FOLLOWER
I was meditating and thinking about how the world has evolved in my short time here on earth. For example, I remember prior to cell phones, public pay phones. What comes to mind for me regarding public pay phones was a case I am knowledgeable about from my law school days, captioned Katz v. United States. Just to give you a little history legal lesson, Charles Katz the plaintiff in the aforementioned case made his money from illegal gambling on basketball. He would use a pay phone in his hometown of Los Angeles, California and place bets to Miami and Boston. The FBI found out, probably through a snitch who they like to call confidential informants and, they wiretapped his conversations from the public pay phone he was using. He was subsequently arrested and convicted but appealed his conviction all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The justices ruled 7-1 in his favor, declaring that the Fourth Amendment protects "people, not just places." Public pay phones were mostly situated in phone booths which were like very tiny closets where there was only room for one person at a time. They were made of steel and glass and with a door that you can shut for privacy. The court continue to say that a phone booth should have a "reasonable expectation of privacy." Shortly thereafter the cell phone industry was born wiping out pay phones.
Other things have also evolved. Computers and social media platforms, just to mention a few. Some can argue that this type of evolution is part of the advancing world and that it has made us smarter and more advanced and therefore, has contributed to making the world a better place. I don't think we can disagree. But this evolution has come with a bit of a price. I believe it has contributed to a lazier society with a demanding expectation of immediate gratification. There has to be a balance. And, I don't want you to think that I am a hypocrite. I'm taking advantage of these advancements as I'm writing this article on my blog. What I am saying is that each and everyone of us has an obligation to balance our lives with these current and future advances. Moreover, one common theme that many of these advancement have lead to, in my opinion, are how many individuals have become followers. If you look at social media platforms, it seems to me that many of the users are consumed with the amount of followers they have. They seem to be addicted to their Twitter or Instagram accounts checking on how many "likes," they received on whatever it is that they have posted. But, social media is not the only culprit in what I like to call the follower's hypnosis syndrome. Look at institutions of faith. They are in business because they have "followers," who finance their existence. Someone has to pay to keep the lights on and their facilities heated in the winter and cool in the summer. Oh, and the so called leader's salary. Look at politicians, they practice division to create a following. If you don't believe me just look at the state of our political discourse. Also in general people seem to me, to be more followers. If you ask individuals why they did or behaved in a certain way or why they use a certain product the response you will get most of the time is because so and so does it or uses it or... You get my point.
We have seemed to have lost our balance and autonomy. Individuals seem content to give their autonomy up to whoever or whatever. What is the purpose of living if you give up your true purpose of self autonomy? Your most precious god given power is to be and live how you desire. None of the aforementioned industries can survive and have so much power, influence and become multi-billion dollar enterprises if it wasn't for the people or consumers buying into whatever it is they are selling. And for allowing them in essence to brainwash us to submission or to become addicted to them or their product. We have to rise up as empowered individuals. By rising up, I am not saying in a violent way, that is never an option, but in an intellectual and spiritual way. We need to understand that the only person to follow is ourselves, our hearts, our goals and aspirations. That is the creativity that is endowed in every one of us. Our power was given to us by the universe, it is in our DNA. Their power unfortunately, was given to them by us. I leave you with a quote on point. "Be a leader not a follower, a helper not a hater, a creator not just a consumer, and make things better not bitter." Author unknown.
Just a thought.
Other things have also evolved. Computers and social media platforms, just to mention a few. Some can argue that this type of evolution is part of the advancing world and that it has made us smarter and more advanced and therefore, has contributed to making the world a better place. I don't think we can disagree. But this evolution has come with a bit of a price. I believe it has contributed to a lazier society with a demanding expectation of immediate gratification. There has to be a balance. And, I don't want you to think that I am a hypocrite. I'm taking advantage of these advancements as I'm writing this article on my blog. What I am saying is that each and everyone of us has an obligation to balance our lives with these current and future advances. Moreover, one common theme that many of these advancement have lead to, in my opinion, are how many individuals have become followers. If you look at social media platforms, it seems to me that many of the users are consumed with the amount of followers they have. They seem to be addicted to their Twitter or Instagram accounts checking on how many "likes," they received on whatever it is that they have posted. But, social media is not the only culprit in what I like to call the follower's hypnosis syndrome. Look at institutions of faith. They are in business because they have "followers," who finance their existence. Someone has to pay to keep the lights on and their facilities heated in the winter and cool in the summer. Oh, and the so called leader's salary. Look at politicians, they practice division to create a following. If you don't believe me just look at the state of our political discourse. Also in general people seem to me, to be more followers. If you ask individuals why they did or behaved in a certain way or why they use a certain product the response you will get most of the time is because so and so does it or uses it or... You get my point.
We have seemed to have lost our balance and autonomy. Individuals seem content to give their autonomy up to whoever or whatever. What is the purpose of living if you give up your true purpose of self autonomy? Your most precious god given power is to be and live how you desire. None of the aforementioned industries can survive and have so much power, influence and become multi-billion dollar enterprises if it wasn't for the people or consumers buying into whatever it is they are selling. And for allowing them in essence to brainwash us to submission or to become addicted to them or their product. We have to rise up as empowered individuals. By rising up, I am not saying in a violent way, that is never an option, but in an intellectual and spiritual way. We need to understand that the only person to follow is ourselves, our hearts, our goals and aspirations. That is the creativity that is endowed in every one of us. Our power was given to us by the universe, it is in our DNA. Their power unfortunately, was given to them by us. I leave you with a quote on point. "Be a leader not a follower, a helper not a hater, a creator not just a consumer, and make things better not bitter." Author unknown.
Just a thought.