87 Percent: A Tale of Sheep, Goats & Shepards

[vern]

Did you ever wonder why there is a goat in a herd of sheep? Sheep are reactionary and don’t think independently from the herd. A goat is there to keep the sheep from doing something stupid... like running off a cliff in a moment of panic. Eighty-seven percent of people are like sheep. They go with the path of least resistance, whether it is good for them or not. The idea that the few (the goats) steer the masses (the sheep) is true in most aspects of our daily existence and accepted ideals. The difference between sheep and people is that people can be educated or can educate themselves; sheep will always follow the path of the goat.

In today’s social climate, people are given the illusion of choice whether it be a potential mate, career or ideals; however, if you look closely, people are given very few choices that will not meet with some—if not mild to moderate or even severe—resistance if that choice goes outside the comforts or ideals of their peers. And rather than break away from the herd so to speak, people conform in order to end the discomfort, to avoid the loneliness at the front of the herd.

Very few individuals really take the time to educate themselves outside their comfort zone. They do as they are told, as those whom they feel have more knowledge instruct them. It is this non-questioning of "authority" that leaves the individual open to more harm than any dangers they might have faced at the front of the herd. Shepards are politicians. Sheep dogs are police. And goats are independent men and women. None are infallible, especially when in control of the social and economic well being of the sheep: the citizens.

Now, sheep, being rather simple creatures, look for food and the protection of the herd. They rely exclusively on the shepard and his dogs to safely move them from pasture to pasture so as not to deplete their food supply. If left to their own devices, the sheep would eventually eat themselves out of a food source and starve. This is all they know. They are beneficiaries par excellence. The shepard will sell or use the sheep for various purposes, at his sole discretion, and the sheep know no different. The sheep continue on with their lives knowing no existence outside the herd... life is simple until you’re sold or slaughtered.

People, like sheep, don’t generally appreciate change or disruption to their daily lives. They exist within their own comfort zones. Their experiences, socio-economic status, heritage and other things shape them from the outside in. They mistake this for self-control and grow stubborn in their ideals. Look at the political landscape in any country. Look at all the chaos that is created by the lack of education and understanding of what governs people’s lives.

Sheep, unlike people, don’t elect their shepard; the shepard buys the sheep and, if you think about it, people’s elected officials (or governing body) buy the people that bring them into power. They purchase those who allow them to govern the aspects of their lives that they are told (or encouraged to believe) they are unable to correctly govern themselves.

People are not always bought with money, but more often with ideas about how to make life simpler, easier and more advantageous for self and family. They are seduced with the idea that they can gain something for nothing. However, the cost, however hidden, is always more expensive then the gain.

Why do sheep always overlook this? The relationship between the sheep and shepard is symbiotic, so a presumption of mutual respect is created. Both need each other for their livelihood. The sheep need the shepard to supply green pastures and safety from harm (or the illusion of it); the shepard needs the sheep to make his living. Sheep give up their freedom never knowing what it was that they lost. How many truly wild sheep do you see in the world?

People will give up their rights, either knowingly or unknowingly, out of fear, ignorance, coercion or just plain old stupidity. If those people are sovereign, they have no higher authority to complain to for making stupid mistakes that ultimately lead to the ruin of their once perfect kingdom. The consequence of absolute power is absolute responsibility.

Power gained through force is usually maintained through fear: fear of death, social ruin or alienation from your peers. Very few have the ability to say out loud that there is something fundamentally wrong with how something is done or how someone is treated because, in doing so, it will cause a backlash for going against the norm. (Those who have studied northern European culture will quickly recognize Jante Law as the regulatory force behind much of this fear.) If you don’t conform, you’re a traitor to your nation’s ideals or you are unpatriotic.

On a more personal level, people may not be taught to question authority as much as they are taught not to question those in authority, whether it is a parent, teacher, boss, etc. It starts at home where for right or wrong children are exposed to situations and ideals that will influence how they behave as adults; situations and ideals that will influence their perception of their choices, real or imagined. But, again, shepards, sheep dogs and goats are not infallible however necessary their authority may be.

In most situations people will attempt to choose what they feel is best for them based on these past experiences. However, if the choice meets resistance, most will abandon all or part of the choice so as to take a path of less resistance. They follow the herd and don’t question the direction the path is headed in.

Interestingly enough, for beneficiaries, it’s okay to question why something is being done on your behalf. The trustee has no obligation to tell you though. His or her responsibility is to do what is in the best interest of the herd, and hopefully what is in the best of the herd is directly in the best interest of the shepard because their relationship is healthily symbiotic.

Yet, all sheep eventually get sold or slaughtered. If a sheep had the ability to ask the right questions to find out if something really is in its best interest, it might get a glimpse of the goat’s point of view... a glimpse of the entire field ahead of it, not just the path it has been restricted to. Information, in and of itself, is the foundation of knowledge, and knowledge is power. The more information you learn helps develop a more informed decision and a more knowledgeable decision-maker.

Eighty-seven percent of people are reactionary just like sheep and will act on minimal information or self-imposed ignorance mistaken for knowledge out of fear of being harmed. Look at the US war against Iraq, for example. The US, as a for-profit government corporation, was given inflammatory and inaccurate information, it’s officers imposed ignorance of more accurate information on the corporation’s executive and legislative departments, and the actions taken wound up being rash. It allowed those officers—the shepards and their dogs—to serve their own interests at the people’s—the sheep’s—expense. When the relationship goes in this direction, it becomes parasitic, rather than symbiotic.

Ruling out of fear is hard because, while giving a sense of security, the underlying impression that it could all be taken away must always be maintained. It’s a juggling act of contradictions. What people fail to realize is that a shepard, by virtue of his position as trustee, has to have an eye for the future. It comes from his need to supply green pastures after the sheep mindlessly graze down to the root and deplete their food supply. This could be called "long-vision."

In a parasitic relationship, sheep never realize those rash decisions made on bad information or self-imposed ignorance may not be truly rash at all. They may be decisions made based on anticipated factors years, if not decades, in the making that are just waiting for the right storm to justify setting them in motion.

People flock together out of a need for social contact, economic prosperity and safety in general. Those from similar social backgrounds and educational levels will always tend to congregate together. There are, however, accepted ideals about how those in each social group are expected to act given past experience. Race, religion and heritage play an important part in how those ideals are manifested.

Past prejudices and fears are passed from generation to generation and become so ingrained into the culture, even when that culture is largely based on commerce rather than long-held tradition, that they become the norm. Over time, they become the customs that date back to time immemorial.

It is hard to question what you know is true because this is all you know and being open to all possibilities is overwhelming for sheep who, traditionally, don’t question... instead the sheep just exist and are led wherever whenever. They have been conditioned and even bred to be docile and malleable. People too. We are more conditioned by experience than bred, though attempts were made to breed slaves—as, for example, with the Slavs of Europe and later with the Africans in the Americas.

If there’s a storm and one sheep panics, all the sheep will panic without ever knowing why. Unlike sheep, a man or woman will associate the storm with danger, and all will look to each other for an idea of how to react. But if one man runs, they will all likely run, and the concept of "clear and present danger" is demonstrated right before your very eyes. Not unlike sheep, if one man or woman simply remains calm and confident during the threat, he or she will inspire calm.

The calm man is, in essence, the goat. The goat is still a social creature, but it is also comfortable being alone. The goat examines its surroundings to wrap its brain around as much information it can. It builds its knowledge of the environment, of the threats it may face in the path it creates ahead. A goat also learns from experience and, most unlike sheep, is absolutely unwilling to sacrifice itself in a moment of panic. For a goat, always steadily moving forward while keeping an eye on where it has been ensures that its decisions will be sound.

As a result, goats don’t always take the easiest path. Goats are willing to enter rough terrain if it is better for the long run they have set out to make. Like the shepard they have long vision. They are straightforward and will attack when attacked. If you ever watch a goat for any length of time, you see that they are indeed simple creatures as well, but they ask why... and how. So, if you abuse a goat, expect retaliation or desertion. Abuse a sheep on the other hand, and you can basically expect more loyalty and trust since sheep accept their injuries without questioning the treatment. Again, they are beneficiaries par excellence.

The confidence exhibited by the goat inspires the sheep to follow. The goat’s informed decisions and knowledgeable actions allow sheep to at least relax and be comfortable with the feeling that the goat knows where it is headed and won’t panic in a storm. This is somewhat problematic for the shepard because it creates competition for the leadership position. The shepard cannot abuse the goat because the goat doesn’t need the shepard (or the sheep) as much as the shepard needs the goat.

In many instances, the goat’s calm can inspire suspicion, especially when the herd mentality is prevalent enough among the people. Goats aren’t sheep... they aren’t even black sheep. And sheep are reminded of this instantly whenever they come into contact with a goat, and some sheep are aspiring goats. The shepard must therefore protect his enterprise, keeping the sheep from taking time out to educate themselves in goat-ology, on what goes on around them.

Simply put, the shepard must keep the goat population low among the sheep because, let’s face it, if sheep learned from the goat how to make informed decisions... he wouldn’t be eating lamb chops for dinner.

May GOD richly Bless you all Vern

[nowhammies]

oh crap I dozed off....must have counted too many sheep

[JuryPicker]

How in the Hell is this news??

[Dogma]

I was just helping the sheep over the fence,honest!!!

Edited May 7, 2011 by Dogma

[Slaydadea]

Yea, sometimes I wonder myself.

[horsesoldier]

Great googly moogly and other such explatives like,,,@#$%%^^&&***&( ...I dont wonder anymore.I've worked with Goats(sacraficial and otherwise),Sheep,Cows,Dancing Bears,Monkeys, the all to often Ostrich,Jackass(s) etc...etc...PULL THE TRIGGER,GET IT DONE...Thats my Mantra till this gets done....oh good lord that rhymes...Holy Crap