Mainstream

Throughout the centuries and even nowadays we have societies with totally different values. That means the majority of a certain society follows a certain set of rules and values that are totally different from another society at a different place or time. One might think that if every individual is committed to finding and following something like a universal truth, people wouldn’t end up with such different results. But then, maybe not every individual is really committed to finding the truth, but rather chooses simply the easiest way in life, to get through life without major problems. This could be best accomplished by flowing with the so-called mainstream in society. A deeper look into what was mainstream in different societies might give a better insight about how righteous such a “flow” would have been:

At the time of King David the people in the surrounding countries followed the custom of sacrificing their first child in order to get future blessings from the gods they believed in. This custom of human sacrifice was still followed 500 years ago in South / Central American cultures. Around 2000 years ago it was quite common in the Roman Empire to throw people with different beliefs before lions in a public theatre. In European societies in the Middle Age people with different beliefs were burnt on a pyre. More recent experiences in fascist or communist societies showed how millions of people were killed just because they were of a different race or a class enemy. This list of crimes was all committed by the so-called mainstream, that is, from the majority of people who were in power at a certain time in a certain society. Are these crimes excused because people couldn’t think differently than the worldview they grew up with? I don’t think so. I think this reveals more the fact that following the mainstream blindly was and is always a dangerous thing.

Truth can’t be found on the road called mainstream where everybody walks on it to get as far as possible in life without many obstacles. Seeing what kind of crimes mankind is capable of throughout the centuries forbids believing in a moral development of the human race. It simply shows that the majority of people in any society at any time usually follow a set of lies. The times were different, and therefore the lies and crimes people were committing were different. But a look into history makes me doubt that the mainstream of our days should be any different. It’s just a different set of lies the mainstream is following nowadays. It was and still is a bad idea to follow the mainstream if you like to discover the truth. No matter in which time and place someone is living.