I skimmed Midwestern Doctor’s post “What Made Doctors do the Right Thing in Covid-19” in which he relates his experience that only about 10 percent of humans are capable of critical thought when it involves going against the majority. Many experiments have shown this result (with a little help from Bing GPT-4):
One of the most famous psychology experiments that show how most people conform to what others think is the Asch conformity experiment1234. This experiment was conducted by Solomon Asch in the 1950s and involved showing participants a series of line segments and asking them to match the length of one line with another. The participants were placed in a group with several confederates who were instructed to give the wrong answer on some trials. The experiment found that 76% of participants conformed to the group pressure at least once and gave the wrong answer, even though the correct answer was obvious. This experiment demonstrated the power of normative influence, which is the tendency to conform to fit in with the group and avoid social rejection.
Some other psychology experiments that show how most people conform to what others think are:
The Milgram experiment5, which showed how people obeyed an authority figure who told them to administer electric shocks to a learner, even when they heard screams of pain and protest.
The Stanford prison experiment4, which showed how people adopted the roles of guards and prisoners in a simulated prison environment, and how they behaved cruelly or submissively according to their assigned roles.
The Sherif Robbers Cave experiment1, which showed how people formed in-groups and out-groups based on arbitrary criteria, and how they competed and discriminated against each other based on their group membership.
1. verywellmind.com
2. openstax.org
3. sites.psu.edu
4. online.king.edu
5. learning-mind.com
Because so many things about the current historical moment look like the End Times, I usually think of the grouping into “woke” and “awake” as a manifestation of Jesus’ sheep and goats parable quoted in Matthew (I love making the AIs quote scripture):
The passage you are looking for is from the Gospel of Matthew, not the Book of Revelation. It is found in Matthew 25:31-46123. Here is the passage in the New International Version:
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
The meaning of this passage is that Jesus Christ will judge all people based on how they treated others who were in need. Those who showed compassion and mercy to others will inherit God’s kingdom, while those who ignored or neglected others will be condemned to hell. This passage teaches that serving others is serving Christ himself.
Some possible ways to apply this passage to current events are:
To reflect on how we can help those who are suffering from poverty, hunger, disease, oppression or injustice around the world.
To examine our own attitudes and actions towards people who are different from us in terms of race, religion, culture or politics.
To challenge ourselves to be more generous and hospitable to strangers and foreigners who come to our country or community.
To support organizations or causes that work for human rights, social justice and environmental protection.
It’s a cheap shot, but ask yourself if the treatment of the unvaccinated by the woke would make them sheep or goats. Especially if they were responding to financial incentives to behave that way.
There’s a whiff of liberation theology in that last bullet point, but as I like to say, the problem with capitalism is not enough profit-sharing. Marx got the forecast right — that unrestrained capitalism will lead to excessive concentration and the immiseration of the mass of people — but he got the solution wrong. It’s not Communism.
The correction to capitalism is not government redistribution of surplus. It is profit-sharing.
Any compassionate society will provide a safety net for the poor, but getting the government involved in redistributing from rich to poor will inevitably become corrupted. Let there be laws requiring corporations to distribute say ten percent of profits to employees using the same accounting applied to highly compensated employees, including equity returns, and see what happens to inequality and the composition of aggregate demand.
Charlie Munger will say, “But then you’d make some workers crazy rich! They don’t deserve that! It should all go to the entrepreneur!”
I’m enough of a Marxist to say, “Well, then, why didn’t the entrepreneur do all the work him- or herself?”
All production is joint production, as we say in economics.
Finally, I asked Bing GPT-4, “How do Christians interpret Matthew 25:31-46?” just to see if it would give me a straight answer, which it did.
Christians interpret this passage in different ways, but some common themes are:
This passage shows that Jesus cares about how we treat others, especially those who are poor, oppressed, marginalized or suffering. He identifies himself with them and expects us to love them as we love him.
This passage teaches that our actions have consequences, both in this life and in the life to come. We will be judged by God according to what we have done or failed to do for others. Our faith must be accompanied by works of mercy and justice.
This passage challenges us to examine our motives and attitudes, not just our outward deeds. We are not to serve others for our own benefit or reward, but out of genuine compassion and gratitude to God. We are not to ignore or neglect others because they are different from us or inconvenient to us, but to see them as our brothers and sisters in Christ.
This passage does not teach that we are saved by works, but that works are the evidence of our salvation. We cannot earn God’s favor by our good deeds, but we can show our love for him by obeying his commands and following his example. We are saved by grace through faith, but faith without works is dead (Ephesians 2:8-10; James 2:14-26).
1. devotionalchristian.com
2. hermeneutrix.com
3. theologyofwork.org
4. carm.org
One-minute movie review: “The Starling Girl” is yet another hatchet job on white Appalachian Christians, the only ethnic group in America it is always okay to despise. I took the time to give it one star on Rottentomatoes.com. Don’t believe the audience ratings on this one.
Have a blessed day!
Wonderful Elliott...Really gave some thought to this one. I'm sending it out.