We all live in a hallucination of our own. It is almost impossible to accurately say that we all see, feel, and hear the same reality. Even our physical senses are tampered by our emotions and perceived beliefs at the time of interaction. Hence everyone perceives the world differently and creates their own ‘illusion’ of reality.
However it is most likely that we perceive a reasonably accurate version of the ‘actual’ physical reality since we are able to share and conform to many sets of rules and behaviours. Our perceived reality guides our everyday actions and our beliefs. We as humans like to seek the truth, but we don’t realise that we are mainly only chasing our own kind of truth, not the universal truth.
Deeply entrenched in our psyche is also our desire to belong. When the desire to belong and desire of truth conflicts, we get stuck, but I think it’s safe to say most people default to the desire to belong. We don’t always believe things because they are correct, but rather because they allow us to look on favourably by others and retain or even improve our status in the group. This is probably why many of us try to be ‘politically correct’ at social events.
So how then to convince others of a truth that you know but not easily accepted by others? Perhaps it will be easier to befriend them, ‘join their group’, then to convince them with hard facts. These are why charismatic leaders are popular but can also be equally dangerous. They are able to inspire and draw people towards them forming a group bond, and get them to accept his perception of truth.
So is it better to be popular than good? Why not both? And be responsible as well.
My thoughts 