Are ATS Members Losing The Ability To think For Themselves ?

Greetings all .

Im writing this thread because i have noticed what seems to be an alarming trend that seems to be happening more and more over these past few months .

The truth is there always was a small element of this, but over the last couple of months i have come to notice this strange situation grow and grow until now , i thought i would compose a thread on the subject to see if there are other members out there like myself who are noticing this too .

Im not going to point fingers and call peoples names out about this and it is my very last wish to step on peoples toes or make them feel that i am singling them out .
Instead i believe that if there are others who have seen what i have seen then we will all get a general idea about those of you whom it seems are included in this subject .

What i am talking about is the fact that as i come to ATS nearly everyday and read up on my interests as well as open my eyes to new things , I am seeing a loss of individual thinking and/or ganging up of certain people as soon as certain member enter a thread with there ideas .

It seems that there are certain members that have a whole bunch of followers under them and these people will promote ( sometimes insultingly ) the members ideas and thoughts of whom they follow . Its almost like there are people here whose words are gospel and as soon as they open there mouth about something ten other people jump on there bandwagon without a second thought and start preaching the "leaders" ideas as if they were stone cold facts.

I have even seen members reply to a thread , not to build on or collaborate on the subject at hand or offer new insight ,but to just say "I cant wait till * Insert name here* sees this thread" ...

It almost seems that some members here have little cults that follow them everywhere only to jump in and promote the "leaders" ideas unquestionably .

There is a big difference between sharing a viewpoint and being a "groupie"

This is apparent with the star system too , A member can lay an awesome eye opening reply down into a thread and only get a couple of stars but then another member can come in and add a couple of lines of mere thought and they will get stars that go off the board .

I think that it is so wrong and is the last thing we should bring ourselves to doing .

I just thought i would post this thread and get your thoughts on this subject .
I respect all your replies and i just wanted to know if i am the only one seeing this .

We are all equal and all have the same goal in mind , It is up to US to think for ourselves and come to our own conclusions about the things in this world.


Here at AboveTopSecret i thought we were meant to stand up for what we believe in and grow as INDIVIDUALS , not hypocritically emulate the sheeple that we fight so hard not to be .

Respectfully Yours My Fellow ATS Members .


Omega

i cant give an opinion until phage comes and debunks this nonsense.

he will show you.

you just wait.

reply to post by Omega85


I have noticed in a couple of threads where that was done. I can share your view somewhat, even though I do not think that it has really affected ATS all that much. There are some people who will always follow others, and then there are some people who will bring about ideas and try to fully comprehend who they are.

The majority of any large group is mindless and likely to follow another instead of blazing its own path.

What makes you think that ATS would be any different?





[edit on 11-7-2010 by Mr Mask]

Hi Omega85,

Like you, I spend alot of time around here reading threads, and have noticed the same thing.

Each of us has something to contribute to a thread whether it's strictly correct or not. I think that in relying on some people to swoop in and formulate an answer that is considered 'set in stone' by their followers is inherently against what ATS should be about.

I'm certainly not blaming anyone for being informed in their individual field of research, but rather the people who will hang off every word said and formulate their beliefs based upon that one person. We joined this community for a reason - be it for informed debate or simply being able to put forth their viewpoint without having to go thru unreasonable criticism simply because it doesn't fit with an another's 'more informed' opinion.

So thank you to the dissenters and the people who will always keep a clear mind and exercise their ability to put forth their own views on a subject. That should be what drives ATS to be a great community, it's certainly the reason I want to contribute and be part of this community rather then anywhere else on the net.

Lets stop belonging to a cult of personality and become people who exercise their own freewill.

Cheers
Shane

I agree.

The sycophancy towards some users is so irritating.

Phage is one example. Not that I have anything against him personally.

Just the way users fawn over him and wait for him to come into a thread to lay down the final judgement on a topic.

It's embarrasing to watch.

You'd think that given the nature of this site, you would not see so much of this 'Herd Mentality', but it is rife.

Cant people think for themselves? Do they have no confidence in their own abilities and observations?

Originally posted by Kram09

Phage is one example. Not that I have anything against him personally.
Just the way users fawn over him and wait for him to come into a thread to lay down the final judgement on a topic.

But Phage uses science.
There are a lot of people around gaining leadership by using non-science, which is more troubling.

Happens on alot of websites .. Just like in the real world when people gather cliques form.. Human nature in action nothing unusual in that...

reply to post by Omega85


ATS are not losing it.

What do you believe in?

Have a life or don't?

Originally posted by LurkerMan
i cant give an opinion until phage comes and debunks this nonsense.

he will show you.

you just wait.

Any thread that has this with in the first 3 posts, I stay away from like the plague. People have already made up their minds, before this person even shows up.

No matter how much thought was put into the original post, or whatever research has been done, sadly the thread is trashed.

That's the real sad part, not that this "expert," will even ever show up!

Originally posted by Silver Star
It's embarrasing to watch.

I truly is embarrassing. Everytime I see this happening, I cringe. Don't people know how it makes them look? Do they care? It would seem they do care because why else would they wait to comment?

I guess there is a bright side to it though, it makes it easy to identify those that aren't thinking for themselves, and therefore, aren't contributing anything new to the thread.

I have a solution, let's make are own group! Called the free thinkers club, we can all wear smoking jackets and discuss the state of ATS.

I have noticed this to some degree, the wait until (insert name) gets here. I have only seen that for one name. I think it's just the way it's gonna be, I'm fairly new but this can't really be only a recent thing surely it's as old as the hills?

Originally posted by Blanca Rose

Originally posted by LurkerMan
i cant give an opinion until phage comes and debunks this nonsense.

he will show you.

you just wait.

Any thread that has this with in the first 3 posts, I stay away from like the plague. People have already made up their minds, before this person even shows up.

I do the opposite.

I like to stick around these threads for a laugh.

The psychology of the posters in these threads becomes the source of entertainment, rather than the subject matter they are supposed to be discussing.

I don't have a problem with people speculating on a topic themselves and then saying I'd be interested in Phages views on this matter.

What does annoy me is users who don't bother to think or come up with any ideas or theories themselves. They just say:

"I can't wait to see what Phage has to say."

Or something along those lines. That's it. No attempt to think anything themselves.

Why should it bother any of you whether people wait for an opinion from someone THEY respect or happen to share the same mindset with?? I mean, you know, if you're all thinking for yourselves that is....

and as a side note, bringing to the forefront a particular member to be talked about gives you the same "pack" mentality...

note I have not replied to anyone in particular, but if you respond, it means I may have hit a nerve?? Don't call things out that you may do amongst yourselves, even in a thread such as this, you are in fact looking for like-minded people to begin with.....Meh...

Originally posted by LurkerMan
i cant give an opinion until phage comes and debunks this nonsense.

he will show you.

you just wait.

Being sarcastic you are, but this is precisely what the problem is.

Phage is just posting what he has studied and understands as core scientifically-based concepts. He doesn’t ask for people to make smart-ass comments about him and he certainly doesn’t blindingly follow other members because they are ‘friends’.

At least he contributes to the posting quality and doesn’t just throw out any immature nonsense passing it off as ‘research’ or ‘case closed’ crap!

The fact that people keep making remarks about the person rather than the posting seems to point at the concern that they are afraid that he may actually be right, which can only allude to them being wrong.

Not having the ability to think for oneself is the trait of a child, so think a little about that before you post!!

Since I have joined this site, from the get go, there was a thread that spoke to an alarming trend among members of ATS, and every few weeks since there is a new thread created to address the alarming trend among ATS members. I keep wondering when the trend will cease to be alarming, and simply become understood for what it is, a trend.

All of us, at some point, can be too quick to judge our fellow members, and too quick to dismiss them as not thinking for themselves and simply going along with the flow, or with the indoctrination they have been subject to, or simply just mindless. Just earlier today, I wound up becoming befriended by a new member, not because we were in agreement, and strangely, through our strong disagreement both of us seemed to recognize that we agreed upon more than we disagreed, but it was due to that fierce and stubborn disagreement that we became friends. Indeed, at least a quarter of those who have befriended are not people who agree with me, but people who sharply disagree with me, and yet recognize that I am not their enemy and despite our differences, I am not their foe.

In fact, I refuse to foe anyone in this site. I see no purpose in it, and for all my disagreements with others, few have chosen to foe me. These members of whom I had disagreements with think for themselves, and even though it can be frustrating for me, as I have no doubt frustrating for them as well, we are all people who understand what we understand based on the level of awareness we have at any given time, and the level of awareness we have today may not be the same tomorrow, and that change may not be for the better. Emotions always come into play, and if we are not in control of our emotions then be rest assured our emotions are in control of us. If we do not maintain an emotional level above anger, we will surely succumb to anger, and then worse slide down the downward spiral of emotions below anger.

Anger and below function as filters to wisdom. We are not wise when we are angry, nor when we are apathetic, or even empathetic or sympathetic, and we are certainly not wise when we propitiate, or become obsessed with controlling others. We are wise when we are emotionally above anger, whether it be a conservative emotion, an emotion of action, or serenity, we are wise, but to maintain such emotions takes practice...lot's and lot's of practice. In the meantime, we will get angry, we will get depressed, we will propitiate, and we will enable others anger, depression and propitiation with our empathy and sympathy. We are human and if we are not being cause, then we are being the effect of some other cause. But whether we be effect, or whether we be cause, we are always thinking for ourselves. What we think for ourselves depends upon our wisdom at that time.

[edit on 11-7-2010 by Jean Paul Zodeaux]