Strange Beliefs and Herd Instinct. One of the amazing things about people is some of the things they believe. Another feature of being human is sometimes we just follow what others are doing without thinking about the consequences. Years ago, there was a computer game called Lemmings. The little lemmings would just follow the crowd of lemmings where ever they went and if it was off a cliff that was where they went. Crowds of people are sort of like this. Pet owners know their dogs and cats have no comprehension of private space. Dogs will lay all over you and sometimes pin your legs down when you are in bed trying to sleep, while cats will jump up on you even when you are eating and try and stick their head in your food. We are a little like this, except for maybe sticking our heads in your food. If there is a crowd of us waiting for an elevator, sometime so many will crush in it violates the capacity warning. The same is true for trains and other transportation. I think we have a herd instinct which is carried over from the Stone Age or even before and sometimes it rears its ugly head. There are some people who believe things which seem incredible to many of the rest of us. Take the Flat Earth Society for example. They believe the earth is flat meaning you could fall off the edge if you are not careful. Perhaps that would account for all the people who go missing each year. Seriously, how can anyone believe this with all the proof we have showing it could not possibly be flat? Just watching a ship sail over the horizon proves the earth is round. With the dawn of space travel and rockets taking photos of the earth as they leave, this should be proof enough and even if this is not believed it is easy to take a telescope and examine some of the other planets in our solar system and all of them are round. Could it be these people are just pulling our collective legs? In a survey of children in Britain 40% thought milk and eggs came from plants. One has to wonder where this idea came from. They had no idea milk came from a cow and eggs from a chicken. They didn’t even know where bacon came from. One has to wonder how finding out affected their eating habits. 20% of people in Great Britain didn’t know oranges were fruit. What is happening to education over there? I guess it is the same thing as what is happening over here. Even if people didn’t learn these things in school one would think the parents of children would have mentioned it to them. In another survey in England 18% of adults stated gravity can be seen. We all know the results of gravity can be seen, but gravity cannot. Years ago, most Americans believed in morality and truth but as the world changes, so does this belief. In a survey taken in 2020 Americans were questioned about morality and truth and 58% said it was up to individuals to decide what was moral and what was true. This shocked many who heard about the survey and maybe this is one of the reasons why this country is in so much trouble lately. Each person is deciding some of the things we considered were wrong to do are now okay with them. One has only to look at the crime rate in the United States. The world is full of strange beliefs. If you lived in South Korea and left a fan going all night it is believed by many it could kill you. The Korean government put out an advisory stating if you are going to use a fan all night you must leave a door or window open to prevent the chance of death. For some reason Koreans believe leaving a fan running all night can somehow suck up the oxygen in a room. One truly bizarre survey answer had to do with the question “what is html.” You may not know the answer but most of us would not have given the answer which 10% of the people gave which was a sexually transmitted disease. It is actually hypertext markup language and is used to tag text files in web pages. In surveys about 13% of Americans admit they are superstitious and yet it is said 35% admit picking up a penny is good luck. What are we to think about this discrepancy? I think a lot of people ARE superstitious and it is more than even the 35%. How many people walk around ladders for example or get upset when a black cat crosses in front of them? One has only to look at the expression on their face when this happens. One person told me they weren’t superstitious and said but why take a chance? There are a group of people who say they are rumpologists. They believe you can predict a person’s future by examining their hind quarters. Personally, I find this insane, but there is a following for this type of thing. Some of the things we are taught are just plain wrong. An example is the Great Wall of China. It has been said as long as I can remember it can be seen from space. When Apollo astronauts looked at earth from space, they said they could not see the Great Wall. A common idea is one dog year equals 7 human years, but even though most believe this, it depends on the breed and size of the dog. Even though many of us believe heat is lost faster through the head this is not true, it is lost equally throughout the body. Most people believe peanuts are nuts and I can understand this, but the truth is they are Legumes, so are peas and beans. There seems to always be a group of people who believe the world will end in the current year. One has to wonder where this strange belief comes from. It seem there are certain times when more people believe this than others. It was greatly believed in the years 500, 1000 and even in the year 2000. By greatly I mean far more than usual believed it. To see the proof of this one has only to read about the group known as Heaven’s Gate who all committed suicide because they believed they could get off the earth this way and onto a UFO. Humans believe in a lot of strange things.
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