On the side of the majority
“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.” Mark Twain.
Australians are going to the poll this weekend. Essentially to choose between two parties who are about as differentiated from each other as brie and camembert.
Images from wikipedia
Going for the majority may well be a good thing to do in politics. In life and business, following the majority can make life easier.
If you look and act similar enough to most of your competition, or you sell the same stuff, there is less of a need to educate your customers. If you are cheap enough, and in a convenient location, life’s good.
If you slot neatly into a set of life expectations shared by the majority of people in your community, you are easily categorised - people know what you do (or they think they do).
The cost of following the majority is innovation and differentiation. Individuals within the majority certainly have ideas of course, but it is much harder to seriously pursue and develop these ideas. Human groups by nature tend to keep every member in check. Consciously or not, groups simply don’t take kindly to different thinking from its members, as doing so threatens the stability of the group.
No wonder election after election we don’t see anything that is brave and visionary from our “leaders”. No wonder we see pork barrelling and other simplistic attempts to suck in the majority. It works!
Possibly Related Posts
5 comments on “On the side of the majority”
Leave a Comment
Noticeboard
Buy my book - 30% off and free shipping within Australia; 15% off and free shipping worldwide!
Are you a solopreneur doing it on your own? Read my articles on Flying Solo.
Are you a small to medium-sized business leader or decision maker? Read my articles on Kochie’s Business Builders.
My evolving Squidoo lenses summarise the key themes and thinking behind my work.
Follow me on twitter.
Visitor locations: click for details.
“Everything popular is wrong.” Oscar Wilde in The Importance of Being Earnest
He also said “A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.”
Huge difference between the two parties, Zern. There always has been and always will be. Don’t be fooled by a 6 week campaign. If there wasn’t such a huge difference, they’d merge and just simply be 2 different factions within the one party. The reason why their policies are similar is simply a part of Rudd’s strategy to oust Howard. If you have two men next to eachother, one saying he is similar to other guy but will overcome his shortcomings, who would you vote for? Simple strategy but damn smart – considering Australians were reluctant to take a risk for quite some time.
At their core, the two parties basically subscribe to two different values. One believes in conservatism (protect the status quo, keep things the way they are) the other is progressive (let’s build a better future). One is focused on thyself before the community and the environment, the other is focused on the community and the environment before thyself. One believes in the power of labour as a collective, united force to keep the establishment in-check, the other believes in breeding more success for those exclusive members of the establishment.
I hope your vote went the better way on Saturday…
Oh and by the way, I disagree with Wilde’s quote you posted in your comment. On what basis has this been asserted? If we’re talking in generalities then that quote is just plain wrong. It is rare that a majority is wrong – this foolishly assumes that people are stupid…
But then people are like sheep, they just follow the majority or somedbody who has a point of view. Having own opinion is a rarity these days. Which is why most people can be bothered to think. They look for simple (usually quick) solutions to complex questions.