groups or within the rank and file of corporations (Japanese corporations have been notorious for this).
Obtaining the rank of Corporal in the USMC comes with a different level of responsibility than obtaining that same rank in the U.S. Army. As a Corporal the group size you are charged with, I think definitely is applicable to "group think." On one hand, group think is critical to the cohesiveness and success of a rifle team or squad. Yet, on the other hand, strong leadership is needed if a level of ethics is to be maintained and rape and atrocities committed against local non-combatants to be avoided. That means raising the muzzle end of your rifle to the cranium of your troop, and letting him know, and others, in no uncertain terms, that if he or others follow through with rape or assault, you will blow their brains out in nano seconds.
Lots of atrocities occur in military units because of group think. Civilians - especially with no military experience - think you should let every rapist any violent convict in the military to fight wars. Military officers know differently. History has shown differently.
Famed Black-American jazz artists Wynston Marsalis once said that you can't be a rebel in the contemporary youth culture of Black-America if you dismiss and deplore formal education and the development of your own academic knowledge base. He stated that to be a rebel required going against the grain and not following the norm. Not that one should be a rebel for the sake of being a rebel, but I have to agree with homie on this.
The idea of "common knowledge" or the group's "we all know" are very strong articles of faith in contemporary U.S. culture and from my experience, especially so in Black-American groups. Sometimes common knowledge may be correct or partially correct, and sometimes it can be incorrect or partially incorrect. So, independent thinking seems to require one reflect within his or her own thoughts and counsil.
I think Malcolm X demonstrated breaking from group think when he began to depart from the articles of faith within the N.O.I. It cost him his life of course.
quote:
Wynton Learson Marsalis (born October 18, 1961) is an American trumpeter and composer. He is among the most prominent jazz musicians of the modern era and is also a well-known instrumentalist in classical music. He is also the Musical Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. A compilation of his series of inspirational letters to a young jazz musical student, named Anthony, has been published as To a Young Jazz Musician.
Marsalis has made his reputation with a combination of skill in jazz performance and composition, a sophisticated yet earthy and hip personal style, an impressive knowledge of jazz and jazz history, and skill as a virtuoso classical trumpeter. As of 2006, he has made sixteen classical and more than thirty jazz recordings, has been awarded nine Grammys between the genres, and has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the first time it has been awarded for a jazz recording.
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