"The Bad Guys"

The Bad Guys

Unlike the depiction we grew up with while watching Disney cartoons, actual villains don’t look like villains. Real villains don’t live in secret lairs, or wear spooky robes. Real villains don’t walk around wringing their hands while cackling, creep around with a hunched back, or have mutated henchmen at their command.? In reality, real villains conceal their true intent by masquerading as the hero.??

If the Devil himself were to walk the Earth in order to wreak havoc, he wouldn’t be parading around twelve feet tall with flaming horns, whipping his tail around like a lasso. Instead, the Devil would appear unassuming, friendly and approachable.? The Devil would look like Mr. Rogers, Ted Lasso, or Ned Flanders. He would support charities, and own companies which supplied people with the type of stuff they really love to have. Commodities such as cell phones, software, medicine, and entertainment would delite consumers, while secretly diminishing the quality of life for those hapless consumers.?

The cell phones would be a catalyst for addiction and manipulation.? The software would track and monitor your every move. The medicine would make you sick. And the entertainment you ingest would both corrupt your moral code, and alter your perception of reality.?

The real “Bad Guys” on this earth have kind smiles and offer soothing promises. They tell their followers that “They too are the GOOD guys, and morally superior to anyone who opposes them”.? The bad guys claim to be the only people who understand the “truth”.? Whenever they are questioned, their response to their opposition is to shout accusations, insult their intelligence, and claim superior moral virtue over them.?

You may be asking, “But… who would knowingly follow the bad guys?”? The answer is…very few would do so knowingly.? Instead, followers would be told that “they” were the good guys, and all opposition to their will must by default be “bad guys”. This is a tactic which has been used by tyrants since the dawn of civilization, and it works every single time.?

In the famous Jane Elliott experiment, Professor Elliott told her group of school children that according to science, children with brown eyes were superior in every way to children with blue eyes. Instead of the brown eyed kids simply appreciating the good news, they became hostile to their inferior blue-eyed classmates. The blue eyed kids were made to wear arm-bands to identify themselves as inferior, and without any coaching the brown eyed children began to tease, berate, and bully the “inferior” children. If a blue-eyed child attempted to protest they would be shouted down as dumb, anti-science, idiots. The blue-eyed group was called unhygienic, low class, and intellectually stunted. The arbitrary division among the students intensified over the course of the experiment, so much so that it actually ended in physical violence. Children often fight, argue, and sometimes hit each other, but this time they were motivated by eye color.??

After the experiment, Jane Elliott did a lot of reflection about the consequences of the minimal group experiment. She says that it was shocking how children who’re normally kind, cooperative, and friendly with each other suddenly become arrogant, discriminatory, and hostile when they belong to a “superior” group.

The truth is, that Jane Elliott was a little late to the party.? Tyrants have used the same tactics to gain power for as long as we have had civilization.? Every time there is a war, the enemy is first reduced by labels which indicate their sub-humanity. It’s not just the Nazi’s who demonized the Jews by calling them subhuman, diseased, and unclean, it’s nearly every occupying force in history who has done the exact same thing.?

Politicians use a slightly kinder and gentler version of this tactic by smearing their opponents with overtones which are similar to those used by Jane Elliot. And..the results are the same.? Liberals are told that they are more kind, caring, and inclusive than conservatives, then are presented with propaganda to support that narrative.? Conservatives are told that Liberals are devoid of common sense, and are fed propaganda to support that notion.?

The solution is simple. STOP NAME CALLING, and STOP ACCEPTING NAME CALLING from your leaders.? If you use reductive labels and smearing statements to battle your opponents, then you have fallen prey to the Jane Elliott experiment, and you are a part of the problem.? If you feel morally or intellectually superior, then you have “drunk the kool-aid”.??

Instead, use Graham’s hierarchy of arguments as your guide when engaging in a debate. Stick to the central point and calmly present well thought out counter-arguments. Have facts and credible science on your side, and be strong enough to admit when you are mistaken.?